An investor at his desk, looking at his laptop

Data on how founder
teams execute.

Behavioural due diligence: measurable evidence behind your gut feeling, before you invest.

Book a pilot call
Founder team risk

Top founder team risks you care about.

  1. 01Are they aligned??
  2. 02Are they committed??
  3. 03Can they execute??
  4. 04Can they handle conflict??
  5. 05Are they coachable??

Today, interviews and psychometric tests give you hardly any measurable evidence on these risks.

LeanOnMe is the solution for you.

  • Data on the founder teamFor the team and for each founder
  • Measurable evidenceBehind your gut feeling
  • Strengths, blind spots, friction pointsWhere the team is strong and where it breaks
  • Actionable insightsFor you and for the founders

So, what does that look like?

Everything your IC needs on the founder team. In one place.

  • Five team risks, rated Strong, Watch or Risk, for the team and for each founder.

  • Both founders answer separately. You see where their accounts meet and where they split.

  • What each finding means for the deal, and why it matters for your return.

  • In-depth questions for your IC meeting, to get the deepest data on the founder team.

Meridian LabsSeed. Anna Kovac and Rรบben Silva.
WatchOverall
0Strong
2Watch
3Risk

Alignment
Commitment
Execution
Conflict
Coachability
Exit horizon, cross-checkedAsked separately. Neither saw the other's answer.
Anna, CEO
Rรบben, CTO
"We want to become the category leader."
"The goal is to lead the category."
"That takes ten years, and I am in for that."
"If a strong offer comes, we should look at it."
"We have never talked about selling."
"I told Anna I want an exit within three years."
Where the accounts diverge

The three year exit expectation exists on one account only.

RiskAlignment: exit horizon
What it means

The founders are not building toward the same outcome. One plans for ten years, the other expects an exit within three.

Why it matters

Your return needs the long game. A split on exit surfaces at the first offer, often at the worst moment.

Confidence

High. Both accounts are specific, and they diverge on timing.

Follow-up questions for your IC meeting

Alignment: exit horizon

Ask each
Where do you see the company in five years, and what would make you sell?
Test it
An acquirer offers 5x in year three. What do you each want to do?
Go deeper
Who decides on an exit, and when did you last talk about it together?

Your return rides on a handful of outliers.Outliers are won on execution.Now you have the data, before you invest.

Knowledge base

Built on research,
not on a hunch.

60 years of research.
One view of the team.

0sources
0tier one
0evidence points
0behavioural flags
The LeanOnMe knowledge base ยท each square is one sourceThe same sources, by year of publication
1974Tversky and KahnemanHeuristics and biases
1999EdmondsonPsychological safety
2012WassermanFounder's Dilemmas
2020Gompers et al.How VCs decide
1960197019801990200020102020
Books 440Academic papers 217VC sources 190Podcasts 119Founder essays 74Post-mortems and reports 117
47%
of VCs name the founder team as the most important factor in their investment decision.
Gompers, Gornall, Kaplan and Strebulaev (2020), Journal of Financial Economics โ†—
65%
of high-potential startups fail because of conflict among cofounders.
Wasserman (2012), The Founder's Dilemmas โ†—
<4%
of venture capital invested returns 10x or more.
Correlation Ventures, venture returns analysis โ†—

Founded on

Venture capital
meets behavioural science.

  • PhD in Venture CapitalUniversity of St. Gallen
  • Venture capitalInvestor background
  • Behavioural scienceFounder and team dynamics
  • Certified practitionerBehavioural change methods
  • Rotary ScholarEntrepreneurship
  • TEDx speakerTEDxPotsdam, on stress

For founders, it pays back.

Investment or not, they get thorough insights on how to sharpen their operations.

Two cofounders working together at a laptop Private answers Voice or text Today: 10 min

10 minutes a day

What they get

  • Where they complementStrengths that offset each other
  • Shared blind spotsWhere both miss the same thing
  • Decision patternsHow each operates under pressure
  • Conversations worth havingSpecific topics to sharpen operations

Questions investors ask.

  • It does not replace your judgment. It gives it evidence. Interviews show how founders present. LeanOnMe adds how they operate, cross-checked between the founders, so your gut feeling has data behind it.

  • Psychometric tests measure personality at one moment. LeanOnMe collects behavioural data over time, from each founder separately, and cross-checks their accounts. Not a personality test, and not a snapshot.

  • Make it part of your due diligence, as a new standard. It shows founders that the team matters to you as much as the financials. And they get something back, investment or not: where they complement each other, shared blind spots and the conversations worth having. A few minutes a day, each founder answering privately.

  • No. Every finding traces back to what the founders said, with a confidence level. You see the evidence, not just a rating.

  • The data is yours. Answers are used only for the assessment you commission, processed in line with GDPR and POPIA, and reports stay confidential to your fund.

  • Book a demo call. We show you the product, then run it on your next two deals at risk, with success criteria agreed upfront. You pay only if we hit them.

Run it on your next two deals at risk.

How a pilot runs.

  1. 01

    You invite the founders

    One link per founder, sent by you or by us.

  2. 02

    Founders answer, separately

    A few minutes a day, by voice or text. Neither sees the other's answers.

  3. 03

    IC brief and founder report

    You get the IC brief for your investment committee. The founders get their own report on how to work better as a team.