TeamDNA™

Overview

Great ideas are everywhere. But how do you know if the team behind the idea has what it takes to execute, scale, and exit successfully? Most startups don’t fail because of bad ideas—they fail because of weak teams. Poor leadership, founder conflicts, or mismatched roles can derail even the most promising opportunities. Introducing TeamDNA™—the tool that empowers investors and founders to analyze, benchmark, and optimize their teams for success.

Quick Summary

TeamDNA™ is a 15-minute, research-backed assessment that reveals whether a founding team has the psychological traits, cognitive styles, and decision-making heuristics proven to predict startup execution and investor returns. The survey uses the HEXACO personality model plus nine entrepreneurship-specific traits, benchmarks scores against thousands of founders, corporates, and successful exits, and delivers an investor-ready report instantly.

Why Customers Love It

• • Cuts diligence time from weeks to minutes – investors get hard data on “Can this team execute?” without marathon interviews.
  • Scientifically valid – built on 20 years of peer-reviewed HEXACO research plus proven entrepreneurial predictors such as self-efficacy, innovation, stress-tolerance, and locus of control.
  • Actionable benchmarks – see exactly how your scores compare to corporate managers, average entrepreneurs, and teams with prior exits.
  • Founder-friendly – Likert-scale clicks only, no essays; finish in one sitting and get the report link immediately.
  • Flexible deployment – run it as a stand-alone tool or bundle it with the DealIQ™ suite for full startup readiness scoring.

Learn More about TeamDNA

• Tell me the FAQ
  • Click here for TeamDNA™ FAQ
• What does it cost?
  • TeamDNA™ is sold as a pay-per-assessment license or bundled inside your DealIQ™ subscription. Volume pricing for accelerators and angel groups is available—contact sales for details.
  • Click here for TeamDNA™ options and pricing.
• How do we get started?
  • Click here to review the TeamDNA™ profile rules. These rules will be displayed again before you start your TeamDNA™ profile survey.

Frequently Asked Questions 

• • What exactly does Team DNA™ measure?
    • Six broad HEXACO domains (Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness) plus nine entrepreneurship traits (self-efficacy, autonomy, initiative, innovativeness, achievement motivation, locus of control, risk-taking, stress tolerance, faith). It also profiles cognitive style and heuristic use.
  • How long does it take to complete?
    • Less than 15 minutes per participant. Each statement is timed (≈ 8 seconds) to keep responses instinctive.
  • Who should fill it out?
    • All full-time C-suite and board members. CEOs can also invite advisors and contractors, but only full-time leadership is scored.
  • Is the assessment scientifically validated?
    • Yes. It leverages the well-established HEXACO inventory and entrepreneurship meta-analyses showing strong correlations (e.g., self-efficacy r ≈ 0.42) with venture success.
  • What do we get back? / How to View the report?
    • An instant, shareable link that plots team scores against multiple benchmark groups, highlights high/low traits with plain-language commentary, and summarizes readiness strengths and gaps will be made available. Access will remain with you.
  • Can we retake TeamDNA™?
    • Yes—after a new funding round, major C-suite turnover, or a specific investor request. Otherwise, we ask you wait a minimum of 6 months.
  • How is our data protected?
    • Results belong to you. Reports are released only via the secure link you control; no one sees them unless you choose to share.
  • What does it cost?
    • TeamDNA™ is sold as a pay-per-assessment license or bundled inside your DealIQ™ subscription. Volume pricing for accelerators and angel groups is available—contact sales for details.
    • Click here for TeamDNA™ options and pricing.
  • Do we need to change our application workflow?
    • No. Just drop the unique TeamDNA™ link into your existing deal-flow or cohort onboarding emails; the platform handles the rest.
  • How do we get started?
    • Click here to review the TeamDNA™ profile rules. These rules will be displayed again before you start your TeamDNA™ profile survey.

  • General Use of AI with TeamDNA™

    • TeamDNA™ does not use AI to calculate results. All scoring and insights come from validated psychometric models. However, AI may be used in the future to aid teams in interpreting results, answering FAQs, or personalizing reporting.

  • TeamDNA™ Use of AI in Relation to Founding Teams

    • Unlike AI-driven assessments that can feel like a ‘black box,’ TeamDNA™ is transparent. The core analysis is based on established psychological science. AI is an optional layer we use to improve clarity, not to generate the core insights.

  • TeamDNA™ Use of AI in Relation to Investors and Accelerators

    • AI isn’t in the core calculations of TeamDNA™. Instead, we’re exploring AI as a supportive tool. For example, auto-highlighting potential risk factors or simplifying reporting for portfolio reviews.

  • TeamDNA™ Use of AI in Relation to Academics and Coaches

    • By design, TeamDNA™ has been intentionally designed without overstating the use of AI. TeamDNA™ is evidence-based first. AI can be layered on to improve pedagogy, reporting, or engagement—but it never replaces the underlying science.

Open TeamDNA™ FAQ in its own page.

Team DNA™ Profile Rules — Read Before Starting

When to schedule it.

TeamDNA™ works best as a “snapshot in time,” so launch it only after a meaningful change inside the company—closing a funding round, adding or replacing C-suite leadership, or fulfilling a specific investor request. If none of those events have occurred, or if you completed the assessment less than six months ago, it is better to wait. Leaving at least a half-year gap between assessments limits survey fatigue and keeps your benchmark signal clean.

Choosing the participant list.

Block out a few minutes to curate your roster before you press “Send Invites.” Every full-time founder, senior employee, and key advisor whose judgement shapes day-to-day execution should be included; richer participation yields a report investors can rely on. A minimum of four completed assessments is required for statistically sound comparisons. Once invitations go out, the list is locked—no late additions—and each person’s name, role, and timestamp are preserved in the final report. If the platform detects that your cohort is too small or lopsided, it may ask you to invite more people or reschedule.

Timing and deadlines.

The moment the invitations leave the server, a clock starts ticking. Advisors receive seven calendar days to respond, while employees receive three. Avoid launching the survey the day before a holiday or company off-site; incomplete responses weaken the credibility of the team report. Each participant should set aside about ten minutes, ideally in a single uninterrupted block, because the assessment is designed to capture instinctive answers—multitasking or pausing for long stretches can distort the data.

What participants experience.

Each invitee receives a unique, single-use link. On first click, they confirm their role—CEO, CTO, advisor, and so forth, and that exact role label appears in the final report. The survey itself consists of Likert-scale statements ranging from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree.” Each question will be timed. Missed questions will not count towards scoring. There is no correct answer; in fact, healthy teams typically display a spread of trait scores. Carbon-copy responses can appear “gamed” to sophisticated investors.

Session integrity and the DNF rule.

The system allows one brief pause. A second interruption flags the session DNF: Did Not Finish and locks the user out. DNFs do not contribute to the team score, but they are listed in the final report so readers know who completed the process and who did not. Encourage everyone to finish in one sitting to avoid the stigma of a DNF.

After everyone submits.

Anyone who reaches the last screen immediately receives a personal trait profile URL form. That document can be downloaded and shared as a PDF. The consolidated team report appears only after either (a) every invitee has completed the assessment or (b) the advisor and employee deadlines expire. Because the document weaves all individual data into a single execution-readiness narrative, its credibility rises sharply when every core voice is represented.

Team DNA™ Plan Options, Pricing, and Content

There are three levels of application available for using Team DNA™

Founder Trial – $99

Ideal for a solo founder who wants a first taste of TeamDNA™. The plan supports a single user and displays, for every personality and entrepreneurial trait, the team low, team high, your score, and both corporate and entrepreneurial norms. Narrative commentary accompanies each trait to explain the practical implications of your results.

Team Plan – $499

Designed for leadership teams of two or more participants (there is no upper limit). You receive everything included in the Founder Trial, plus individual scores and narrative insight for each person who completes the survey. This fuller view helps investors understand how complementary or overlapping your leadership strengths really are.

Success Q Plan – $599

Also unlimited in seats, the Success Q tier layers a proprietary Success Q benchmark on top of all Team Plan features. The benchmark blends the specific trait mix that research links not only to starting a company but also to achieving a successful exit. Your team’s aggregate score is displayed beside those benchmarks, giving potential investors a quick read on exit potential.

Whichever plan you choose, remember that inviting at least four participants is essential for reliable statistics and a persuasive story. A broader data set is almost always better—investors notice when key perspectives are missing.

Take these guidelines seriously, select the plan that matches your needs, and your TeamDNA™ results will deliver the clear, actionable insight both founders and investors need to move forward with confidence.