Survey Template
Founder 360 (24)
The Founder 360 is built for startup and scale-up founders who carry both product and company-building responsibility — leaders still close to the work, but whose behavior increasingly shapes the organization more than their individual output does.
Generic leadership 360s assume stable org charts, formal management layers, and well-defined roles. Founders live in the opposite world: incomplete information, blurred responsibilities, and a company that changes shape under them every few months. This instrument focuses on the transition that breaks most founders — the shift from doing the work to building the company that does the work — and the places where it tends to fail: the hiring bar slipping as the team grows, decisions slowing as information gets noisier, urgency fading as the organization adds layers, and founders holding on to roles they should have handed off.
The assessment measures seven competencies:
- Vision & Focus — setting direction, choosing what not to do, and killing what isn't working.
- Customer Insight — staying close to customers and letting evidence overrule assumptions.
- Hiring & Talent Bar — keeping standards high under growth pressure, promoting from within, and acting on mis-fits.
- Scaling Themselves — adjusting their own role, delegating real ownership, and developing people through feedback.
- Decision-Making — making timely calls with incomplete information, with clear ownership and transparent reasoning.
- Pace & Accountability — acting as the organization's constituency for speed and following through on commitments.
- Self-Awareness & Resilience — inviting honest feedback, owning mistakes, and staying steady under pressure.
Use this 360 when a founder wants structured feedback beyond their inner circle: during rapid growth, around a funding round, when co-founders are redefining roles, or when the board wants a clearer view of the founder's strengths and blind spots. It works especially well inside coaching engagements or founder development programs, where results become a small number of concrete growth commitments.
This 360 is a growth tool — not a performance review.
- You may modify any question before sending. On the next screen, you can add respondents individually or in bulk and set a preferred completion deadline. (Note: the deadline signals timing but does not automatically close the survey.)
- Choose respondents thoughtfully. Aim for a balanced mix — co-founder(s), direct reports, cross-functional collaborators, board members, or advisors — people who see you in different contexts.
- Before sending, include a personal note in the invitation email. Share why you’re doing this, what you hope to learn, and explicitly invite candid feedback. Reassure respondents that their input is anonymous and genuinely welcome.
- When results are in: Read everything once without reacting. Then look for patterns, not isolated comments. Identify 2–3 strengths to intentionally amplify. Identify 1–2 growth commitments to experiment with over the next quarter.
- Read everything once without reacting.
- Then look for patterns, not isolated comments.
- Identify 2–3 strengths to intentionally amplify.
- Identify 1–2 growth commitments to experiment with over the next quarter.
Consider sharing key themes with your leadership team. Modeling openness to feedback strengthens trust and sets the cultural norm for continuous improvement.
Remember: how you receive feedback matters as much as the feedback itself.
License
Vision & Focus
Customer Insight
Hiring & Talent Bar
Scaling Themselves
Decision-Making
Pace & Accountability
Self-Awareness & Resilience
Global summary questions