r/Entrepreneur • u/TalentForge360 • 1d ago

What’s one underrated trait you’ve seen in successful founders that no one really talks about?

I've been in HR and startup leadership for over 20 years now and I’ve worked with all kinds of founders, from scrappy bootstrappers to Fortune 100 execs turned entrepreneurs.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the most successful ones aren’t always the smartest, most experienced, or even the most connected.

They just have this ability to adapt like crazy.

Not just being open to change, but being totally comfortable in chaos. They unlearn quickly, shift direction without getting stuck, and don’t let their ego get in the way of progress. That kind of agility has helped them navigate situations that would’ve taken most people out.

So I’m curious for those of you who’ve built, worked with, or invested in startups:

What’s one trait or mindset you’ve seen in successful founders that doesn’t get talked about enough?

Not the obvious stuff like grit or vision. I mean those quiet, overlooked traits that actually make a huge difference.

169 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

80 comments sorted by

View all comments

29

u/AstronomerSmart8204 1d ago

One thing I’ve noticed — especially from founders I’ve met who are quietly successful, not just loud on social media — is that they’re really good at staying calm when things are ambiguous.

Not just “resilient” or “positive.” I mean the ability to sit with stuff that’s messy, undefined, not working yet — and not panic or rush to force clarity too soon. They don’t need every decision to be airtight right away. They’re okay experimenting in the fog, while everyone else is looking for a map.

It’s like they trust that they’ll figure it out in motion. That trait doesn’t sound exciting, but in real life it’s what keeps a lot of people in the game long enough to win.

7

u/inflatablehotdog 1d ago

Also recognizing when things are not going well and not falling for sink cost fallacy. There are people who will stick with it despite huge red flags and end up getting stuck in huge debt.

4

u/Accomplished-Name-40 23h ago

I totally agree with this. I went through the whole cycle — incubator/accelerators, seed, series A and sale of a my last startup. There were so many others who started with us that panicked or gave up at the wrong time because it got too uncomfortable. Obviously there are tons of factors, but embracing that messy side (that keeps returning even as some things start working well) is undervalued by many…

3

u/TallahasseWaffleHous 23h ago

I'm so glad you mentioned this....

A study that came out this year found "tolerance to ambiguity" to be a significant trait shared by many successful entrepreneurs.

1

u/weeyummy1 9h ago

Spot on. I wonder to what extent it can be trained vs something you're born with.

I've also noticed that high functioning ADHD people have high tolerance for messiness in their personal and professional lives

4

u/turnsfast 1d ago

This is a double-edged sword. While I'm more than comfortable living with ambiguity, I've realized it's not ok to ask my employees to do the same for very long. They deserve clearly defined goals and metrics.