Are all good founders Narcissistic?

Have a read of the no asshole rule. That will put you on the straight and narrow ;-)

I don't think you're narcissistic if you're asking these questions. The entire mental condition has a stigma, but it can still be a positive for building a business. I doubt investors look specifically for it.

The rather interesting thing was browsing the article you posted and this gem at the end where the woman who just ran her business into the ground and dumped her fiance says this:

"I think I may do some consulting for a month or two, recovering my finances and helping other authentic leaders of larger companies find their voices and build better teams. (Email me at erica at erica dot biz if you’re interested in talking about this further–it won’t be cheap, but it will be worth it for you.)"

Lol, yeah let me whip out my credit card and pay you for some advice on my business!

Are you implying you're a "good" founder? That's mighty narcissistic of you

Wait so she says she's broke. I guess she spent/invested whatever she made from her $1m she made from selling her hosting company?

I don't know if she's narcissistic more like messed up.

She pissed away 600K like it was nothing all for the sake of "authenticity". The successful investors are the ones who invest in founders who see authenticity as a means to fool their customers into doing their bidding, like those running businesses in the "sharing economy".

My fav part was the first comment from the comments section...

You're available for talks? That's great!

My business is very successful. But it's boring. i want to shake things up. Can you come in and share your expertise? You know, how to reduce profits by 500% and get at least half of my employees fired?

Thanks! Hope to hear from you soon.

Having met Erica in person multiple times, she lives her life in denial and a perennial startup bubble. Not a good combination for success.

The vast majority of scientists who study "narcissism" make no or little distinction between healthy self-confidence, optimism (anyone who has earned self-esteem from real accomplishments however small) and unrealistic, pompousness that is born from a sense of inadequacy. These problems are particularly rampant in the community that studies psychopathy and narcissism.

The key question to ask yourself is this --

Are you the kind of confidant (even arrogant) individual who is able to acknowledge when you don't know something or when you are proven wrong ?

For some reason the psychology community decided that "self-esteem" was a generic umbrella term that it included narcissism i.e. those think highly about themselves without having put in the kind of effort that results in a genuine sense of accomplishment. As a result they created a a new term "authentic self-esteem" to distinguish itself from the narcissistic kind. I disagree that this was necessary at all, but it was likely an artifact of trends on psychological research.

PhD student who finds neurotrash and psychobabble everywhere.

Why psychopaths make great CEOs http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2011/06/14/why-some-psychopaths-make-great-ceos/

A good test for narcissism:

Do you think you fart rainbows and sunshine, and can do no wrong? That the world is lucky to be graced by your divine presence?

If so... ;)