{"id":11172,"date":"2026-07-08T11:41:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=11172"},"modified":"2026-07-08T11:41:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:41:35","slug":"the-38-point-framework-two-vcs-use-to-spot-the-next-unicorn-founder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=11172","title":{"rendered":"The 38-point framework two VCs use to spot the next unicorn founder"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Paige and Leura Craig aren\u2019t looking for product-market fit, a Stanford degree, or a Zuck-evoking hoodie. They\u2019re looking for entrepreneurs with preternatural forward momentum.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cBasically, we\u2019re looking for these monsters that can make decisions in chaos, constantly getting things off the plate, constantly making decisions and just moving forward,\u201d Paige, founder and managing partner at Outlander VC, told Fortune<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes, this is an especially colorful way of articulating more or less what all early-stage VCs are looking for\u2014entrepreneurs who can barrel through, adapt, and ultimately thrive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Craigs\u2014who are married and run Outlander VC, backing companies like SpaceX, Scale, Flock, and Gusto\u2014have sought to codify something investors have long sought to understand: How can you tell early that someone has the potential to be a generational entrepreneur? The Craigs have drawn from experience and Paige\u2019s military background\u2014he served in the U.S. Marines and built and sold private intelligence firm Lincoln Group\u2014to create a 38-point framework by which they assess every founder. (Outlander currently has 18 unicorns and one \u201cbaby on the way,\u201d as Leura jokes, with drone software maker Havoc at $750 million.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about adding or subtracting attributes,\u201d said Leura. \u201cIt\u2019s also the way the attributes are scored, and the way that the process is run\u2026More than anything, the framework serves as a way for the investment team to have a shared vocabulary around what excellence really means.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 38?point framework has four domains\u2014vision, intelligence, character, and execution\u2014with a heavy emphasis on character and execution. The number of points, or characteristics on the list has waxed or waned over time (at one point there were as many as 43; and they started with 14 in 2014). Their core belief: That who someone is can ultimately determine who survives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go through a short call, a long call, and a deep dive,\u201d said Paige. \u201cYou might spend 15 to 20 hours going through a founder\u2019s entire life, asking about life, church, temple, death, parents, and babies. These calls are therapeutic for some people, maybe painful for others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outlander, which has a six-person team, teaches everyone 21 intelligence-gathering-inspired elicitation tactics\u2014conversational methods like reverse chronology and deliberate rapport?building\u2014to get past canned answers into how prospective founders actually conduct themselves under stress.<\/p>\n

The Craigs are a touch cagey on naming specifics, but I managed to get a few out of them: Characteristics they\u2019re screening for include obsession, fortitude, irrational optimism, and a clear sense of what motivates them, whether it\u2019s mission or money.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, character\u2019s probably the most deterministic,\u201d said Paige. \u201cCharacter, for us, is basically summarized as people who have incredible fortitude, who can endure anything, survive and lead others through it. People with weak character give up too early\u2026 And that\u2019s probably the number-one killer in the early days.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cirrational optimism\u201d they\u2019re looking for is prismatic in what it reveals about entrepreneurship in the 2020s: It\u2019s a tightrope. On one hand, you need to be irrationally optimistic to believe you could, in fact, build a multibillion?dollar company in a decade or less. But on the other hand, you also have to recognize failure, and know when to alter the plan. Outlander tracks where founders fall, and you can easily be too delusional, or too risk-averse.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking the decision to be a founder is like making the decision to wake up and be punched in the face every day,\u201d said Leura. \u201cAnd just when something starts going well, something else goes badly.\u201d<\/p>\n

See you tomorrow,<\/p>\n

Allie Garfinkle
X:<\/strong> @agarfinks
Email:<\/strong> alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com<\/p>\n

Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.<\/p>\n

Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today\u2019s newsletter<\/em>.<\/em> Subscribe here.<\/p>\n

VENTURE CAPITAL<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>Oratomic<\/b>, a Pasadena, Calif.-based developer of fault-tolerant quantum computing architectures for utility-scale systems, raised $300 million in Series A funding. <\/span>ARCH<\/b> Venture Partners<\/b>, <\/span>Spark<\/b> Capital<\/b>, and <\/span>Khosla<\/b> Ventures<\/b> led the round and were joined by <\/span>Bezos<\/b> Expeditions<\/b>, <\/span>Index<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, <\/span>General<\/b> Catalyst<\/b>, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Norm<\/b> Ai<\/b>, a New York City-based platform designed to embed law into AI agents, raised $120 million in Series C funding. <\/span>Khosla<\/b> Ventures<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>Blackstone<\/b>, <\/span>Bain Capital Ventures<\/b>, <\/span>Craft<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Tangos<\/b>, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based developer of investigation intelligence for risk and financial crime, raised $20 million in seed funding. <\/span>Red<\/b> Dot<\/b> Capital<\/b> Partners<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>Leaders<\/b> Fund<\/b>, <\/span>Clarim<\/b>, <\/span>Venture<\/b> Israel<\/b>, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Luffy<\/b> AI<\/b>, an Abingdon, U.K.-based developer of neuroplastic AI for real-time adaptive control of physical machines, raised \u00a38.1 million in Series A funding. <\/span>BGF<\/b> led the round and was joined by <\/span>MIG<\/b> Capital<\/b> and existing investors.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Adaptive<\/b> Insurance<\/b>, a Hartford, Conn.-based provider of insurance products for climate resilience, raised $5 million in funding from <\/span>IAG<\/b> Firemark<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, <\/span>Sunna<\/b> Ventures<\/b>, <\/span>Room & Pillar<\/b>, and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

PRIVATE EQUITY<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>Arlington<\/b> Capital<\/b> Partners<\/b> acquired <\/span>AMP<\/b> United<\/b>, a Dover, N.H.-based provider of naval preservation, structural, and scaffolding services. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Kanawha<\/b> Scales<\/b> and<\/b> Systems<\/b>, backed by <\/span>Investcorp<\/b>, acquired <\/span>Strack<\/b> Scale<\/b> Service<\/b>, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based industrial scale calibration and maintenance services. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Long<\/b> Ridge<\/b> Equity<\/b> Partners<\/b> acquired a majority stake in <\/span>GoCharting<\/b>, a Middletown, Del. and Tamil Nadu, India-based professional orderflow charting and trading platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Unity<\/b> Partners<\/b> acquired a majority stake in the advisory services business of <\/span>Meaden & Moore<\/b>, a Cleveland, Ohio-based professional services firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

EXITS<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>EQT<\/b> agreed to acquire the biosurgery business of <\/span>Corza<\/b> Medical<\/b>, a Boulder, Colo.-based biosurgery unit focused on surgical sealant products, from GTCR. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Halma<\/b> acquired <\/span>Dreampath<\/b> Diagnostics<\/b>, a Strasbourg, France-based provider of automated workflow solutions for anatomical pathology laboratories, from <\/span>Summit<\/b> Partners<\/b>. Financial terms were not disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n

IPOs<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>Standard Nuclear<\/b>, an Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based nuclear fuel company, plans to raise up to $384.3 million in an offering of 18.3 million shares priced between $18 and $21. The company posted $3 million in sales for the year ended March 31. <\/span>Decisive<\/b> Point<\/b>, <\/span>Larger<\/b> Cross<\/b> Partners<\/b>, <\/span>Standard<\/b> Nuclear<\/b> Trust<\/b>, <\/span>Welara<\/b> Capital<\/b> Partners<\/b>, <\/span>Fundomo<\/b>, and <\/span>Washington<\/b> Harbour<\/b> Triso<\/b> back the company.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Syntiant<\/b>, an Irvine, Calif.-based semiconductor and software company, filed to go public on the Nasdaq. The company posted $270 million in sales for the year ended March 31. <\/span>Knowles<\/b> Electronics<\/b>, <\/span>Intel<\/b> Corporation<\/b>, and <\/span>Microsoft<\/b> back the company.<\/span><\/p>\n

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>Arctos<\/b>, a Dallas, Texas, New York City, and London, U.K.-based private equity firm, raised $6.2 billion for its first Keystone Partners Fund focused on providing funding to asset managers.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>Bregal<\/b> Milestone<\/b>, a London, U.K.-based private equity firm, raised \u20ac915 million ($1 billion) for its third fund focused on European software, AI, and cybersecurity businesses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>B<\/b> Capital<\/b>, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $500 million for its third Ascent Fund focused on companies developing next-generation technologies across healthcare, enterprise, energy, and other sectors.<\/span><\/p>\n

PEOPLE<\/h3>\n

– <\/span>Bridge<\/b> Growth<\/b> Partners<\/b>, a New York City-based private equity firm, promoted <\/span>Prosper<\/b> Vignone<\/b> as Senior Principal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#38point #framework #VCs #spot #unicorn #founder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paige and Leura Craig aren\u2019t looking for product-market fit, a Stanford degree, or a Zuck-evoking hoodie. They\u2019re looking for entrepreneurs with preternatural forward momentum.\u00a0 \u201cBasically, we\u2019re looking for these monsters… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12767,1903,2168,960,4392,963,4696,9169,568],"class_list":["post-11172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-38point","tag-founder","tag-framework","tag-private-equity","tag-spot","tag-term-sheet","tag-unicorn","tag-vcs","tag-venture-capital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}