I’m on a personal mission to eliminate bias in this process and bring data to founders that will help them scale themselves and their teams all the way to successful exit.

The result is six key traits that define founder success and eliminate bias in investment decisions. And, we’ve created a test you can use to benchmark yourself.

In this series, week by week, I will share each of the six traits, the data behind it and why it’s important.

At EQT Ventures, I meet all of the Founders we bring forward for investment. What I’ve learned is that founder success isn’t random: it follows measurable patterns.

Approximately 90% of startups fail.  

That failure rate is high enough to scare promising would-be founders off the journey. It scares me just to look at it.  

In today’s hyper-connected digital landscape, attention is the new currency, and credibility can be won or lost in the second it takes to post. For ambitious tech companies, growth doesn’t just happen because you have a groundbreaking product. It happens when you communicate your story effectively, build authority, and earn trust in the marketplace. That’s why our clients understand that social media, content, and influencer marketing are far more than marketing tactics – they’re the three most powerful levers for growth, credibility, and lead generation they can have. 

I first realised that talent and opportunity don’t always cross paths when I was still a child. Born in France, but growing up between Paris and Tel Aviv, I was brought up in a big family having to navigate two very distinct cultures. That experience taught me very early on that the world isn’t a one-size-fits-all. There are lots of possibilities. But you have to know where to look for them.

The intersection of biotechnology and wearable devices is quickly becoming one of the most exciting frontiers in health-tech. As chronic conditions rise, populations age, and demand grows for real-time, personalised health insights, the global wearables market is projected to surge over the coming decade. 

My hardest lesson from fundraising? You probably don’t need to fundraise. Or at least as much as you thought you did. Fundraising itself is hugely distracting. And once you get a big raise done, now you have investors to manage, board meetings to prep for, and major decisions are now a negotiation. And if you raise money – trust me, you’ll find a way to spend it. After every raise, your monthly costs will step up. That’s fine if revenues rise nicely in line. But it’s a problem if something unexpected happens – and it normally does.

Introduction: The Employment Law Landscape in the UK
Employees based in the UK have a number of mandatory legal protections. Some of these may feel intuitive and obvious to founders, whilst others may take some getting used to.

Introduction: The Funding Landscape
Raising your first investment round is hard work. Founders often spend months cold-emailing investors, refining pitch decks, presenting to rooms of sceptics, and navigating the long road of due diligence. 

It’s been a tricky two years for the deals market here in the UK and the FT’s recent article really emphasises how frustrated founders are feeling. I review and comment on the quarterly data for KPMG’s Venture Pulse reports (KPMG Private Enterprise quarterly global report on venture capital trends) and honestly, even as a glass half full type of person, it’s been hard to stay positive when looking at the stats. How many times can you say ‘there’s still plenty of dry powder which needs to be deployed, we’re just waiting for this period of uncertainty to pass’ before it starts to sound disingenuous?