In the fast-paced and high-stakes world of entrepreneurship, self-awareness is often an overlooked but crucial element of success. Founders, tasked with navigating volatile markets, securing investor confidence, and leading teams under pressure, can benefit significantly from understanding their inherent leadership styles. Recognizing this gap, Dream VC, a prominent venture capital (VC) institute and corporate venture capital (CVC) practice, has launched the KMBC Ultimate Wildcard Test, an innovative psycho-personality assessment designed to decode the leadership and entrepreneurial traits of startup founders and business executives worldwide.
A data-driven approach to founder personalities
The KMBC Ultimate Wildcard Test is grounded in rigorous psychological and leadership research, drawing from five widely accepted models, including the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and other entrepreneurial frameworks. Unlike traditional personality assessments, which often remain broad and theoretical, this tool distills leadership styles into four distinct archetypes:
King Founder – Focused on long-term sustainability, control, and legacy-building.
Merchant Founder – Driven by profitability, market capture, and financial success.
Builder Founder – Motivated by innovation, problem-solving, and the creation of new solutions.
Celebrity Founder – Prioritizes public perception, social influence, and personal branding.
By answering 55 meticulously crafted questions, participants receive a customized profile that sheds light on their motivations, productivity habits, delegation approaches, leadership dynamics, sales orientation, and creative processes.
Strategic implications for founders and investors
For startup founders, understanding one’s leadership archetype is more than an academic exercise—it is a strategic advantage. In an environment where leadership misalignment can result in poor decision-making, ineffective team dynamics, and investor skepticism, tools like the KMBC Test provide an opportunity for self-reflection and targeted growth.
Moreover, this test is not solely beneficial for founders. Investors, particularly venture capitalists and corporate venture capital firms, can leverage the KMBC Test as a due diligence tool. By assessing the entrepreneurial mindsets of potential investees, investors can gain deeper insight into how founders make decisions, handle crises, and align with long-term business objectives. Given the high failure rate of startups, investors increasingly prioritize founder-market fit alongside product-market fit. The KMBC Test could serve as an additional layer of qualitative analysis to supplement financial and market due diligence.
“As much as startups focus on external factors—funding, product development, and scaling—internal factors such as leadership styles and founder decision-making processes can be the difference between success and failure,” said Mark Kleyner, Co-CEO at Dream VC and a key researcher behind the KMBC Test. “This tool acts as a mirror, helping founders and investors alike to better understand leadership tendencies and improve business outcomes.”
An African-informed global tool
One of the most compelling aspects of the KMBC Test is its deep integration of insights from over 40 African startup ecosystems spanning North, East, West, Central, and Southern Africa. Unlike many Western-centric leadership assessments, which may not fully capture the complexities of emerging market entrepreneurship, the KMBC Test was developed with contributions from venture capital investors, impact investors, private equity experts, and members of Dream VC’s extensive alumni network.
This regional specificity ensures that the test is not only applicable to global startup founders but also highly relevant to entrepreneurs operating in emerging economies, where business challenges—such as infrastructure limitations, regulatory unpredictability, and talent acquisition—demand unique leadership approaches.
A new benchmark for leadership assessment?
While personality tests and leadership assessments are not new, the KMBC Ultimate Wildcard Test offers a fresh, tailored approach for the startup world. It moves beyond conventional corporate leadership frameworks and delves into the dynamic, high-risk, and often unpredictable nature of entrepreneurship. The test is now available online for free, allowing founders, executives, and business leaders to gain actionable insights into their leadership DNA.
By enabling self-reflection and supporting investors in their evaluation processes, the KMBC Test could become a valuable industry standard in the VC ecosystem. As the startup world continues to evolve, tools that enhance strategic leadership awareness will likely play a critical role in shaping the next generation of successful entrepreneurs.
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