Founders

Founder Archetypes: 
Jack Sparrow vs. James Bond

PG has proposed James Bond as a model of what you're looking for in startup co-founders. The idea is that being calm, resourceful, and effective in a variety of adverse situations is more important than extreme competence in some single domain.

I love the directional point, but I think that James Bond can be a pretty intimidating archetype: He is known for not only succeeding, but doing so always with style and charm.  I think this is like asking everyone to be a great dancer.

I recently watched Pirates of the Caribbean for the first time and it struck me that Jack Sparrow is another interesting model for founders:

+ He's confident he can run circles around the incumbent (the British Empire) since they've become too rigid and stodgy.

+ He's light-hearted in near death situations, since pirates are already default-dead.

+ He's fast-acting, rather than cautious, since he trusts his ability to wiggle out of bad situations when they arise.