Extraversion in Entrepreneurs: Founders Ranked + Big Five Research

Name: Famous founders ranked by Extraversion
Creator: Founder Mode

Extraversion predicts entrepreneurial intention and short-term fundraising success but has a smaller effect on actual venture survival than conscientiousness (Zhao, Seibert & Lumpkin, Journal of Management, 2010, meta-analysis).

What is extraversion?

Extraversion captures sociability, assertiveness, positive emotion, and energy drawn from social interaction. Extraverted founders excel at fundraising, recruiting, and sales but extraversion is less predictive of long-run startup success than conscientiousness.

30 famous founders ranked by extraversion

Scores on a 0-100 scale. Higher score = more extraversion.

Rank	Founder	MBTI	Category	Score
#1	Oprah WinfreyOWN / Harpo	ENFJ	Connector	95
#2	Marc BenioffSalesforce	ENFJ	Connector	88
#3	Howard SchultzStarbucks	ENFJ	Connector	88
#4	Reid HoffmanLinkedIn	ENFP	Connector	85
#5	Walt DisneyThe Walt Disney Company	ENFP	Visionary	82
#6	Travis KalanickUber	ESTP	Operator	82
#7	Brian CheskyAirbnb	ENFJ	Builder	80
#8	Whitney Wolfe HerdBumble	ENFP	Connector	80
#9	Sara BlakelySpanx	ESFJ	Operator	75
#10	Marc AndreessenAndreessen Horowitz / Netscape	ENTJ	Contrarian	72
#11	Steve JobsApple	ENTJ	Visionary	70
#12	Melanie PerkinsCanva	ENFJ	Builder	70
#13	Sam AltmanOpenAI	ENTJ	Visionary	68
#14	Queen Elizabeth IEngland	ENTJ	Visionary	65
#15	Jeff BezosAmazon	ESTJ	Operator	60
#16	Katrina LakeStitch Fix	ESTJ	Operator	60
#17	Elon MuskTesla / SpaceX	INTP	Visionary	55
#18	Jensen HuangNVIDIA	ISTJ	Builder	55
#19	Mark ZuckerbergMeta	INTJ	Builder	55
#20	Patrick CollisonStripe	INTJ	Builder	50
#21	Sergey BrinGoogle / Alphabet	INTP	Builder	50
#22	Reed HastingsNetflix	INTJ	Builder	48
#23	Paul GrahamY Combinator	INTP	Contrarian	45
#24	Peter ThielPayPal / Palantir	INTP	Contrarian	45
#25	Naval RavikantAngelList	INTP	Contrarian	45
#26	Daniel EkSpotify	INTJ	Builder	42
#27	Bill GatesMicrosoft	INTJ	Builder	40
#28	Jack DorseyTwitter / Block	INTP	Contrarian	40
#29	Yvon ChouinardPatagonia	INFP	Visionary	40
#30	Larry PageGoogle / Alphabet	INTP	Builder	35

Where would you rank on extraversion?

Take the Founder Mode entrepreneur personality test to find your extraversion score on the same 0-100 scale used for the 30 founders above. Free, 10 minute survey.

Find your score

Top 5: highest extraversion

Bottom 5: lowest extraversion

Frequently asked questions

What is extraversion in the Big Five model?

Extraversion captures sociability, assertiveness, positive emotion, and energy drawn from social interaction. Extraverted founders excel at fundraising, recruiting, and sales but extraversion is less predictive of long-run startup success than conscientiousness.

Do high-extraversion founders perform better?

Extraversion predicts entrepreneurial intention and short-term fundraising success but has a smaller effect on actual venture survival than conscientiousness (Zhao, Seibert & Lumpkin, Journal of Management, 2010, meta-analysis).

Which famous founder scores highest on extraversion?

Based on our Big Five estimates, Oprah Winfrey (OWN / Harpo, MBTI ENFJ) is the highest-scoring founder on extraversion in our 30-founder dataset.

How are these scores estimated?

Big Five scores for each founder are estimated from publicly documented behavior, interviews, biographies, and shareholder letters. They are calibrated against academic research on founder personality. They are best treated as informed estimates for educational and comparative purposes, not clinical assessments. See the methodology page for full details.

Other Big Five traits

Openness to Experience

The innovation driver

Conscientiousness

The execution engine

Agreeableness

Lower is often better

Neuroticism

The resilience factor

Extraversion in living founders

The Founder Psychology Index scores 22 living founders on this same 0-100 scale, with every score linked to a dated public source. Examples include David Heinemeier Hansson, Michael Ovitz, Scott Wu.