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After working with over 100 founders, we’ve seen it time and again. The founders’ beliefs, behaviors, and decisions shape everything: the culture, the pace, the product, the team. The DNA of the company is set by the person at the top.
Building a 10x company requires becoming a 10x founder. That’s why The 10x Method starts with you.
We’ve identified the 10 traits we believe sets them apart. These traits are mostly learned through experience, so, if you don’t see yourself in every one of them yet, that’s not a problem. These are skills you can build.
As you read through them, ask yourself: How can I apply this today? Where am I already strong? Where do I need to grow? And what’s one thing I can start doing differently now?
1. Have a long-term vision, and the first step to get there
You need to be crystal clear about your vision. Where do you want your company to be in five years? What impact are you trying to create? How will your product shift behavior or redefine an industry?
That vision is your compass, but that’s the easy part in a way. What’s harder and where founders often go off track is the very first step. What you execute on and what needs to happen this week to move in that direction.
A helpful way to visualize this is as a domino effect: today is the first domino, next week is the second, and each one builds momentum toward the final domino, your long-term vision.
Each action today sets up the next until your long-term vision is achieved.
“Each week should be like a sprint where you ask yourself: What hypothesis are we testing this week? That discipline (testing and validating something new every week) is what allows you to learn very fast and figure out: Will your product work? What are your first channels? How do you approach your go-to-market?”
– Rodolphe Ardant, Cofounder of Spendesk
2. Balance conviction with adaptability
To build something new, you have to believe in something that doesn’t exist yet and convince others to believe in it too. That requires bold conviction in your long-term vision. You need to be all-in, willing to push through skepticism.
In parallel, you have to be radically open to feedback: your first instincts might be off, your messaging might not land, your target customer might not care or might not be who you thought they were. If you treat every signal as a threat to your idea, you’ll miss the truth. And if you ignore feedback entirely, you’ll keep refining something that nobody wants.
The solution is to simultaneously be convinced of your vision, and adaptable on the first step - and the second, and the third. Think of each early move as a hypothesis. Your job isn’t to defend it, your job is to test it. If it doesn’t move you closer to the vision, throw it out and try another.
“You have to be ultra bullish on your vision, to give it a real shot at becoming reality. Half-baked tests are dangerous, they lead to false negatives. And simultaneously be ultra flexible in how you interpret feedback and market signals. That tension is hard to manage but it’s the definition of early-stage work.”
– Christophe Pasquier, CEO and Cofounder of Slite
3. Execute relentlessly
In the early stages (and often well beyond) founders must stay hands-on and deeply involved. What makes startups powerful is that the people with the vision are also the ones closest to the work. Unlike in big companies, where layers of management create distance, startups thrive because their founders are in the trenches: building, coding, selling, and learning alongside their users.
It’s about showing up every day to execute relentlessly.
“If a customer mentions a missing feature during a call, and you sense it’s a deal-breaker, you should be able to ship a first version that same evening and get back to them fast.”
– Paul Vidal, CTO and Cofounder of Collective
4. Create velocity with routines
A great way to drive relentless execution and move fast is to build a strong cadence around it. At Hexa, we’ve launched over 50 companies using the same operating rhythm from day one: quarterly goals to set direction, and weekly sprints to maintain momentum.
Quarterly goals
Every 90 days, you zoom out to realign. A company-wide meeting is held to reflect on what’s been accomplished and to set clear goals for the next quarter. Each key area (product, go-to-market...) should leave with a focused set of OKRs. At the early stage, every quarter can bring defining moments: launching your MVP, signing your first users, or closing a funding round.
Weekly sprints
Once the quarter is set, everything comes down to the week. Great founders operate on a weekly cadence tracking core metrics and setting clear goals for the week. This steady rhythm is what builds real momentum.
“The best routine I ever put in place – and stuck to for ten years – was sending an email to the entire team every Sunday evening. A clear, no-frills recap: key metrics, how they moved, and the top priorities for the week ahead. Same format, same discipline, every time. Even when we were 500 or 600 people, I never skipped it, because a company should be run week by week. If we missed our goals, we rolled up our sleeves on Monday and got to work. There were tough weeks, lost clients, but every week was a new shot to bounce back. That ritual was about transparency, intensity, and building a culture of rhythm.”
– Olivier Pailhes, Cofounder of Aircall
5. Keep your ego out of it
Low-ego founders build stronger companies because they focus on what works, rather than on being right. They hire people smarter than themselves, admit when they’re wrong, and ask for help without hesitation. When something isn’t working, they pivot instead of clinging to an idea to protect their identity.
“Low-ego leadership is about choosing what’s right for the company over being right. Great leaders don’t fear being outshined, they look for people who surpass them in every key role.”
– Hichem Mâalmi, Cofounder of Numeral
6. Build together
No founder builds a great company alone. The most ambitious goals are only reached when founders surround themselves with exceptional people who challenge them and complement their strengths. 10x founders stay open to feedback, listen to their employees, and create a culture of collaboration.
“A company is built by the entire team. But it can be undone by the founders alone. The real strength of an early-stage company lies in the ability of its founders to build a great team around them. So my message to other founders, especially in the early days, is simple: don’t let your ego get in the way. The people you hire will often be more expert than you in their domains and that’s exactly what you want.”
– Evan Testa, CEO and Cofounder of Roundtable
7. Think global from day one
Your home market is not your ceiling. In fact, it’s often your biggest constraint.
European founders in particular fall into the trap of building locally first and expanding later. But by then, it’s often too late, the product is overfitted to one market, the messaging doesn’t translate, and the culture isn’t built for scale.
10x founders flip this. They build international from day one:
They speak English internally.
They hire globally, even if the team is small.
They design products with cross-border scalability in mind.
They seek out international design partners, not just local champions.
You don’t need a global footprint on Day 1, but you do need global intent.
“Our mindset was: why limit ourselves? We’re on the internet, there are no borders... If someone wants your product, why say no just because of geography?"
– Jonathan Anguelov, Cofounder of Aircall
8. Be a missionary, not a mercenary
The founders who endure, and win, are chasing impact, not exits.
This doesn’t mean you need to start a nonprofit. It means you have a real belief in what you’re building, and a commitment to long-term value creation. Investors can feel that. So can your team. So can your users.
Mercenaries make short-term bets. Missionaries build long-term momentum.
“We’ve always thought long-term. We’re not here for a quick win or to flip the company. We want to become the European leader in embedded banking.”
– Nicolas Saison, CPO and Cofounder of Swan
9. Build resilience through purpose
What keeps you going when it gets really hard, when the deal falls through, when the product breaks, when the money’s almost gone?
It’s purpose.
The most resilient founders are deeply connected to their “why.” They feel their vision deeply. It’s personal. It fuels them when things get ugly. And that’s what allows them to keep showing up with energy and clarity when others would quit.
Resilience isn’t about pushing through everything blindly. It’s about having a reason that makes the struggle worth it.
“In 2022, I stood in front of the team during an All Hands meeting and announced that 25 people would be leaving that morning... It was incredibly difficult... But making those hard, structural decisions fundamentally changed the company for the better... it helped build a culture where people aren’t afraid to say, ‘We tried, it didn’t work, let’s move on.’”
– Alex Louisy, CEO and Cofounder of Upflow
10. Lead with kindness
The truth is, people want to help kind founders. Employees stay longer. Investors go the extra mile. Fellow entrepreneurs open doors. You’ll move 10x faster with a network that believes in you, and that starts with how you treat people.
This doesn’t mean being soft. It means being respectful, clear, generous with credit, and honest in feedback.
“Ensuring transparency was a big time investment, far more than I’ve seen at most other companies, but to me, it was worth it. It was how I made people feel part of the journey.”
– Mathilde Collin, Cofounder of Front