Founder Psychology Index

22 living founders · Big Five and 10 entrepreneurial traits · every score cited · updated 2026-08-17

The Founder Psychology Index scores living founders on the Big Five personality model and ten entrepreneurial traits, on a 0 to 100 scale, with every score linked to a dated public source. It currently covers 22 founders including David Heinemeier Hansson, Michael Ovitz, Scott Wu, Jonathan Ross. Unlike crowd-voted personality sites, each profile publishes the specific evidence behind each score, and MBTI types are derived from the Big Five scores rather than assigned by popular vote.

The index

Founders in the index with derived MBTI type and headline trait scores
Founder	Company	MBTI	Risk	Intensity	Primary source
David Heinemeier Hansson	37signals	ENTP	70	40	Interview, 2026-07-26
Michael Ovitz	Creative Artists Agency (CAA)	ENTJ	82	95	Interview, 2026-08-09
Scott Wu	Cognition AI	INTJ	80	90	Interview, 2026-06-28
Jonathan Ross	Groq	ENTJ	92	88	Interview, 2026-07-05
Travis Kalanick	Uber; now CEO of CloudKitchens and Atoms	ESTP	95	95	Interview, 2026-08-16
Michael Dell	Dell Technologies	ESTJ	88	90	Interview, 2025-10-12
James Dyson	Dyson Ltd	INTJ	90	92	Interview, 2025-12-07
Brad Jacobs	QXO; previously XPO Logistics, United Rentals, United Waste Systems	ENTJ	90	92	Interview, 2025-10-26
David Baszucki	Roblox	ENTJ	78	82	Interview, 2026-04-26
Todd Graves	Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers	ESTJ	95	95	Interview, 2025-11-09
Strauss Zelnick	ZelnickMedia; Take-Two Interactive	ENTJ	78	95	Interview, 2026-05-18
Adam Foroughi	AppLovin	ENTJ	85	90	Interview, 2026-05-03
Eric Glyman	Ramp	ENTJ	78	88	Interview, 2026-07-12
Lulu Cheng Meservey	Rostra	ENTJ	82	88	Interview, 2026-08-12
Micky Malka	Ribbit Capital	ENTJ	88	85	Interview, 2026-08-02
Ed Catmull	Pixar Animation Studios; Walt Disney Animation Studios	INTJ	72	85	Interview, 2026-06-14
Brian Armstrong	Coinbase	INTJ	90	85	Interview, 2026-03-01
Tobi Lütke	Shopify	INTJ	82	80	Interview, 2026-01-18
Marc Andreessen	Andreessen Horowitz; previously Netscape	ENTJ	90	92	Interview, 2026-03-15
Steve Stoute	UnitedMasters; previously Translation	ENTJ	82	85	Interview, 2026-06-21
Gustav Söderström	Spotify	ENTJ	72	82	Interview, 2026-06-07
Jeff Zalaznick	Major Food Group	ENTJ	82	90	Interview, 2026-07-19

Founders ranked by trait

Work Intensity

Resilience

Technical Depth

Risk Tolerance

Questions about this index

How are these founder personality scores produced?

Each founder is scored 0 to 100 on the Big Five and on ten entrepreneurial traits. Every score is an inference from public statements and documented behaviour, and each is published alongside the specific dated, linkable source that supports it. MBTI types are derived from the Big Five scores rather than assigned separately.

Are these clinical assessments?

No. They are interpretations of the public record for educational and comparative purposes. They are not diagnoses, and no subject has been assessed directly. Subjects are not affiliated with Founder Mode and have not endorsed these profiles.

Which founder scores lowest on work intensity?

David Heinemeier Hansson scores 40 out of 100 on work intensity, the lowest in the index. That position is deliberate: he co-authored a book arguing that chronic overwork reflects poor management rather than commitment.

Which founder scores highest on resilience?

James Dyson scores 98 out of 100 on resilience, the highest in the index, based on documented decisions taken when Dyson Ltd was weeks from running out of money.

Can I use this data?

Yes. The index is published under CC BY 4.0 and a machine-readable version is available at https://enterfoundermode.com/founder-psychology/dataset.json. Attribution to Founder Mode (enterfoundermode.com) is required.

How is this index built?

Each founder is scored 0 to 100 on the five Big Five dimensions and on ten entrepreneurial traits. Scores are inferences drawn from public statements and documented behaviour. Each profile publishes the specific evidence behind its scores, with the source name, a link, and a date, so any claim can be checked independently.

MBTI types are derived from the Big Five scores using a fixed rule rather than assigned separately, so the type and the underlying scores can never disagree. The same 0 to 100 scale is used by the Founder Mode assessment, which makes a reader’s own result directly comparable to any founder here. Full detail is on the methodology page.

These are interpretations of the public record for educational and comparative purposes. They are not clinical assessments or diagnoses. No subject has been assessed directly, none is affiliated with Founder Mode, and none has endorsed these profiles.

Use this data

The index is published under CC BY 4.0. A machine-readable version is available at /founder-psychology/dataset.json. Attribution to Founder Mode (enterfoundermode.com) is required.

Portrait credits

Portraits are used only where a permissive licence could be verified. Founders without one are shown as a monogram rather than with an image of uncertain rights.

David Heinemeier Hansson: David Merrett from Daventry, England, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Scott Wu: ICPCNews, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Travis Kalanick: Dan Taylor, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Michael Dell: Village Global, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
James Dyson: Royal Society uploader, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
David Baszucki: Village Global, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Todd Graves: Jiw900, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Strauss Zelnick: Christopher Michel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Micky Malka: Christopher Michel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Ed Catmull: Web Summit, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Brian Armstrong: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Tobi Lütke: Benjamin Forrest, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Marc Andreessen: JD Lasica, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Steve Stoute: Marsha Miller, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

Every profile cites its own evidence inline. The recurring primary sources across the index are listed here.

30 founder archetypes you can match to — the archetypes used by the assessment
Big Five traits in entrepreneurs — the research behind each dimension
MBTI types for founders — what each type means in a startup context