Startup Standouts — Integrity, Intelligence and Passion
Intelligence, Integrity and Passion in the Entrepreneurship Journey
As a Private Equity and Angel Investor, I enjoy seeing entrepreneurs pitching — in meetings, or on a competition stage, in real life and virtually. They do their best to describe their work, their product, and their dreams in a way that excites the listeners while simultaneously giving a real sense of their operations and likelihood of success.
It can be difficult to make what could be a life changing assessment from a highly condensed presentation. To help me get through this, I stick to the three things that I believe are the most important for any entrepreneur. I look for Integrity, Intelligence and Passion. I got this model from billionaire serial entrepreneur Michael Lee-Chin. It seems to have worked for him. But, more importantly, it aligns with my personal values.
Integrity, Intelligence and Passion are so critical that even with the best business ideas, if you are missing any one, your success will be limited. With the increasing number of startups, and the confusion created by the current rash of high valuations, it is easy to neglect these factors when assessing businesses. To keep me true to my values, I consistently measure all entrepreneurs I interact with using this framework that I call the IIP index.
Integrity ensures that you do the right thing for your business, i.e., for your customers, for your staff, for the environment and for the society in which you operate. Intelligence makes sure you do that in a profitable and sustainable way. Passion keeps you going, especially when you face the biggest obstacles.
The most common obstacle to growing a startup, even among entrepreneurs who possess a high IIP, is funding. Unless the business has enough income from customers to self-fund its growth, access to investor cash is the key factor at each inflection point in a growing business. For non-traditional markets, and for historically excluded founders, there is comparatively very little equity funding and there can be very high hurdles to loan funding.
For this reason, I take each pitch as a meaningful opportunity to solve this issue for some entrepreneurs. Over the years, I have seen numerous pitches across all levels and stages of Private Equity, Venture Capital, and Angel Investment and I have been exposed to business ideas and entrepreneurs from many corners of the world. I have also had the opportunity to coach and support quite a few businesses that have come through the Richard Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, where I have served as a Trustee for most of its existence.
Having observed, or coached many cohorts of entrepreneurs at the center, I have seen entrepreneurs in all the stages of their growth. On day 1 of their cohort, many of them are fully confident that they have the greatest product, the best team and, sometimes, the best customers. They believe that all they need is funding and don’t immediately see the value of the non-monetary business support that good incubators can provide.
Yet, over the years, I have seen many a founder at The Branson Centre understand, after a few interactions, that they were not as ready for funding as they initially thought. They eventually start to see that there is room for improvement in their understanding, structuring, and execution of their business. Most are grateful, and energized when they see the opportunity to grow, or pivot depending on what they learn about their selves or their businesses.
I have found, however, that the founders who index higher in IIP, benefit the most from this realization. Their business metrics show the greatest improvement and when they participate in pitch competitions, they usually come out on top. I have found that this is directly because a high IIP relates to a high willingness to objectively assess and react to feedback. It is the same whether the feedback is from a potential investor, a competition judge, a coach, a customer, or a team member.
High integrity ensures they approach challenges with clarity on their strengths and weaknesses. Their intelligence helps them seek out and filter the best of the support that is offered to them. Their passion drives them towards continuous improvement while igniting the passion in their team members.
These entrepreneurs were in the best position to benefit from the Branson Centre or any other incubator’s training courses, mentorship programs, access to networks, and business partnerships right from the beginning. And when it happens, the participants who succeed in raising funding, see these benefits compound.
With outside funding, the stakes are immediately significantly higher. But in this next phase, just as in all of the prior stages of their growth, they succeed when they leverage their Intelligence, Integrity and Passion to achieve their goals.
- Mark McIntosh
Mark McIntosh is a Private Equity and sometimes Angel Investor. He also supports entrepreneurs and startups through advising, and coaching. He has also provided assistance to many entrepreneurs as a supporter and as a Trustee of the Richard Branson Centre since its inception.
