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I met 273 startup founders last year, and each one was looking for money as a Tech investor. My goal was to sort through everyone that I met and make a quick determination. But which ones have the potential to make something really big? But what makes a great founder? This is a question, I ask myself daily. Some venture capitalists place bets based on the founder's previous background. Did they go to an Ivy League school? Have they worked at a blue chip company? Have it built out a big vision before effectively, Health Mart is this person other veces assess the founders emotional quotient or seek you how well will this person build teams and build report across customers and clients? I have a different methodology to assess startup founders so and it's not complicated. I look for signs of one specific trait. Not like you, not E. Q.

It's adaptability how well a person reacts to the inevitability of change and lots of it. That's the single most important determinant for me. I subscribe to the belief that adaptability itself is a form of intelligence, and our adaptability quotient or a Q is something that could be measured, tested and improved. A que isn't just useful for startup founders. However. I think it's increasingly important for all of us because the world is speeding up. We know that the rate of technological change is accelerating, which is forcing our brains to react. Whether you're navigating changing job conditions brought on by automation, shifting geopolitics in a more globalized world or simply changing family dynamics and personal relationships, each of us as individuals, groups, corporations and even governments are being forced to grapple with more change than ever before in human history. So how do we assess our adaptability?

I use three tricks when meeting with founders. Here's the first, think back to your most recent job interview. What kind of questions? Where you asked. Probably some variation of Tell me about a time when, right Instead to interview for adaptability. I like to ask, what if questions? What if your main revenue stream, where to dry up overnight? What if a heat wave prevented every single customer from being able to visit your store asking what if, instead of asking about the past, forces the brain to simulate to picture multiple possible versions of the future? The strength of that vision, as well as how many distinct scenario someone can conjure,

tells me a lot. Practicing simulations is a sort of safe testing ground for improving adaptability. Instead of testing how you take in and retain information like an I Q test might it tests how you manipulate information given a constraint in order to achieve a specific goal? The second trick that I use to sass, adaptability and founders is to look for signs of unlearning active on learners, stick to challenge what they presume to already know and instead override that data with new information. I kind of like a computer running disk cleanup. Take the example of Destin Sandlin, who programmed his bicycle to turn left when he started right and vice versa. He called this his backwards brain bike, and it took him in nearly eight months just to learn how to ride it. Kind of sort of. Normally, the fact that Dustin was able to unlearn his regular bike in favor of a new one, though, signals something awesome about our adaptability.

It's not fist. Instead, each of us have the capacity to improve it through dedication and hard work. On the last page of Gandhi's autobiography, he wrote, I must reduce myself to zero at many points. In his very full life, he was still seeking to return to a beginner's mind, set 20 to unlearn In this way, I think it's pretty safe to say Gandhi had a high IQ. You score the third and final trick that I used to assess the founders. Adaptability is to look for people who infuse exploration into their life and their business. There's a sort of natural tension between exploration and exploitation, and collectively all of us tend to overvalue exploitation. Here's what I mean. In the year 2000 a man finagled his way into a meeting with John Auntie O,

co CEO Blockbuster, and proposed a partnership to manage blockbusters fledgling online business. The CEO, John laughed him out of the room, saying, I have millions of existing customers, and thousands of successful retail stores really need to focus on the money. The other man in the meeting, however, turned out to be Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix. In 2018 Netflix brought in $15.8 billion. Well, blockbuster father bankruptcy in 2010 directly. 10 years after that meeting, the blockbuster CEO was too focused on exploiting his already successful business model,

so much so that he couldn't see around the next corner. In that way, his previous success became the enemy of his adaptability potential for the founder's that I work with a frame exploration as a state of constant seeking to never fall too far in love with your winds but rather continue to proactively seek out what might kill you next. When I first started exploring adaptability, the thing I found most exciting is that we can improve it. Each of us has the capacity to become more adaptable, but think of it like a muscle. It's got to be exercised. And don't get discouraged if it takes a while. Remember Dustin Sandlin? It took him eight months just to learn how to ride a bike over time, using the tricks that I use on Founder's asking. What if questions actively unlearning and prioritising exploration of over exploitation? I can put you in the driver's seat so that the next time something big changes you're already prepared. We're entering a future where I Q and seek you both matter way less than how faster able to adapt. So I hope that these tools help you to raise your own. A cue. Thank you

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