In The Titanic Effect, we talk about the PEP model for startup founders – Passion, Experience and Persistence. We’ve shared some ideas about Persistence and how to have it. But we’ve been doing research about the importance of passion for the last 5 years or so. So we thought it was time to share what research has shown.

The whole reason that researchers have looked at passion is that they’ve been tracking what leads to startup funding. In the 1980s and 1990s, the primary focus was on understanding what criteria venture capitalists and then angel investors said they used to evaluate venture pitches. One key finding from this time, was that the founder and management team rose above all other criteria. So, researchers looked into why the founder and his team were so important. Investors recognize that creating a scalable startup takes a lot of work, overcoming many challenges. So they wanted to make sure they bet on the right people.