Leading a large company, division or department isn’t easy. However I promise you that it doesn’t compare to the challenges of leading a startup company to success. Limited cash, talent, time, untested business models, technology, customer needs – everything needs to be acquired.  Some startups pull it off and enter the ‘Whatsapp’ zone of billion dollar valuations. Other fall by the way-line or are overtaken by faster, nimbler and smarter competitors.

Leading a startup company isn’t for everyone. To succeed you of course have to first have a billion dollar idea. However transforming an idea into actual success is only the tip of the iceberg. The ‘graveyard of failed start-ups’ is filled with brilliant ideas – according to Forbes, 90% of startups fail. That’s huge.

According to CB insights, success requires:

1. A market need
2. Enough cash
3. The right talent
4. Ability to move fast
5. The right cost structure

Of course it also requires the right leader to start the new-born company through its infancy stage. Inc.com and BusinessCollective separately interviewed 26 successful founders to find which traits define great startup leaders. The interesting thing about the answers from these successful startup leaders is that they’re paradoxical. You have to be able to do one thing and at the same time display the opposite of the same traits.

Here are the 5 Paradoxical Leadership Traits of Successful Start-up Leaders

1. Vision and Detail

Obviously, startup leaders need a vision of the customer’s requirement of the product or service. They need to be able to understand how their offering would contribute to a better world. However, even as overarching visionaries, startup leaders need to be able to stop viewing the stars alone and see what’s going on at ground level to resolve operational details and issues.

2. Abundance and Scarcity

Although a startup leader should always view opportunities through the prism of abundance and not let his dream and passion be restricted by any borders, the day-to-day limitations in talent, money and time must be kept in mind. Startup leaders need  to quickly switch their views between abundance and the natural scarcity of resources that he has at his disposal.

3. Creative and Focus

In order to solve the millions of problems and restrictions that a startup will face the leader needs to be either the embodiment of creativity or be able to get the creative juices of his team flowing. At the same time creativity should not come in the way of a a clear and determined focus on where you want to end up. There must be a healthy balance of the two.

4. Confidence and Adaptable

If there’s anyone who should believe in the concept of the startup, it has to be the leader of the company.  Unequivocal and unwavering confidence in the success of the venture is the key ingredient of a successful startup according to Derek Flanraich of Greatest. However, according to Matt Peters of Pandemic Lab, this paranoid confidence should go hand in hand with an ability to adapt. Competition is everywhere and plans don’t usually work out as they should, so the startup leader has to be ready to adapt to succeed.

5. Ambiguity and Perseverance

Josh Linker in his Forbes article writes that startup leaders “have to be able to live in a state of uncomfortable – and be comfortable with it.” Predicting the course of a startup is like predicting the weather 5-days ahead in Washington DC; impossible. But while you have to be comfortable with discomfort, you also have to have the stamina to see it through. For most startup’s success isn’t a linear line. It’s a bumpy road with huge ups and downs, cheers and scares that can only be navigated with generous doses of perseverance.

I’m telling you it’s a challenge. But the personal satisfaction of achieving success is incomparable. If you’re thinking about getting involved with a startup, make sure you’re the right personality for it. There’s no shame for wanting stability. But if you’re on the startup train like I am, sign up to the blog and lets take this journey together.

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Paul Keijzer is the CEO and Founder of Engage Consulting and the co-Founder of The Talent Games, which aims to transform HR by digitising talent processes and creating more engaging and productive workplaces through gamification and mobile technology. As a global HR and Leadership Management expert, Paul knows how to combine business insights with people insights to transform organisations and put them on the path to growth.