Founder's Archetypes: Understanding Your Entrepreneurial Drive

Many entrepreneurs lose their founder energy along the way because their entrepreneurial journey doesn’t align with what they wanted to do in the first place.

Over time, they find themselves caught up in doing things for investors, customers, or employees that are not in sync with their original vision.

This misalignment often leads to frustration and burnout.

Over the course of my 15-year-long entrepreneurial journey, I have worked closely with multiple entrepreneurs and investors from diverse backgrounds. No matter the industry, region, or scale, I notice a few patterns in the way they think and operate.

There are 4 founder archetypes based on their core motivation. When you (as an entrepreneur or an investor) know your archetype and align with it, you can make a real difference in how you build your company, connect with co-founders, partner with investors and sustain long-term success.

The 4 Founder Archetypes:

1. The Profit-Maximiser

Core Motivation: Money

• Their primary goal is to find the most profitable idea and execute it swiftly.
• They make decisions that optimise profitability, no matter how difficult or harsh.

Today's VC ecosystem and economy with its emphasis on capitalism, largely attest the approach of profit-focused founders. While they drive innovation and economic growth, the downside is a potential neglect of sustainability and long-term societal benefits. When the profit-driver maximises, people just become one of the inputs to make business work and hence become dispensable if pushed to a corner.

2. The Purpose-Seeker

Core Motivation: Making a difference

• They invest their effort wholly to make a positive impact on society.
• They usually value people over profit or even the problem statement. It’s only the “why we are doing” that matters.

An example from my own journey: When Kuljit and I co-founded our company, it wasn't just to transform learning. We wanted to work with good-hearted people and have fun building cool things. Even the problem we aimed to solve was secondary to the purpose that brought us together.

Another example is the founding team of Go1 – 4 fun-loving school friends from eclectic backgrounds (an economist, a lawyer, a techie and a doctor) who wanted to do something together. They use rationale, but never kept their heart aside. This is something I have always felt and loved about them.

3. The Problem-Solver

Core Motivation: On a mission to solve a specific issue

• Such founders focus on tackling a particular problem, often experienced by them personally.
• Being problem-focussed, they typically develop deep expertise within one industry or sector, such as healthcare, retail, or climate change.

These founders are often mission-driven. An incident in their early lives makes them have a personal connection to the problem. For instance, someone who has faced challenges in healthcare might start a healthcare-focused startup. Their dedication to a specific problem, and the ability to relate with it can drive significant advancements within their sector.

4. The Product-Innovator

Core Motivation: Passion for technology

• They are driven by a love for building and innovating with tech.
• Their aim is to use technology creatively to enhance people's lives. These founders see technology as a tool for creative expression and problem-solving.

I began my journey as a product innovator. Any major technological advancement - starting from GUIs to touch screens to cloud computing to now LLMs, make the technology kid in me jump in excitement. That is how it is with a lot of entrepreneurs around the world. Over time, my focus has shifted more towards purpose, but the passion for product innovation remains.

Evolution of founders' archetype:

Founders' motivations are not static. They shift, often in 10-year cycles. A founder might start with one primary motivation and evolve to another. Someone initially focused on profit might shift towards purpose as their financial goals are met.

Take the example of Bill Gates. This is how his archetype graph might look like:

To share another example, this is how I have evolved as a founder over the course of my 3 previous startups:

I was a purpose seeker and a highly-driven product innovator. But over the years, I realise that there is an upsurge in the purpose-seeking aspect to my entrepreneurial drive.

Why you should discover your archetype:

Understanding your archetype not only helps you reconnect with your real vision, but also helps in partnering with the right co-founders and investors.

A lot of dissolution happens because founders start along one axis, but then the focus of their partner or investors changes during the journey. For instance, 95% of the investment ecosystem is profit-focused. With founders evolving to a different archetype, misalignment kicks in.

How can you integrate this for sustained success:

Partner with investors who align with your archetype. If you are keen on solving a particular problem with innovative tech, partner with an investor who has the same level of involvement in your mission.

Likewise, choose a co-founder who has a similar archetype on purpose and problem, and complement your archetype on profit and product.

In simple terms, the purpose and problem are the 'why' — This needs to be aligned for the founders. Profit and product are the 'how' — this should be complementary to ensure functional brilliance.?

If it is the other way around (which is if the ‘why’ are complementary and ‘how’ are aligned), it is likely to lead to chaos.?

For instance, if one founder is purpose-driven and a product expert, the other should also ideally be purpose-driven but might concentrate on the profit dimension. If you choose such a co-founder, that will turn out to be a perfect marriage for your startup.

How to discover your axis:

Finding your true archetype as a founder takes time. But here is a way you can start discovering it:

Reflect on these questions —?

1. What excites you the most and adds to your energy?
2. When do you have the most fun?
3. How you feel when you make tough decisions that demand a trade-off between either of the 4 aspects??

This can reveal a lot about your core motivations.

Remember, these archetypes are not mutually exclusive. We might be guided by 2-3 motivations, but one remains significant.?

So, what kind of founder are you?