The impact of founder personalities on startup success
Abstract Startup companies solve many of today’s most challenging problems, such as the decarbonisation of the economy or the development of novel life-saving vaccines. Startups are a vital source of innovation, yet the most innovative are also the least likely to survive. The probability of success...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41980-y |
| _version_ | 1797453301205172224 |
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| author | Paul X. McCarthy Xian Gong Fabian Braesemann Fabian Stephany Marian-Andrei Rizoiu Margaret L. Kern |
| author_facet | Paul X. McCarthy Xian Gong Fabian Braesemann Fabian Stephany Marian-Andrei Rizoiu Margaret L. Kern |
| author_sort | Paul X. McCarthy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Startup companies solve many of today’s most challenging problems, such as the decarbonisation of the economy or the development of novel life-saving vaccines. Startups are a vital source of innovation, yet the most innovative are also the least likely to survive. The probability of success of startups has been shown to relate to several firm-level factors such as industry, location and the economy of the day. Still, attention has increasingly considered internal factors relating to the firm’s founding team, including their previous experiences and failures, their centrality in a global network of other founders and investors, as well as the team’s size. The effects of founders’ personalities on the success of new ventures are, however, mainly unknown. Here, we show that founder personality traits are a significant feature of a firm’s ultimate success. We draw upon detailed data about the success of a large-scale global sample of startups (n = 21,187). We find that the Big Five personality traits of startup founders across 30 dimensions significantly differ from that of the population at large. Key personality facets that distinguish successful entrepreneurs include a preference for variety, novelty and starting new things (openness to adventure), like being the centre of attention (lower levels of modesty) and being exuberant (higher activity levels). We do not find one ’Founder-type’ personality; instead, six different personality types appear. Our results also demonstrate the benefits of larger, personality-diverse teams in startups, which show an increased likelihood of success. The findings emphasise the role of the diversity of personality types as a novel dimension of team diversity that influences performance and success. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:20:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c76b0bcd68314a689dbbc9ec517011d7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T15:20:50Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-c76b0bcd68314a689dbbc9ec517011d72023-11-26T12:49:53ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-10-0113111210.1038/s41598-023-41980-yThe impact of founder personalities on startup successPaul X. McCarthy0Xian Gong1Fabian Braesemann2Fabian Stephany3Marian-Andrei Rizoiu4Margaret L. Kern5The Data Science Institute, University of Technology SydneyFaculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology SydneyOxford Internet Institute, University of OxfordOxford Internet Institute, University of OxfordFaculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology SydneyMelbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of MelbourneAbstract Startup companies solve many of today’s most challenging problems, such as the decarbonisation of the economy or the development of novel life-saving vaccines. Startups are a vital source of innovation, yet the most innovative are also the least likely to survive. The probability of success of startups has been shown to relate to several firm-level factors such as industry, location and the economy of the day. Still, attention has increasingly considered internal factors relating to the firm’s founding team, including their previous experiences and failures, their centrality in a global network of other founders and investors, as well as the team’s size. The effects of founders’ personalities on the success of new ventures are, however, mainly unknown. Here, we show that founder personality traits are a significant feature of a firm’s ultimate success. We draw upon detailed data about the success of a large-scale global sample of startups (n = 21,187). We find that the Big Five personality traits of startup founders across 30 dimensions significantly differ from that of the population at large. Key personality facets that distinguish successful entrepreneurs include a preference for variety, novelty and starting new things (openness to adventure), like being the centre of attention (lower levels of modesty) and being exuberant (higher activity levels). We do not find one ’Founder-type’ personality; instead, six different personality types appear. Our results also demonstrate the benefits of larger, personality-diverse teams in startups, which show an increased likelihood of success. The findings emphasise the role of the diversity of personality types as a novel dimension of team diversity that influences performance and success.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41980-y |
| spellingShingle | Paul X. McCarthy Xian Gong Fabian Braesemann Fabian Stephany Marian-Andrei Rizoiu Margaret L. Kern The impact of founder personalities on startup success Scientific Reports |
| title | The impact of founder personalities on startup success |
| title_full | The impact of founder personalities on startup success |
| title_fullStr | The impact of founder personalities on startup success |
| title_full_unstemmed | The impact of founder personalities on startup success |
| title_short | The impact of founder personalities on startup success |
| title_sort | impact of founder personalities on startup success |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41980-y |
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