Whether it is for a startup or for a structured multinational, the search strategy has many similarities. In both cases, it is very important to understand well, up front, the DNA of the business and what you want to communicate to the market. On these foundations you can focus the search for the Founder best suited to lead the company.
When searching for a CEO for a mature multinational, you normally move in a reserved, measured way, respecting a structured selection process with timelines set by internal policy. In the case of Founder searches for startups, the process is much more agile, with particular attention to engagement in the project.
For us head hunters, proposing a role for a multinational requires branding activity, the use of presentations and explanatory material, and past references. The startup, instead, has no history to present, and we must be good at selling a “dream” and a project in the making.
Another factor of no small weight is the compensation package we can present to candidates. In the case of a structured company, there are parameters that allow us to attract people from the competition or from the market at large. In the case of a startup, money is not the primary lever, since there is no certainty the project will succeed, and this means finding people who accept the challenge and jump on board without too many guarantees.
But what exactly are the characteristics the founder of a startup should have?
The technical side is basic and, normally, most startup leaders start from a deep knowledge of the product or service at the core of the business. It is indeed fundamental to know the strengths, so as to be able to communicate them to the market while knowing the growth potential.
Communicator and networker
Technical skills are worth little if the startupper does not have a strong entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to engage with various stakeholders. Inside a startup, for example, one of the most complex activities is raising funds to fuel the company’s growth. Founders must therefore be excellent networkers, mobilise their own network of contacts and build a market network of people who believe in their idea.
Selling your idea to this network requires great communication skills. You have to express yourself in a way that makes people dream, show them the goal you have set while underlining the economic side too. You have to talk to many people, but how do you do it? What do you say? You must be able to sell an idea even when there is not much to show yet and nothing to touch.
I always advise founders to be agile in their strategies, and to always have a plan B. A practical, real example: you have a product that lets you issue digital medical prescriptions for your pet. Plan A is certainly to propose it to the network of veterinarians. But what if this category proves not technical enough to adopt this process innovation? They will not understand it and will not be interested in your product, but that does not mean your idea is not the right one for the future.
Your plan B could be to contact the pet food multinationals. But who will you address in such a company? It becomes fundamental to understand who your counterpart is, and not to wait to analyse the market and the possible contacts until plan A has already failed. Moving on two tracks and having Plan B ready in case Plan A fails helps speed things up, avoid dissipating too much energy and, above all, avoid getting demoralised to the point of giving up.
Beyond presenting your idea, it is important to work together with others. When you launch a company, you have to be good at technology, sales, marketing and finance. Decidedly hard to do everything alone, right? So you have to open up to others, have trust and be a good team player.
A high level of resilience
A startupper’s lack of resilience is fatal for the project. It is unlikely that the first person you meet will fall in love with the idea and give you the funds. Many doors will close, so you must be a strong, resilient person, and sometimes you have to sit down and rethink the idea’s positioning.
Think first: “is it really in my DNA?”
If a person wants to launch an idea or join a startup, some qualities must be rooted in their personality. You have to be brave, have the will to see how far you can go and push yourself to reach a goal.
It is a bit like asking a mountaineer why they want to climb Everest. You can be an excellent climber even if you only do it on Sundays, but if you want to reach the summit and pull off such a major feat, you must be aware of the risk, yet you will still throw yourself headlong into pursuing what you believe you can achieve. You have the courage to push and to see how far you can go. Not everyone has the courage not to dwell too much on all the related risks, so you really have to ask yourself in advance whether this is in your DNA.
Passion and willpower, with a positive mindset
The last thing, but no less important, is having passion and willpower. If you have a passion, it means you dedicate your time to it, and that time does not weigh on you. It is a real stroke of luck if you find your passion and manage to earn from it, because not everyone has the chance to. Passion lets you give the best of yourself, because you always want to experiment, and that satisfies you.
Likewise, it would have been impossible for me to launch Kilpatrick Executive Search if I had not had a strong interest in people. If I had not been interested in getting to know the person in front of me, and if I had not had the drive to understand how to push that person further, it would have been particularly hard to put in all the dedication I have put into this company over the years. And yet, willpower and interest in the idea too can allow a person to push beyond.
It is fundamental to have this kind of passion and willpower, considering there will always be moments of discouragement, moments when you will feel that others do not understand you, that others do not share your passion for the idea.
Beyond this, a skill that is accessible to everyone and, in my view, can bring great benefits to those working in a startup, is always seeing the glass half full. This approach lets you transmit that positivity to others and, very probably, you will get much more out of them.
Alone or in company?
You can of course decide on your own whether you have the passion, whether you are a good communicator and have the technical skills. In that case you can create your business independently. Sometimes, and it has happened at Startup Bakery too, someone has an idea but knows they are not the right person to develop or lead it, so they look for someone else to bring that idea to market.
However, while your own passion is something tangible, it is much harder to assess whether the person you hire has the same passion and the right skills. One way to steer the search towards a successful outcome can be to look for someone who, for example, has already had the chance to create startups. In that case it is very likely that the skills described above are present. The alternative is looking for an expert with good seniority, the technical ability you need and who, in the last years of their professional career, wants to dedicate themselves to a challenging project and lead a startup.
To conclude, there is no perfect recipe for the good Founder, just as there is no perfect recipe for a successful startup. There are, however, characteristics that can make the difference for a project’s success and, from experience, I can say that the ones just listed are among them.
Startup Bakery is the Italian startup studio specialised in creating B2B SaaS companies with Artificial Intelligence. We offer aspiring Co-Founders the opportunity to develop a business idea. We create investment opportunities for Professional Investors. We help companies in their innovation process.