How did Unfair determine which brain corresponds to which job?

2 main stages for each job

The “right entrepreneurial profile” has often been considered linear: the same profile from the launch to the exit of the company.

Our work determined that there are actually 2 main types of stages that require different types of CEOs to lead them: obtaining product market fit (Pre-seed to Series-A) vs. growth/scaling (from Series-B). Whether your startup is in one stage or the other, your position and its needs might be drastically impacted.

We simplified the types of startup situation by comparing them to the investment stages. However, the transition from one to the other around Series-A remains approximate. What really makes a startup shift from being in the "early stage" to "growth stage" is the number of team members that need to be managed. According to our data, 30 employees is a main turning point (sometimes the transition happens earlier, sometimes later).

Unfair conducted hundreds of post-mortem/successes

1. Qualitative interviews

For 5 years, we conducted qualitative interviews in order to understand the reasons for success in the most represented startup positions.

These qualitative interviews were key to laying the foundations of the “job & stage fit” framework because they made it possible to diagnose the origin of success in a position by taking into account all the factors.

For example: a CEO has an excellent profile for their position according to the OBA (online brain analysis). The startup doing an IPO, does this mean that this profile makes a good CEO?

The success of the startup can depend on many factors: very favorable market, well-financed company, good timing to address a market...

It is therefore necessary to analyze all those factors and separate those derived from neurology vs those happening due to other reasons. This is what we call the context of success: the set of factors that led to a success.

To determine all the factors that led entrepreneurs be successful in their position, it was necessary to conduct qualitative interviews in order to analyze the real reasons for success in a position.

2. Quantitative analysis

Only as a second step, we were able to confirm our framework with quantitative data by analyzing more than 1000 entrepreneurs and their teams across a majority of startup positions.

Is neurological data enough to assess someone’s potential on a job?

Both out qualitative and quantitative research have determined that the main success factor in a position is related to a person's neurological profile.

This observation on hundreds of startups was also confirmed by the work carried out by Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation and the Stanford Research Center (see the original study, p107-108).

85% of the causes of success in a position are related to soft skills. Only 15% are due to factors outside the functioning of the person: studies, experience, learning... Harvard University, Carnegie Foundation, Stanford Research Center

At Unfair, in the light of our research and work in the field, we consider that neurological data is sufficient to judge a person's potential for a position. The hard skills part remains easier to be analyzed by the recruiter themself.

A start-up job position is closely linked to soft skills

Most of the peformance at the key positions in startups is linked to people’s ways of behaving, rather than training for a job.

People who naturally have the functions necessary for the job will find themselves at an advantage. Those who do not have these reflexes must learn them, sometimes very slowly. However, spending too much time and energy going against one’s natural operating system migth lead to hours wasted without any satisfactory results... or even more unfortunate outcomes such as burnout.

It is therefore particularly relevant to judge a startup job’s potential through the prism of behavior:

• Sales
  The sales position is largely linked to a very strong ability to adapt in order to convince and react in “emergency” situations. This skill is directly linked with the functioning of the brain: some people are able to make neural connections faster than others, which has a direct impact on a person's adaptability, and therefore having a naturally higher sales potential.

• Developer
  As a developer, the abilities to focus on a task for a long time and stay isolated from others are essential success factors. These natural reflexes depend on how a person gains energy: through isolation (introversion) or through contact with others (extraversion).

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