Relevant to recent discussion on other threads about the difference between founders believing their own bullshit vs the Steve Jobs reality distortion field:<p>"VCs are trying to determine whether this founder will be able to create a compelling story around the company mission in order to attract great engineers, executives, sales and marketing people, etc... Will the leader walk through walls when the going gets tough—which it inevitably will in nearly all startups—and simply refuse to even consider quitting?<p>When Marc and Ben first started Andreessen Horowitz, they described this leadership capability as “egomaniacal.” Their theory—notwithstanding the choice of words—was that to make the decision to be a founder (a job fraught with likely failure), an individual needed to be so confident in their abilities to succeed that they would border on being self-absorbed and egotistical.<p>You have to be partly delusional to start a company, given the low odds of success and the need to keep pushing forward in the face of a constant stream of doubters."