Missionary Founder

A missionary founder is one who is deeply, personally motivated to solve a specific problem — they'd work on it even without the prospect of financial reward. Contrasted with 'mercenary' founders who are primarily chasing money or fame. Famous investor Paul Graham and many top VCs express strong preference for missionary founders: they're more likely to persevere through the inevitable difficult periods, make better long-term decisions (vs. short-term financial optimization), and build stronger company cultures. Signals of missionary founders: they have direct personal experience with the problem they're solving, they've worked on the problem before having investor interest, and they can articulate a vivid, specific vision of the world they're trying to create.