What investors look for in founders
An idea from Sam Altman · Updated 2 October 2026
More from Sam Altman, Y Combinator and Paul Graham
Short answer
Sam Altman, former president of Y Combinator, lists the most important founder traits as unstoppability, determination, formidability and resourcefulness, with intelligence and passion close behind. He adds that the best founders are unusually responsive, communicate well and move fast, and that these matter far more than experience.
The traits
- Unstoppability, determination, formidability and resourcefulness come first.
- Intelligence and passion also rank very high.
- Experience and specific expertise matter much less than these.
The signals investors notice
- Responsiveness: the best founders are unusually responsive, a sign of decisiveness, focus and intensity.
- Communication: founders who are hard to talk to are almost always bad. Altman calls communication the most important rarely discussed founder skill.
- Speed: "I have never, not once, seen a slow-moving founder be really successful."
In your deck
Your team slide can't say "we're determined". It can show it: what each founder built, how fast, and what happened between your first and second meeting with an investor.
Read the originals
- Startup Playbook · Sam Altman
What makes a great founder, and why speed matters.
Questions founders ask
- What do investors look for in a founder?
- Sam Altman lists unstoppability, determination, formidability and resourcefulness first, with intelligence and passion close behind, and says these matter more than experience.
- Does speed matter to investors?
- A lot. Sam Altman writes that he has never seen a slow-moving founder be really successful.
- Is communication important for founders?
- Sam Altman calls it the most important rarely discussed founder skill, and says founders who are hard to talk to are almost always bad.
Get your deck reviewed the same way.
Comments on every slide, the words to change highlighted, and the 3 fixes that matter.
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