Imagination, persistence and integrity are vital, but the best founders I know possess a unique DNA. Here are some habits of successful entrepreneurs.

1. 10 Things Disruptive
Founders do Better
Than Anyone Else

2. In case you hadn’t noticed, 7.6 billion people, and counting
are going to need more disruptive businesses and there is
no shortage of problems for founders to find, address and
produce.
What does it take?
Imagination, persistence and integrity are vital, but the best
founders I know possess a unique DNA. Looking back to my
first meeting with each of them, they were clearly different.
I’ve tried to unpack the 10 defining elements. The je ne sais
quoi of disruptive founders should not stay a mystery.
Perhaps this article should serve as a self-awareness
checklist for a first-time founder. It may motivate you to get
past what is blocking you or encourage you to join a team.
If your passion is there and you weren’t born to be a
Founder, you may find you can nail it one day.

3. I’m often asked by people, “what do think about this
company, should I invest?”
Now that’s a sucker bet, as if I’m wrong, and say “go for
it” and it crashes I’m bound to be called an idiot. If it
dominates and I say, “perhaps not this one”, and it wins
big, well that’s even worse. So why do I help people?
More on that later.
Unfortunately, there is no Entrepreneur by numbers
book, magic bullet or even a course you can take that
will make you a disruptive founder.
What is true disruption? The impact must be felt by
millions of people.

4. Disruption might be best described as either creating a
brand-new market, or a vastly more efficient process,
distribution or logistics methodology to reach millions.
But a better product alone is not disruptive, it must
change the way the industry works, in fact it is a bit of a
win lose situation.
Is Tesla disrupting the car industry, or fossil fuels?
Is Google disrupting advertising, distribution of
information or libraries?
Is Amazon disrupting books, the post man, retail or the
entire workforce?

5. Perhaps it is more about the way business is done, than
the product. The word itself infers it changes behaviour
of consumers. However, it is more than that, it changes
the financial model for the participants in the industry.
Radically impacting utility or enjoyment is not the
threshold for being disruptive. It is not enough to be
better, cheaper or faster it must be fundamental shift in
behaviour and market position. Its the habits of the
successful entrepreneurs that differentiates them from
the rest.
Here are the 10 attributes I have found in successful
founders.

6. 1. Competitive Mongrel.
(as in fiercely competitive)
“Winning is addictive” my Mum told me when I was 10.
The relentless comparisons between sport and
business is a convenient way to remind us that if you
want to be the best, be prepared to put in a herculean
effort. Only then, can you create a market leading
position. It’s not where you have come from, but what
you are willing to do to get there.
Every successful founder I have worked with since
1999, has a unique blend of competitive mongrel,
mixed with lashings of the other qualities, but for me, it
starts with mongrel.

7. Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelancer Limited, states the fact
that “an A Grade Team with a B grade idea will always
beat a B grade team with an A Grade idea”. Emphasis
on the word beat.
The first time I met Matt, in 2009, I was quizzing him on
his game plan and he reminded me of a well drilled
coach, who had prepared the game plan, and I knew he
was going to win. Just quietly, he knew he would too.
If you want to change the world, you are going to get
some knockers. Australia is famous for its “Tall Poppy”
syndrome. When Matt won Entrepreneur of the Year,
the very next day he came to see me, with a copy of
the BRW magazine which had emblazoned his picture.

8. He wrote on it to me “I couldn’t have done it without
you (yet)”. Nothing short of relentless effort will do. As
competition heats up, the best double their efforts.
Watch this space.
Being competitive does not need to be a selfish trait.
Helping the community and giving back is a common
trait Matt and all disruptive Founders share, but this
characteristic is not unique to disruptive founders.

9. 2. They are obsessed with knowledge
Perhaps obsession is not a strong enough word for
disruptive founders in this category. Mitch Harper
deeply understands the problem. Mitch has lived it,
dreamt about it, and is obsessed with it. However,
knowledge is not gained for consulting purposes but to
execute his game plan.
With this supreme knowledge, that only a few have
obsessed over, a disruptive founder will enlighten their
team, attain viral growth and sustain that velocity.

10. They rarefy the group with their knowledge, whether
on the art of hiring, managing cash like a well-oiled
treasury and allocating resources to provide infinite
optionality. Will they need to raise capital? No, they will
be hunted down by VCs.
Mitch Harper, Co-Founder of BigCommerce, one of
Australia’s world class tech companies, exhibits this
quality. I am lucky enough to see Mitch in action, and
this guy knows his stuff.

11. Mitch has gone on to launch a new company that
implements the competitive advantage his obsession
with knowledge has provided. In building yet another
successful business, he has found a major problem and
is now obsessed with this problem too.
This desire to attack problems and obsession with
detail, or as Mitch calls it, “differentiation by design” is
straight out of the Harper playbook. Watch this space
for yet another world class company.

12. 3. Ruthless honesty
Whilst I believe ethics are the new black, nice girls
don’t have to finish last.
Founders who are caught making false promises,
treating staff as expendable, or relying on gouging
suppliers are destined to fail.
It is the perception of value, rather than the scientific
cost benefit analysis, that engages customers
exponentially.
Naomi Simson, founder of RedBalloon demonstrated
ruthless honesty. The problem with offering
experiences in a marketplace is the perception that
customers must to be paying more if they buy via a
middle man.

13. Naomi’s clever solution was a fully transparent promise
that vendors of experiences will not supply an
experience to anybody cheaper than on the
RedBalloonwebsite. Naomi told me she turned small
businesses into bigger businesses allowing people to
focus on their passions, and leave the marketing, back
end etc to us. Pretty cool.
The simplicity of treating customers as intelligent
consumers worked wonders. I later celebrated with
Naomi and some friends over a well-earned single malt,
when she went on to share her knowledge on Shark
Tank.

14. 4. Curiosity…better again, they just work it out.
The most common question I am by first time founders
as a mentor is “what should I focus on?”
“Should I read blogs, books, go do a course, hang out at
meet ups?” My answer is “you have to work it out!”
“What’s the one thing that would make the biggest
difference to your business or knowledge, in 90 days
and just obsess about that and get it done.”
Most disruptive founders, know this already. He or she
has already worked this out. If you don’t already know
this — you are probably feeling the anxiety of the
process. Go with what you feel. Go! Be Nike — just do
it…

15. Katherine Pace and Aimee Atkins from ELANATION ask
questions of smarter people, and listen intently. The
ladies spent months walking around talking to kids
asking them impressions of their prototype. “Kids are
super honest.” The feedback and research they
obtained was worthy of a thesis on child psychology
and behavioral sciences.
If a kid stopped playing the game or approached it a
different way, they learned to iterate by seeing it
through their eyes. They worked it from every aspect of
the industry including psychology, the best operators,
parent forums, school interactions and policies with
gaming.

16. Katherine Pace and Aimee Atkins from ELANATION ask
questions of smarter people, and listen intently. The
ladies spent months walking around talking to kids
asking them impressions of their prototype. “Kids are
super honest.” The feedback and research they
obtained was worthy of a thesis on child psychology
and behavioral sciences.
If a kid stopped playing the game or approached it a
different way, they learned to iterate by seeing it
through their eyes. They worked it from every aspect of
the industry including psychology, the best operators,
parent forums, school interactions and policies with
gaming.

17. But they didn’t stop there. They scrutinized global
trends, pricing, and the type of investor who might like
what their team was doing. Nothing was left to chance.
“I was lucky enough to mentor them and see them
become amazing (by any standard) at pitching, launch
their product and now scale — Their products are now
sold in 101 stores across Australia and growing.
Matt Dickinson, is a king of arbitrage. He recognises
patterns, and has a black belt in research. He is expert
at overlaying systems and data, has courage to burn
and executes with precision.

18. Matt is widely regarded as an amazing Growth Hacker.
Matt has always been considered one of the best
mentors in Startmate, and in fact helped get me started
with my obsession with scaling companies upon joining
Startmate too.

19. 5. They back themselves
Hardly surprisingly, when hiring, bootstrapping, raising
or scaling, disruptive founders have an innate belief
that they can nail the job at hand. A backward step is
not an option, at least in any exchange.
This should not be confused for arrogance, but in any
situation, from asking someone on a date, to merging
in peak hour traffic or anything tough, if you believe,
people will fall in. I’m not describing a pathological
optimist here because the founder will also possess
many or even all of the 10 characteristics to back up
the confidence.

20. In one meeting I organised for a new founder, Manuri
Gunawardena of HealthMatch exhibited true grit. On
that day, seven highly credentialed industry experts,
including Private Equity Investors heard her pitch.
Unfortunately, one of the attendees proceeded to tell
the founder her silly little start-up had no chance, nor
did she. He spent the next ten minutes cutting her
down, explaining how she didn’t understand the
industry, the process, the costs involved and how she
was simply wasting her time and everyone in the rooms
too.

21. Just as I said “that’s quite enough mate,” he told me he
was finished anyway. Having glanced at the founder to
see if she was ok, she gave me a slight nod and added.
“I accept your points, but don’t agree it can’t be done.”
Then, in the same order of the 10 criticisms, she
articulately recounted how she would deal with each of
his insurmountable hurdles. In my view, she sat him on
his backside.
Needless to say, if I wasn’t already an investor, that
sealed the deal. Sure, this wasn’t going to be easy, but a
disruptive CEO won over some experts in the health
sector that day.

22. 6. They have gravitas and build culture
Culture is often defined as what the business does, but
it’s hard to create and maintain a great culture and
many people simply give it lip service.
“Create a movement, not a job” says Dean McEvoy,
Founder of Spreets and now CEO of Tech Sydney. The
culture he established in Spreets created a buzz in the
office.

23. Camaraderie and equity allocation was spot on. Next
stop, hyper-growth and the rest was history. Doing
something that will be change the world, disrupt an
industry and create excitement in the business is a
super power of disruptive founders.
Overnight success is a myth. It is by establishing
routines, recognising patterns (in multiple contexts),
perpetual iteration and audacious tenacity that
disruptive founders rise to the top.
Not surprisingly, the members of the team Dean
assembled have gone on to so many other successful
companies. Dean’s next challenge; reinvent how
buildings are valued, produce a guaranteed income for
a new restaurant.

24. Enter Icon Park, the highest grossing crowd sourced
restaurant and building in a new type of partnership.
Enthusiasm is infectious and so is Dean. The challenge
of the unknown, pushing yourself and having fun while
you are doing it is winning formula.
I love the mantra Ray Dalio mentions in his book
Principles, “I’m motivated by doing meaningful work
and creating meaningful relationships.” Perhaps this
best encapsulates the concept of culture, or at the least
is a great blueprint for you to build your own.

25. 7. They imagine a better world — aka Vision
The great John Lennon and Dr. Martin Luther King
imagined or dreamt the world into a frenzy. Matt Barrie
of Freelancer also nailed this category!
“Why should a person in San Francisco or Bucharest,
Romania with identical skills, have a 10x difference in
living standards?” Matt asked me. “why are they not
able to feed their family, or commence a start up
without a prohibitive financial hurdle, breach
geographical access to markets?” Matt demanded.
In disruptive style, Freelancer listed on the Australian
Stock Exchange, not NASDAQ. Reinvigorating Australia
as a tech hub, attracting talent and slowing the exodus
across the Pacific was also extremely out there.

26. Freelancer Limited continues to empower a world
without borders and safely settles transactions,
managing cyber security risks with their business
Escrow Inc.
8. They recognize their blind spots
Access to information, fast, has never been better.
Whether for the sake of excellence or a better use of
the Founders’ time, this element is a must. Not
believing your own B.S. is critical.
Self-awareness of your blind spots takes courage and
builds trust with your team. It’s ok to not know
everything. A mentor can often help here, but it starts
with the truth. Obviously, recognizing the blind spots is
the first step to a cure.

27. I won’t point to a founder here, but frankly no one is
perfect. This category overlaps many of the others
mentioned and is compensated abundantly by the
ability to execute.
I will mention myself in this category, and what I do. It’s
about strategy, or as I call it CEO as a Service or CaaS. I
am typically talking to six founders a day and you get
good at asking questions that unlock value.
These blind spots can then be fixed. Common
discussions include problems with a raise, the sizzle in a
pitch deck, staff concerns (hiring, firing) or pricing.

28. Other things that need to be addressed are the
business model, signing up corporate partners,
negotiation with VC and almost always plugging in my
network. It’s simply what I love to do. Living it, learning
and sharing in equal doses with fellow mentors — yep,
I’m obsessed.

29. 9. They are a bit crazy, yep they are whacko.
I’ve heard Niki Scevak, Co -Founder of BlackBird
Ventures, and co-Founder of Startmate, say dozens of
times, “I look for a founder that’s a bit out there or
crazy.”
No rational person wants attention for so many
dysfunctional reasons. The suffering a founder endures
is huge.

30. Whilst in my experience, it’s almost become “cool” to
be a Founder and a Start-up is the old “I have a shell” in
public company parlance, it’s not for everyone. If you
really want to change the world, take on the big
corporates, expose your weaknesses, do more with
less, surrender yourself to relentless days, weeks,
months, hell — years of torture and suffering you just
might have what it takes.

31. 10. They are system and process thinking devotees
but they “just get it” too.
Dr Matthew Cullen, Founding CEO of Tonic Health
Media is a system or process thinker. The right task,
done at the right time by the right person sounds
simple in theory. “At the outset of a new business, I
have to do everything myself,” says Cullen.
Only once a task is done, the process can be mapped. If
it critical to be part of the machine going forward, it
can then be delegated.

32. “In the early phase of a business I hire assuming the
person has the right skills and is a culture fit for an 18-
month stint, if they can evolve, and they stay longer,
that’s a bonus.” A common problem in early phase
businesses is that founders fall in love with their
product, they don’t recognize that their role and indeed
that of the CEO requires a different approach,
personnel, mindset at a 1, 10, 100 and 1000 employee
companies.

33. Cullen says “it’s the same innovative and disruptive
thinking but wrapped into a clear process and approach
to implement the right activities and strategies at
various stages or life cycle of the business. The way I
work in the early days is very different as the business
progresses from early to mid and late phase. A key
dimension in all of this is working out where you add
the most value and delegate progressively those areas
where you add the least value.”

34. Dr Cullen was also Founder and CEO of McKesson Asia
Pacific which was sold to Medibank Private in 2010 for
$140 million. He built the company to a turnover of $75
million with 700 staff across Australia and New Zealand.
It is often said that some people can start a company,
but different skills are required to scale one.
Process thinking with 18 month sprints. Quite simply,
it’s something disruptive founders do better than
anyone else. Meanwhile, I have observed Dr. Cullen
treating his team with respect and all stakeholders with
humility he executes double digit growth Year on year
at Tonic Health Media.

35. The Big Picture
Whilst I don’t know if entrepreneurs have different
neural pathways, they don’t always come from
adversity. It isn’t obvious, or easy to spot one at first.
Perhaps the above 10 elements can be used as a ready
reckoner/checklist or at least a starting point to seeing
yourself as a disruptive founder.
Is this you? Well get on with it.

36. So, who am I?
“Create the future,” is not coincidentally the name of
my new blog. It is what excites me. My own disruptive
journey of starting in an age-old business, accounting,
was by accident, when I couldn’t decide what to do
after school. My stepfather (at the time) said,
“Chartered accountants will inherit the earth.”
I had no idea what this meant at 18, but know as a
coach to entrepreneurs, I have found my calling. On day
one, or perhaps a week into my career, I had decided
pure accounting was not for me. I couldn’t see myself
adding up numbers and focusing on the minutia.

37. Perhaps otherwise I would have never discovered the
world of growing companies, CEOs, negotiating
partnerships, developing talent and doing deals.
Working with some of the smartest people who have
inspired, taught and befriended me has been a
blessing.
If I haven’t mentioned you specifically, trust me, I have
appreciated what you have taught me.

38. So, whether you are a new founder, scaling or about to
IPO, your growth as a person is the vanguard of the
prosperity of your company and everyone in your life.
The freedom this brings will fulfil you, give you more
time for the things you love. You too can build a
disruptive business.
The world you envisage won’t just happen, you have to
create the future.
If you would like some help, check out setup a time and
we can have a chat. Ask us how our Virtual CFO
services have helped many entrepreneurs learn how to
set up a business goal and maximise growth.