After Years of Mentoring: The Three Traits I Observed in Entrepreneurs

A common question I get when mentoring founders is, "What are the key personality traits I’ve noticed in successful entrepreneurs?"

The tricky part about answering this is that entrepreneurs are a diverse group. A 20-something AI startup founder isn’t going to have the same traits as a 50-something chef opening a fine dining restaurant.

So, I took a step back and reflected on the patterns I’ve personally observed while working with entrepreneurs across different fields—tech startups, cafes, fashion brands, clinics, and more. Here they are, in reverse order of importance.

1. Risk Taking

Are you, like me, someone who chases adrenaline high—mountain biking, surfing, or maybe even skydiving? We all fall in a spectrum of risk taking - risk aversion, but being an entrepreneur does involve taking some risk, so it’s not surprising that this is a trait I often see in entrepreneurs.  Research also shows that risk takers have a higher likelihood of being entrepreneurs. 

Taking risks is inherent to entrepreneurship. One of the first and most daunting steps is leaving behind the security of a steady paycheck. A question I often get is, “When’s the right time to take a career risk?” I hear this so frequently that I wrote an article just to address it

The risks of starting up are especially higher if you are entering an industry early, before capital and talent are willing to go into the sector.  Back in 2009, when we started our fintech venture capital barely existed in Indonesia, the term “startup” was barely discussed. I struggled to explain to my parents what exactly I was doing. I’ve heard many founders share similar stories—pushback from those closest to them, requiring a leap of faith.

This is also true even in offline businesses.   Take Common Grounds or Anomali Coffee, both launched over a decade ago when the idea of premium coffee in Indonesia meant Starbucks. At the time, local coffee was largely instant sachets or “kopi starling” (coffee sold by bicycle vendors). 

Does this mean that you need a daredevil personality to be an entrepreneur? Not necessarily, I personally met some successful founders who gravitated towards the middle of the risk taking spectrum. Some had no choice to start something as they were laid off and needed new income. Others started side projects and only went full-time when their business could replace their salary.

Research from Germany shows that entrepreneurs who start something with the goal of earning a living wage are just as likely to be risk averse as they are to be risk takers. The common thread is that these businesses weren't in an industry that required large scale or network effects to survive. The brands could grow branch by branch, customer by customer and still make a healthy profit. 

Like any trait, risk-taking exists on a spectrum. So, it's important to match your business model with where you fall on that spectrum. Daredevils might be able to stomach high risk venture bets. Most folks who fall in the middle would likely prefer steady growth. Those in the middle may prefer steady, incremental growth. But if you’re extremely risk-averse, you might want to think twice before diving into entrepreneurship.

2. Openness to New Experiences

Do you consider yourself curious, always exploring new ideas and willing to try different things? If so, you’re likely high on Openness, a trait I’ve found common in entrepreneurs. These people are imaginative, creative, and not afraid to break the mold.

Openness to Experience, one of the Big Five personality traits, is about curiosity and a desire for novelty. People high in this trait are more likely to embrace new ideas, think creatively, and explore different perspectives. Entrepreneurs, especially, benefit from this trait because it fuels innovation and helps them stay adaptive in a rapidly changing environment. Whether it's experimenting with new business models or adjusting to shifting market trends, openness keeps founders ahead of the curve. 

Researchers found that entrepreneurs score significantly higher on Openness than managers. This curiosity is essential in all stages of a business, but especially in the early days when you need to dig deep into customer needs and perspectives to find the right solution.

For example, I was talking to someone who owns an online fashion brand and has been in the industry for almost a decade. He said that when he started there were a cohort of other brands that started with him. In the beginning, many of them were also selling well. But over time only the ones that were willing to evolve stayed successful. 

One reason is of course that trends and tastes change, and the founder that was once fashion forward became old and less in tune with current tastes. The new breed of young brand owners build the next hip labels. 

But it’s not just tastes that changed. Social media changed too, Instagram used to be the thing, but now Tik Tok is it. E-commerce marketplaces also started charging higher commissions, so they all had to reduce the cost of goods sold or increase prices. This means the product has to fundamentally change or you are just passing the burden to customers. In the early days, there weren't much lower priced pieces manufactured in China. Now the market is flooded with them. Entrepreneurs who fail to evolve and cling to past glory will find it hard to stay competitive. 

3. Grit

I debated whether to include this because it seems so basic, but the truth is, grit is non-negotiable in entrepreneurship.

My experience with mentoring entrepreneurs sometimes goes like this : An entrepreneur explains to me the company they are running. During that discussion I would ask questions on not just their vision, but detailed plans for sales, HR issues, or financial numbers like Accounts Receivables and Payables. I’m pretty direct so by the end of it we have two to three tangible steps they could follow up on. 

Yet, out of all these conversations, only one in ten will send me a summary or a follow-up plan. And of those, even fewer actually follow through. The ones who make real progress are the ones who grind it out—who put their heads down, do the work, and come back to me with tangible updates, new challenges, and more questions.

Grit matters most during tough times. I’ve seen two entrepreneurs in F&B with falling sales handle things very differently. One blamed external factors like the weather and competition, adopting a wait-and-see mentality. The other, in even worse straits, took responsibility. She overhauled her inventory system, increased ingredient freshness, filtered out team members without grit, and went to countless events to find new customer segments. It took two years, but she turned her business around.

Grit is non-negotiable because every entrepreneur will face challenging times, and some problems take years to solve.

The importance of a well rounded management team with different traits

There were a few other traits that came up during my discussions and research for writing this article, but I ultimately decided they were not in the top three. 

For example, I don’t believe extraversion is essential for entrepreneurship, despite media portrayals of the charismatic, smooth-talking founder. I’ve had introverted entrepreneurs come to me, exhausted after a day of sales, saying they don’t know if they can keep it up. My advice? Find someone who can do sales for you.

Building a balanced team is crucial. Recently, I was speaking in front of a panel of lawyers, and my friend said this about me, “Aldi’s the biggest risk taker. The kind of guy who’s always got the pedal to the floor. But I saw that in every company he surrounds himself with people who act as brakes. Many people.”

Understanding your blind spots and building a team to complement your strengths is one of the most important steps in building a successful business.