What I Look For In a Founder
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There’s a certain feeling you look for when meeting a founder for the first time. Sure, there’s the usual framework: working prototype, some proven goals achieved, defined vision, and so forth. But at the earliest stage of investment, you’re making a bet on the founder.
We’ve heard this time and time again, but it’s the founder that really make the company. You’re making a bet on the person, not the product. Passion is a key element of a good founder— but what does that really look like?
A good founder focuses on the problem, not the idea. The problem is one they’re losing sleep over. They can’t think or work on anything else, because they are excited by the problem. A founder is frustrated by the problem. A founder is so focused on that particular problem, they can’t do anything else.
This type of focus and commitment is immediate when meeting a founder. Peter describes it as “the butterfly feeling” when you just get that gut sense about an individual. I think of Scott Crouch, founder of Mark43, when envisioning a good founder. As a Senior at Harvard, Scott and his team focused on Nucleik, which makes software to help police collect and analyze data on criminal networks and behavior. After graduating (and raising money from Rough Draft Ventures), the team went on to raise an impressive $1.95M seed round from General Catalyst, Spark Capital and some of the best angel investors in the world— including Chris Sacca and SV Angel.
Within minutes of meeting Scott for the first time, his passion was evident because this was a problem he cared about, and one he is committed to solving. A good founder gives you conviction. Despite risks, challenges, maybe even unanswered questions, Scott himself was the reason Rough Draft Ventures knew we wanted to support the Mark 43 team. This conviction for the investor, and the founder, will carry a team through the hard times and multiple iterations of a company.
