Openness to Experience in Entrepreneurs
The innovation driver
Founders score significantly higher on openness to experience than the general population, a pattern documented across more than 100 studies and confirmed in large-scale samples of startup founders (Freiberg, Hisrich, et al., reviewed in Zhao & Seibert, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2006; Kerr, Kerr, & Xu, NBER 2017).
What is openness to experience?
Openness to experience captures intellectual curiosity, creativity, willingness to experiment, and tolerance for ambiguity. Founders consistently score higher on openness than non-entrepreneurs because high openness is the trait most closely associated with seeing market opportunities others miss.
30 famous founders ranked by openness to experience
Scores on a 0-100 scale. Higher score = more openness to experience.
| Rank | Founder | MBTI | Category | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Steve JobsApple | ENTJ | Visionary | 95 |
| #2 | Elon MuskTesla / SpaceX | INTP | Visionary | 95 |
| #3 | Brian CheskyAirbnb | ENFJ | Builder | 95 |
| #4 | Patrick CollisonStripe | INTJ | Builder | 95 |
| #5 | Paul GrahamY Combinator | INTP | Contrarian | 95 |
| #6 | Naval RavikantAngelList | INTP | Contrarian | 95 |
| #7 | Larry PageGoogle / Alphabet | INTP | Builder | 95 |
| #8 | Sergey BrinGoogle / Alphabet | INTP | Builder | 95 |
| #9 | Walt DisneyThe Walt Disney Company | ENFP | Visionary | 95 |
| #10 | Sam AltmanOpenAI | ENTJ | Visionary | 92 |
| #11 | Marc AndreessenAndreessen Horowitz / Netscape | ENTJ | Contrarian | 92 |
| #12 | Yvon ChouinardPatagonia | INFP | Visionary | 92 |
| #13 | Oprah WinfreyOWN / Harpo | ENFJ | Connector | 90 |
| #14 | Reid HoffmanLinkedIn | ENFP | Connector | 90 |
| #15 | Peter ThielPayPal / Palantir | INTP | Contrarian | 90 |
| #16 | Jack DorseyTwitter / Block | INTP | Contrarian | 88 |
| #17 | Whitney Wolfe HerdBumble | ENFP | Connector | 85 |
| #18 | Bill GatesMicrosoft | INTJ | Builder | 85 |
| #19 | Daniel EkSpotify | INTJ | Builder | 85 |
| #20 | Reed HastingsNetflix | INTJ | Builder | 85 |
| #21 | Melanie PerkinsCanva | ENFJ | Builder | 80 |
| #22 | Queen Elizabeth IEngland | ENTJ | Visionary | 78 |
| #23 | Mark ZuckerbergMeta | INTJ | Builder | 78 |
| #24 | Marc BenioffSalesforce | ENFJ | Connector | 78 |
| #25 | Howard SchultzStarbucks | ENFJ | Connector | 78 |
| #26 | Jeff BezosAmazon | ESTJ | Operator | 75 |
| #27 | Jensen HuangNVIDIA | ISTJ | Builder | 72 |
| #28 | Katrina LakeStitch Fix | ESTJ | Operator | 72 |
| #29 | Travis KalanickUber | ESTP | Operator | 70 |
| #30 | Sara BlakelySpanx | ESFJ | Operator | 65 |
Where would you rank on openness to experience?
Take the Founder Mode entrepreneur personality test to find your openness to experience score on the same 0-100 scale used for the 30 founders above. Free, 10 minute survey.
Top 5: highest openness to experience
Bottom 5: lowest openness to experience
- #30Sara Blakely (ESFJ)65
- #29Travis Kalanick (ESTP)70
- #28Katrina Lake (ESTJ)72
- #27Jensen Huang (ISTJ)72
- #26Jeff Bezos (ESTJ)75
Frequently asked questions
What is openness to experience in the Big Five model?
Openness to experience captures intellectual curiosity, creativity, willingness to experiment, and tolerance for ambiguity. Founders consistently score higher on openness than non-entrepreneurs because high openness is the trait most closely associated with seeing market opportunities others miss.
Do high-openness founders perform better?
Founders score significantly higher on openness to experience than the general population, a pattern documented across more than 100 studies and confirmed in large-scale samples of startup founders (Freiberg, Hisrich, et al., reviewed in Zhao & Seibert, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2006; Kerr, Kerr, & Xu, NBER 2017).
Which famous founder scores highest on openness to experience?
Based on our Big Five estimates, Steve Jobs (Apple, MBTI ENTJ) is the highest-scoring founder on openness to experience 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 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.
Where do you score on openness to experience?
Take the free founder personality test to find your Big Five profile.
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