We studied 7,000 entrepreneurs, comparing their attitudes to their business results. The insights were surprising.
This story appears in the
January 2025
issue of
Entrepreneur.
What’s more important for a startup’s success: marketing or execution? Your answer may predict how successful you’ll be.
Recently, our organization, ClearerThinking.org, anazlyed data from 7,000 entrepreneurs who took out “Could you start a successful company?” test — matching their attitudes and answers to their success in business. We wanted to know: What really makes for a successful entrepreneur? And can it be predicted?
Some of what we found was expected. For example, successful entrepreneurs were more likely to be better educated, more comfortable with risk, better at managing stress, proactive, enthusiastic, open to critical feedback, and extroverted.
But we also found some unexpected nuance. Here, we break down three surprises.
1. Marketing vs. product
Let’s return to our opening question: What’s more important — marketing or execution?
There’s a tension here. Some founders mainly focus on product, hoping that growth will take care of itself. This can work out well, but it can also be naive — because if you can’t attract users, it doesn’t matter how great your product is. Other founders over-index on marketing, which can generate hype for a product that’s not worthy of attention.
So we asked the 7,000 entrepreneurs in our study what they think is most crucial to a new product’s success: marketing, the idea itself, or execution. Those who favored marketing generally had weaker track records than their peers. Those who favored execution fared best.
2. Honesty vs. deceptiveness
Entrepreneurs love to say you should “fake it till you make it.” So is honesty overrated?
Our data found that it isn’t: The top-performing entrepreneurs tend to view themselves as consistently truthful.
Does that mean you should be blunt without considering the impact of what you say? No. More successful entrepreneurs also tended to agree with statements like, “I know how to make something sound good, even if it’s not,” and, “I can usually talk my way out of anything.” Meanwhile, less successful entrepreneurs tended to describe their actions as, “I tell it like it is, I don’t sugar-coat things.”
These findings suggest that honesty is an asset, but that it is best paired with tact and narrative skill.
Related: The Surprising Habit That All Successful People Share — And How It Changed My Perspective
3. Fame vs. impact
Finally, we also asked people what mattered to them most when starting a company — fame, fun, impact, or money?
The results: Those who prioritized impact outperformed the rest, suggesting that positive motivations lead to positive outcomes.
So what creates success? There are patterns, but no clear lines.
Successful founders aren’t solely builders or smooth talkers. They tend to blend ambition with openness to feedback, truthfulness with strategic framing, and impact with insight. And while no single trait guarantees success, combining a genuine mission with adaptability and strong social instincts may give founders a real edge.
Data can’t predict outcomes with a high degree of certainty, but these patterns should get you thinking: Do your traits align with the patterns of success?
Related: 5 Proven Habits to Create Success in Business and in Life
What’s more important for a startup’s success: marketing or execution? Your answer may predict how successful you’ll be.
Recently, our organization, ClearerThinking.org, anazlyed data from 7,000 entrepreneurs who took out “Could you start a successful company?” test — matching their attitudes and answers to their success in business. We wanted to know: What really makes for a successful entrepreneur? And can it be predicted?
Some of what we found was expected. For example, successful entrepreneurs were more likely to be better educated, more comfortable with risk, better at managing stress, proactive, enthusiastic, open to critical feedback, and extroverted.
