Founder Institute rising.

The latest issue of Entrepreneur Magazine just came out and it was great to see Adeo Ressi, creator of the Founder Institute, on the cover.  In this issue, he, along with other entrepreneurs talk about the characteristics of a startup founder. The print version of the magazine also has some sample questions so that you can take a quick version of the Founder Institute test to determine (initially) if you have entrepreneurial DNA.  The full version of the test can be taken here.

For accelerators, it’s important to be very careful in selecting the candidates  with whom they will be working.  Most, such as YCombinator, choose based on a number of criteria that they discern from an online application and in-person interview.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Founder Institute decided to use an online aptitude exam that tests for a variety of characteristics.  It’s an interesting and unique approach.

In the article, Adeo talks about these characteristics, which include fluid intelligence, openness and moderate agreeableness.  There are pro’s and con’s to the different methods by which accelerators and incubators select the founders with whom they will be working.  Nonetheless, for cities outside of Silicon Valley (particularly in emerging markets) where the investment ecosystem is just developing and experience with startups is still nascent, being able to test for aptitude and correlate with entrepreneurs around the world (particularly those who graduated and went on to succeed), is of tremendous help.

As in all the Founder Institute chapters around the world, only a small percentage of the graduates of Founder Institute Colombia graduate (about a fourth) and an even smaller percentage (about a third of these) take their startup to the next level.  That’s because measuring aptitude (even if we could measure it 100% accurately, which we can’t) is not enough.  The most important thing is putting these founders in front of mentors who have their own growing startups and real world experience so that these can measure the founders’ commitment, determination and thought process in coming up with the idea.

I think there’s a lot to be said for natural born entrepreneurs that figure things out, launch their companies and make them successful.  Nonetheless, in a nascent ecosystem such as Colombia’s, giving new entrepreneurs with potential a hand, in my mind, makes sense and the evidence I’m now seeing five years later validates it even more for me.  These are potential entrepreneurs who, perhaps, had previously been more focused on making a living and hadn’t seen the entrepreneur route as viable in such a country.  Having them interact with mentors who have built their own companies inside and outside of Colombia, is a practical way to give them a fighting chance.

Now, the Founder Institute may be able to complement the impact it is already having with the incubator, by launching a new investment fund called Expansive Ventures that will look for interesting early stage startups from around the world whether they have gone through the program or not.

More on that later.  In the meantime, we should be opening up application for the Founder Institute Colombia in February.  You will be able to apply and take the aforementioned exam by clicking here.  Stay tuned.