A 50-Unicorn VC Explains What Defines an Exceptional Founder | EO

I think one of the most important jobs of a founder is you have to be able to get customers, you have to be able to hire people, you have to be able to keep scaling the company even when times are hard.

A lot of times that means that you have to be a great storyteller because let's be honest, if you're buying something today, you're not buying something just because of the product in some future, but there is something about that brand that appeals to you.

It's the same thing when we're joining companies is that, yes, maybe at the end it's a job, but the company's culture and the company's vibe really matters.

How charismatic the leader is matters, and so that's very important, and I think something that I found in founders, and it is unfortunately not negotiable, you either have to have yourself or maybe a co-founder who's very good at storytelling, who's very charismatic so that it allows you to hire amazing people.

And part of it is also the mission.

The more ambitious the mission of the company, obviously the more people will get excited about it, and that comes again back to the 10X principle is that a lot of times ideas are ideas, but some ideas are more powerful and more scary than others.

So the bigger the idea and the bigger the impact, I think then even though it might be difficult, it's gonna inspire people and it's gonna motivate them to do something that's really hard because at the end of the day, we want our lives to have purpose, and the best way to do that is if you're pursuing a very challenging problem.

I think one of the most important jobs of a founder is you have to be able to get customers, you have to be able to hire people, you have to be able to keep scaling the company even when times are hard.

A lot of times that means that you have to be a great storyteller because let's be honest, if you're buying something today, you're not buying something just because of the product in some future, but there is something about that brand that appeals to you.

It's the same thing when we're joining companies is that, yes, maybe at the end it's a job, but the company's culture and the company's vibe really matters.

How charismatic the leader is matters, and so that's very important, and I think something that I found in founders, and it is unfortunately not negotiable, you either have to have yourself or maybe a co-founder who's very good at storytelling, who's very charismatic so that it allows you to hire amazing people.

And part of it is also the mission.

The more ambitious the mission of the company, obviously the more people will get excited about it, and that comes again back to the 10X principle is that a lot of times ideas are ideas, but some ideas are more powerful and more scary than others.

So the bigger the idea and the bigger the impact, I think then even though it might be difficult, it's gonna inspire people and it's gonna motivate them to do something that's really hard because at the end of the day, we want our lives to have purpose, and the best way to do that is if you're pursuing a very challenging problem.