We have been getting a lot of great questions from entrepreneurs at our monthly Atlanta Ventures Office Hours events. To that end, I am starting a series on the ten most common questions we get and my response. This week’s topic is around key traits of a good founder.

Passion

This is where it starts. The best founders are extremely passionate about the problem they are solving. They think and obsess about it all day, every day. Interestingly, they also are flexible enough to pivot on the idea but are committed to the problem they are solving.

Grit/Hustle to get things done

Everyone talks about some form of this. Being an entrepreneur is difficult. Lots will go wrong, you have limited resources, yet you have to keep pushing forward. We look for past examples in the founder’s journeys that show difficult times, why they kept pushing through, and what was the result. There is also value placed on getting things done. It is easy to complain about external factors for why something doesn’t work out, but how do you control what you can control and keep moving forward.

Continuous learning

The best founders are always learning. Whether it is through books/articles/podcasts or speaking to peers/mentors/customers, they are constantly learning and then applying those learnings to their business. They know their limitations and what they don’t know, and actively seek to fill those spots with the right knowledge.

Past hustles/startups

The first time you do anything there is a huge learning curve, and startups are no different. We look for founders who have started something before. It could be a business or even just an organization or side hustle. It is about proving you have taken something from 0-1; not everyone who thinks they want to be an entrepreneur can do that. Whether your previous startup worked out or not, you learn certain things about customer discovery, building a team, product development, running a business, etc that will translate into your next venture. Those crazy enough to start something again after not working out the first time often have a great chip on their shoulder as well as more awareness of their personal gaps they need to fill.

Sales orientation

Most founders fall into either a technical oriented founder or a business/sales oriented founder. As a founder, you need to be doing the first sales for all the key learnings as well as proving it can be done. You cannot just hire in a sales team and assume the business will start rapidly growing. Even if you are a technical founder, you still need to be comfortable having these sales conversations with potential customers. Beyond customers, that sales orientation is important for hiring key employees and bringing on investors.

There are many more traits we like in founders, but these are some of the ones we pay attention to when speaking with founders.