r/startups • u/Dear_Jellyfish_1683 • 23h ago
I will not promote Why do so many male startup founders have the same traits? I will not promote.
I’ve noticed something interesting about male startup founders. They often seem to fit a specific mold: lean muscular build, regular gym habits, heavy coffee drinkers, driving expensive cars, reading books, good-looking, living in sleek apartments, and having a dominant personality. Is this just a stereotype, or is there something real behind it? Why do so many male founders share these traits? I’m not a startup founder myself, but I look up to successful people and associate these traits with success or likability. I live in an apartment with a roommate, drink maybe one coffee a day, and don’t have a commanding presence. It makes me wonder if I’m missing something to come across as successful or make a good impression. What do you think? What’s driving this pattern, and does it even matter?
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u/daynightcase 23h ago
lmao wtf? I have never met any founder like that. And I attend shit tone of events
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u/Dear_Jellyfish_1683 23h ago
I have never been to an event. Its just something I see on Internet
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u/NoWarning789 23h ago
Yeah, I think you need to attend the events to meet the people.
But you can also expand what you look at. Look at the YouTube videos of MicroConf, Y Combinator, things like that. You'll get a better idea.
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u/TheRedSplat 23h ago
Are they selling courses?
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u/Dear_Jellyfish_1683 23h ago
Tbh, yes. I see them a lot of Instagram and YouTube.
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u/SuperCl4ssy 23h ago
You got the answer
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u/Dear_Jellyfish_1683 23h ago
I understand people call them fake and all, but idk, they have money
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u/ActiveDinner3497 22h ago
They don’t have money. They are what we call “house poor”. They look good on media but they are in debt up to their eyeballs and sleeping on a mattresses in a dump. You see the things they are borrowing or renting for the purpose of making their videos. Find the guys grinding every day and backing everything they say up with numbers. Hell, watch some Shark Tank. That’s eye opening.
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u/Ok_Possible_2260 23h ago
Very handsome and well-kempt. Most founders are very focused on their looks and not their business. So they spent all their time on their looks, in the gym and also decorating their apartment. Young Bill Gates is a example of this.
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u/Future_Usual_8698 23h ago
Look at how Founders started out, read the story of the founding of amazon, read the story of the founding of Dell computer, read the story of the founding of lots of major companies.
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u/random-meme850 23h ago
Look at Mark Leonard, CEO and founder of constellation software. Hardly fits that.
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u/NoWarning789 23h ago
That is not representative of the founders I know.
I'd recommend going to entrepreneurship meetups and events. What you are describing sounds like YouTube shorts.
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u/yesimahuman 23h ago
Stop reading so much tech media. There is a wide range of personalities out there. In fact, the founder/CEO role I’ve found to always be a wide range between hardcore nerds that would never fit as a classic public company CEO archetype, to really sales driven CEOs, to artist/creative types. I was more the former and would also never consider my build lean 😂
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u/LoadedRhino 23h ago
The pattern doesn't fully matter. That is, none of them are necessary to be a successful founder. They all help though. Because these traits help achieve success, they are commonly seen. Furthermore, success feeds back many of these traits.
Lean build, good looks: these help get you noticed.
Gym habit: helps the lean build. Also helps with the health and energy needed to be a founder. It's also easier to do when you can afford to eat well, work with a trainer, etc.
Expensive cars, sleek apartments: these come after success. There is a feedback into second and third success, because it signals a safe investment. Success begets success.
Coffee drinkers: coffee is a net neutral drug. It gives higher peaks and lower lows, much like a weaker cocaine or meth. Unlike those drugs though, it doesn't exact much toll from physical and mental health. Founders get good at producing during the peaks.
Dominant personality: this one is actuality crucial. You need to be tough, tough, tough to get through to a successful start up. But, it can also be learned by practice. So I'm saying it's crucial here, but i said not necessary at the top? It's not needed to start. I've seen several meek founders figure this out (myself included). But it must be learned to achieve success. Get grit quick. Otherwise you get chewed up and spat out.
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u/GroundBreakr 23h ago
Have you done a Disc profile? It's pretty interesting & worth learning about. I think they go to the gym to clear their heads & get away from work. Eventually anyone would get ripped if you just go 2-3 days a week for several years. It's really about finding a passion to keep you motivated.
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u/ActiveDinner3497 22h ago
90% of startups fail, a quarter of them within the first year. I know 2-3 personally who ran themselves into the ground driving flashy vehicles and throwing money around like it’s water. Sure they made it about 5-6 years but the fiscal accountability and lack of strategic growth as they built eventually caught up with them. I know 2 personally who look like average Joes, started in garages or tiny offices, but sold their companies for millions and now putter around with new businesses for fun. Even Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg didn’t leave their “nerdy” phase until they were multimillionaires.
The reading and being able to hold your own in a room of executives is important. However, there’s a fine line between being confident in your field and being a dick. Having a solid CFO that is willing to tell you “no”, the ability to present to investors and clients well, the passion to sell your vision, with the numbers to back up why, will get you a lot further than a gym membership or drinking fancy coffee.
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u/Connect_Tomatillo_48 22h ago
Because most startup founders are also into self improvement so it’s only natural that these things go hand in hand
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u/StartupsAndTravel 17h ago
I have been in/around/running/investing/coaching/mentoring startups for 25 years and that is not any mold I've noticed. I would say one thing that is a data point: a disproportionate number of founders are the oldest child.
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u/RobertMacMillan 23h ago
Those are the well promoted, rich ones you see.
There are plenty of highly profitable founders just living their lives and look like normal guys, all of them have a strong ability to focus, that's probably the biggest shared trait.
What you described is "generally an attractive man", it's no wonder the ones more prone to showing themselves visually/self image promotion look like that or work to look like that.
Basically, selection bias.