> If we've learned one thing from funding so many startups, it's that they succeed or fail based on the qualities of the founders.
I've heard this repeated dozens of times, and I believe it is just circular logic.
1. The success of the startup depends on the quality of the founder.
2. The quality of the founder is determined by whether or not their startup succeeds.
I think some people would argue that they aren't judging the quality of the founder by whether or not their startup succeeds. But I don't know if I buy that. If some "low quality founder" creates a billion dollar business people will just say "I mis-judged him. He's a great founder." If some "high quality founder" creates a startup that fails people will say "He just didn't have what it takes as a founder", until he eventually succeeds then they'll be back to "He was a great founder all along".
In other words, every founder of a successful startup is a "great founder". But only because that is baked in to the definition, despite the implication that you're actually judging their merit as a founder in some other (mysterious) way.
I've heard this repeated dozens of times, and I believe it is just circular logic.
1. The success of the startup depends on the quality of the founder.
2. The quality of the founder is determined by whether or not their startup succeeds.
I think some people would argue that they aren't judging the quality of the founder by whether or not their startup succeeds. But I don't know if I buy that. If some "low quality founder" creates a billion dollar business people will just say "I mis-judged him. He's a great founder." If some "high quality founder" creates a startup that fails people will say "He just didn't have what it takes as a founder", until he eventually succeeds then they'll be back to "He was a great founder all along".
In other words, every founder of a successful startup is a "great founder". But only because that is baked in to the definition, despite the implication that you're actually judging their merit as a founder in some other (mysterious) way.