Founder Archetypes

Choose your class. Know your stats. Find your VCs.

(RPG mechanics applied to startup fundraising)

Every founder is playing an RPG they didn't know they signed up for.

You have stats. You have abilities. You have weaknesses. And just like in D&D, VCs are looking for specific builds for specific quests. A level 5 Visionary can't tank a B2B SaaS grind. A level 10 Builder won't survive a consumer social fundraise without charisma buffs.

Know your class. Play to your strengths. Find investors who fund your archetype.

⚔️ The Four Founder Classes ⚔️

🔮
The Visionary
"I see the future. Building it is someone else's problem."
Charisma 9/10
Vision 10/10
Execution 3/10
Technical 2/10
Sales 8/10

Special Abilities

Reality Distortion Field: Can convince anyone of anything for exactly 30 minutes. Perfect for pitch meetings.
Trend Prediction: Sees the future 3 years ahead. Whether they can build it is another story.
Narrative Weaving: Turns any feature into a paradigm shift. Turns any bug into a pivot.

Critical Weaknesses

Can't ship. Everything is always "almost ready".
Needs a co-founder who actually codes.
Dies instantly in technical due diligence.

VCs Who Fund This Class

Early-stage generalists who bet on storytelling. a16z (if you're REALLY good), First Round (if you have traction), Sequoia (if you're Zuckerberg-level charismatic).

Warning: You need traction to survive. Vision alone stopped working in 2022.

⚙️
The Builder
"I shipped 3 features while you were writing that email."
Charisma 3/10
Vision 5/10
Execution 10/10
Technical 10/10
Sales 2/10

Special Abilities

Infinite Shipping: Can build and deploy an MVP over a weekend. Actually does this regularly.
Technical Credibility: VCs trust you know what you're doing. Because you actually do.
Cost Efficiency: Bootstraps to $1M ARR while others burn through seed rounds.

Critical Weaknesses

Can't pitch. Fumbles in investor meetings.
Builds features nobody asked for.
Dies on sales calls. Literally cannot close.

VCs Who Fund This Class

Technical VCs who read your code during diligence. Index Ventures, Benchmark, YC (they love builders), technical angels.

Pro tip: Let your product do the talking. Show metrics, not slides.

💰
The Hustler
"I closed 5 deals today. Product? What product?"
Charisma 9/10
Vision 6/10
Execution 8/10
Technical 1/10
Sales 10/10

Special Abilities

Revenue Generation: Sells products that don't exist yet. Closes deals before the demo works.
Network Effect: Knows everyone. Gets warm intros to any VC within 2 hops.
Grit: Will cold call 100 prospects in a day without dying inside.

Critical Weaknesses

Product is held together with duct tape and prayers.
Over-promises, under-delivers. Constantly.
Churn is high because product can't deliver on sales promises.

VCs Who Fund This Class

B2B focused VCs who care about revenue above all. Boldstart, Stage 2, any VC who tweets about "founder-led sales".

Best for: Enterprise SaaS. Worst for: Deep tech (you'll die in diligence).

🦄
The Hybrid
"I can code AND pitch. Yes, we exist."
Charisma 7/10
Vision 7/10
Execution 8/10
Technical 7/10
Sales 7/10

Special Abilities

Omnipotence: Can switch between coding, pitching, and selling without breaking stride.
VC Magnet: Every VC wants you. You're the founder they tell LPs about.
Term Sheet Speedrun: Closes rounds in 2 weeks. Because you're that good.

Critical Weaknesses

Extremely rare. You might not actually be this (sorry).
Burn out risk is 10x because you do everything.
High expectations = high pressure = high failure rate.

VCs Who Fund This Class

Everyone. Literally everyone wants to fund you. You're the unicorn founder VCs dream about.

Reality check: Most "hybrids" are actually 6/10 across the board, not 9/10. Know the difference.

🎲 Discover Your Archetype 🎲

Answer these questions honestly. Your fundraising strategy depends on knowing your real stats.

1. You have $50K and 6 months. What do you do first?
Write a 20-page vision doc and start pitching VCs immediately
Lock myself in a room and build an MVP that actually works
Start selling before the product exists. Presales = validation
Build for 2 months, then sell for 4 months, iterate based on feedback
2. A VC asks "Why you?" in a pitch meeting. You say:
Launch into a 10-minute story about your destiny and unique insights
"I've already built 80% of this. Look at my GitHub."
"I closed $100K in revenue last month. That's why me."
"I can build it, sell it, and scale it. Here's proof for each."
3. Your biggest fear is:
Nobody understands my vision
Building the wrong thing
Running out of leads
Burning out from doing everything
4. When users complain about a bug, you:
Explain it's actually a feature they don't understand yet
Fix it immediately and ship a patch within hours
Smooth-talk them into a workaround while you figure it out
Apologize, fix it fast, then follow up personally to ensure satisfaction
5. Your ideal co-founder is:
Someone who can actually build what I envision
Someone who can sell so I can stay in my code cave
A technical wizard who makes my sales promises reality
Someone equally versatile who can share the load

📊 Class Comparison Matrix 📊

Attribute Visionary 🔮 Builder ⚙️ Hustler 💰 Hybrid 🦄
Best For Consumer social, moonshots Dev tools, B2B SaaS Enterprise sales Everything (if real)
Fundraise Speed Fast (if charismatic) Medium (need traction) Fast (revenue talks) Very fast
Survival Rate Low without co-founder Medium (product risk) Medium (tech debt risk) High (burnout risk)
Needs Co-founder? YES (builder) YES (seller) YES (builder) No, but helpful
Can Bootstrap? No Yes Yes Yes
VC Appeal High (early stage) Medium (technical VCs) High (revenue stage) Very high

The Meta-Game Truth

Here's what VCs won't tell you: they don't fund archetypes, they fund traction.

A Visionary with $50K MRR gets funded. A Builder with 0 users doesn't. A Hustler with revenue but broken product eventually fails. A Hybrid who can't ship is just a procrastinator.

The real game:

The Visionary who pairs with a Builder? Unstoppable. The Builder who learns to pitch? Funded in weeks. The Hustler who hires great engineers? Exits for 9 figures.

Your archetype is your starting class. Your endgame is leveling up the stats you're missing.

you've unlocked the founder class system

← back to reality | ← read the prophecy | read your cap table →