Since 2006, I have been backing entrepreneurs in building their companies . I’ve done this as an angel investor and a venture capitalist; as a mentor, advisor and board member .

I love Founders: I love what they create for our economy, and how they build value and create jobs . One thing I enjoy about working with them is that it gives me a seat at the table of ” the future.”

Last year I formalized my investing practices and efforts by joining Steve Case and Donn Davis in creating the $ 450 million Revolution Growth II Fund. Its focus is on a new category of investing that we call “speed up capital:” we look for companies that are established and growing, but need “rocket fuel” and guidance to take off for even loftier aspirations. Our first investment is in a local company called Fedbid. Fedbid represents what we are looking for in an investment: a high growth company that can help transform an industry—doing well by doing good. We also like Fedbid because we believe it can scale to much greater value by growing into adjacent opportunities and new markets, via our investment, our participation on the board of directors, and our work advising management.

I have been gaining perspective on what makes for great leadership and the traits that founders share in developing high growth, high value enterprises. I also know why I fall in love with these companies. Here are a few points to consider and perhaps emulate if you are a founder or working in a start up company.

As you would expect, personal traits and business leadership traits are intertwined. Sometimes “betting the jockey, not the horse” is the right way to invest. It is very infrequent that you will find a great company without a great founder as its CEO or Chairman.

The most common traits that I see in the best entrepreneurs that build value are as follows:

1. Unique vision and point of view … and the ability to sell it to all constituencies: This seems pretty basic, but the ability to articulate a big, new idea (and a new way to enter a big market) is critical to outlining the higher calling of the enterprise. Knowing how to do that, as well as how to get big fast, and how to radically change or improve on an obvious need to build value, is a rare art. Vision– communicating and creating a strategy that is much bigger than what is initially seen in the first set of products or apps — is something I look for as priority one in an investment. Being a stone cold, confident evangelist for your company is something I enjoy seeing and want to invest in! I love hearing new vocabularies and a new perspective on businesses and problem solving. Having a much bigger agenda than what is first represented by the initial in market product is what drives world class founders.

Andrew Mason of Groupon, is an example of a CEO with vision and a higher calling – traits he has had since the first day I met him. He built great value, took the company public and has created a major new category of industry : “Curated real time social commerce.” He created more than 10,000 jobs in fewer than five years. He has his own voice, his own perspective: it is original and his vision is being rewarded. I am proud to have been an angel investor in Groupon and to serve on its Board of Directors as Vice Chairman.

2. Execution: A maniacal focus on execution is critical. Execution of product based on platform and/or scalable technology is often times the big value generator for new businesses. Being technically astute– understanding architecture, underlying technology, being able to code or lead a team of coders, having an intrinsic feel for the products themselves – is critical to understanding the big picture of what is being built so it can scale if it hits. These qualities are major points of differentiation for good versus great next generation business leaders, in my view.

Hooman Radfar at Clearspring Technologies is a good example of great execution. He is a data scientist and engineer at heart and by training. He designed a platform for the social web before social was “cool;” this platform has scaled to accommodate more than 1 billion unique visitors around the globe on a monthly basis. The platform was executed well by Hooman and his team; it has now spun off many products — and those products and services are now generating fast growing revenue streams. The execution of the platform and tech strategy is building great value for consumers, for publishers, for employees, and investors. It was no small technical feat to build what Clearspring has developed and delivered. The founder’s force of will and ability to execute has made all the difference. I have served as Chairman of this company and now am on the Board of Directors; I am also a proud investor.

3. Real life expertise — and the ability to connect the dots: The best founders and CEOs have deep subject matter expertise and can connect product, technology, marketing, positioning, sales, customer support, business model, and corporate development matters.

A good example is Rick Allen, founding CEO of Snagfilms. Rick grew up in the entertainment and legal fields; learned a lot about technology later in his career, and has been building Snagfilms as a leader in a new market. Rick oversees and leads content acquisition; works with film makers; and is deep in sales, product, technology, editorial, marketing, and fund raising. Rick is as comfortable in banking meetings as he is at the Sundance Film Festival; he has intellectual curiosity; he is respected by ad sales executives and by platform architects; he connects the dots for all; his mental and emotional agility are great traits that are adding tremendous value to the company. He knows a great deal about each subject and can lead and mentor young employees as the company grows to become what one trade publication called “The Netflix of Indy films.” I am Chairman of this company and the largest shareholder.

4. Personal Integrity: All start ups and speed ups will hit bumps in the road. All will have difficult problems to overcome, and all founders will have their mettle tested and their emotions stretched to the limit. I have found that people with great personal integrity– high levels of honesty and good personal traits — are the best founders and leaders. This is the key question when I do due diligence on a potential investment: Can we trust the founder? When I make an investment and join with a company and its founder, I take personal the level of trust and honesty in a relationship. Transparency– open communications and candor — are traits that serve these relationships well. Communicating bad news to me is more important than telling me how well the company is doing!

Jason Hogg, the founder of Revolution Money (which is now a part of American Express) is the best example of a high integrity executive I can think of today. He was a former FBI agent– he grew up in an industry based on trust– and he and I went through unbelievably trying times together as we tried to grow a financial services company during the 2008 and 2009 economic meltdown. Jason was a founder and knew everything about his industry and his product — from business model to technology to market partnerships to his competition. He was quite impressive from a resume and from an operating stand point.

But what was most telling was how he reacted and acted in times of great stress. When the company was in difficulty, he was steadfast, open and honest. He communicated well with all constituencies, he worked hard and smart, and we got through it together. I would invest in any company that Jason was involved with as a founder or senior executive. You can tell a lot about a person when times are tough. Founders with personal integrity will get through the tough times in a manner that is respectful and thoughtful and builds long term value. Revolution Money was a great company; it created a one-of-a-kind, next generation payments platform. I will remember how the founder handled tough times and emotional distress with grace and with honor.

Jason is now a senior executive at American Express and I have joined the Board of Directors of American Express. American Express is all about high value, high trust and high character. The Revolution Money investors made a very good return on their investment, and Jason Hogg’s personal integrity and drive made the deal a winner all around.

5. Been There–Done That: It isnt surprising that founders that have had success in one company will have success in another company. Nothing succeeds like success, and I enjoy backing second acts as much as start ups. So it is no wonder that I have backed personally Scott Ferber– founder of Advertsing.com (that we acquired at AOL) — when he became the founder of high growth Videology. I have also backed Jason Calacanis — who founded Weblogs that AOL acquired — in his new company called Mahalo; and Jim Hornthal — who was founder of Preview Travel, that went public — in his new company called Triporati.

All three founders are seasoned winners; all of them are fun to be around and have learned so much from their first founding experiences. It is an honor to be an angel investor in their companies.

6. Having a chip on your shoulder; I love working with entrepreneurs who have a chip on their shoulder. They have a score to settle, are highly motivated and fiercely competitive. These founders are driven to win: they play hard and work hard and build a team of like-minded competitive players.

The best example I can think of is Jim Bankoff at SBNation. He and his team are “going for it” in the highly competitive sports and consumer electronics category. In fact, Jim wants to build the best next generation online publishing company: he wants to out execute AOL and Time Inc . I believe he can; he is attracting great people to his team; he is focused; he is tech savvy; he is a great guy and people are rooting for him to win. I am a small angel investor because I want Jim and his team to win!

7. Stick-with-it-ness: Staying the course – while being agile and making the right course corrections – are key traits of real winners. Founders must be true to themselves and never give up. Sometimes success in life is just showing up and surviving through the rough times. Being tough minded– but kind; being focused and maniacal and driven, while not losing your soul: these are things that I look for in new investments. Being customer sensitive, employee focused, and a realist are important traits for a founder.

Ali Saadat at Fedbid is a good example of this quality. He has basically owned and operated his company through good times and bad times for a decade. Many better funded competitors have come and gone, while Fedbid has steadily worked to create a great platform and a way to create new marketplaces that serve buyers and sellers well. His company will be considered an “overnight success” after 15 or so years at it! There are few overnight success stories: most companies have to grind and find answers to tough questions and fend off tough competitors and naysayers. That is why I admire stick-with-it-ness in founders.

So there you have it: A quick snap shot of some winning traits that I see, and why I respect and love founders and entrepreneurs.