The Importance of Soft Skills in Founding Teams: What BAs Should Look For
When a BA analyzes an investment opportunity, they typically look at factual and quantifiable elements: addressable market, commercial traction, model scalability, financial projections. Yet, beyond numbers and metrics, an often underestimated factor plays a decisive role in the success of a startup: the soft skills of the founders.
In the world of startups, technical and business skills are not enough. Building a company in an uncertain environment, convincing investors, managing a growing team and navigating through crises require human and interpersonal skills that are much more decisive than business expertise alone.
For experienced investors, assessing the soft skills of founders is as essential an exercise as product or market research. A great concept carried by a team that is unable to adapt or manage conflict is much more likely to fail than a startup with an average value proposition but a resilient and pragmatic team. So, what are these key skills to look for? How to identify and evaluate them before investing?
1. Adaptability: an imperative for the survival of a startup
One of the biggest myths of entrepreneurship is that a startup simply needs to execute a brilliant idea to be successful. In reality, the majority of startups pivot, modify their product, adjust their business model, and change their strategy based on market feedback and opportunities.
A good example is Slack, which was initially designed as an internal communication tool for a video game startup. After realizing that their game wasn't commercially viable, the founding team turned their chat solution into a SaaS platform now used by millions of businesses.
An investor must therefore ensure that the founding team does not blindly cling to its initial idea and that it is able to objectively analyze its results to iterate quickly. This flexibility is a key element of success, and a founder who is too rigid or too attached to his initial vision risks facing strategic deadlocks. When talking to entrepreneurs, it is relevant to ask them how they have reacted to previous challenges, whether they have already changed their approach and how they interpret market signals.
2. Emotional intelligence and leadership management
A startup is a complex human ecosystem, where tensions, doubts and pressure are omnipresent. A good entrepreneur must be able to motivate their team, attract talent, and create a company culture that fosters productivity and engagement.
Emotional intelligence is a major lever for leadership. It allows the founder to understand the needs and motivations of his team, to adapt his communication style and to manage conflicts effectively.
In a startup, a leader who is charismatic but closed to feedback can become a risk factor, creating a toxic work environment and slowing down collective decision-making. A business angel must therefore be attentive to how founders talk about their team, whether they value the opinion of others and whether they are able to question their own certainties.
3. Managing stress and resilience: entrepreneurial endurance
Creating a startup means living in permanent uncertainty: delayed fundraising, technical problems, aggressive competition, departures of key employees... In this environment, resilience is an essential quality.
Founders who collapse under pressure or make impulsive decisions in times of crisis put their business at risk. An investor should look for entrepreneurs who can handle adversity with lucidity and maintain their motivation despite obstacles. The case of Airbnb's co-founder illustrates this resilience. In the midst of the 2008 crisis, when Airbnb was struggling to attract users, Chesky and his team decided to start designing their own listings to improve the attractiveness of the offers. This decision was a turning point, allowing the platform to accelerate its adoption and raise its first funds.
When talking to founders, a BA may ask questions like:
What has been the most difficult period since the creation of the startup?
How did you overcome this challenge?
What is your approach to dealing with pressure and uncertainty?
The answers to these questions make it possible to assess the ability of entrepreneurs to stay the course in the storm and to demonstrate a strong mentality.
4. The ability to surround yourself with the right people and delegate
Another classic trap of founders is wanting to control everything. However, a startup that scales must quickly structure its team, attract experts and allow each member to take responsibility. The best entrepreneurs are those who know how to recognize their own limits and surround themselves with complementary talents. A CEO who refuses to delegate and thinks he knows everything better than others often ends up becoming a bottleneck in the development of his startup.
When evaluating a startup, a business angel should seek to understand the dynamics between the co-founders, how decisions are made, and whether there is a true distribution of roles. A red flag is a founder who is hesitant to recruit senior profiles or who minimizes the importance of a good COO or CTO in the structuring of the company.
Why are soft skills a strategic investment criterion ?
Investing in a startup is not just about analyzing a promising market and a good product. Experienced investors know that founders are often the deciding factor in a company's success or failure.
Soft skills (adaptability, emotional intelligence, resilience, leadership and ability to delegate) are powerful indicators of a startup's long-term viability. A business angel who neglects this aspect takes the risk of investing in a team that will not be able to manage the growth, crises or necessary transformations.
During the due diligence process, it is therefore essential to pay as much attention to the human qualities of the founders as to their technical or strategic skills. A startup with a well-rounded founding team with strong soft skills will have a much better chance of turning a good idea into a sustainable entrepreneurial success.
