Hardy or hasty? Founder resilience, impulsivity, and innovation in AgTech

What is it about?

AgTech startups often innovate under tough conditions—long product testing cycles, slow customer adoption, and high uncertainty. In this study, we investigated whether founders’ psychological traits help explain why some AgTech startups are more innovative than others. We surveyed 74 CEOs of AgTech startups in Southern Brazil using established measures of impulsivity (BIS-11), psychological hardiness/dispositional resilience, and startup innovativeness, and tested the relationships with structural equation modeling. We found that innovativeness is only partly explained by personality: founders who stay engaged and committed under stress (a key hardiness dimension) tend to lead more innovative startups, while a “nonplanning” impulsive style (favoring immediate rewards over long-term goals) is linked to lower innovativeness—suggesting that, in AgTech, innovation benefits from persistence and planning rather than rushed action.

Featured Image

Photo by Land O'Lakes, Inc. on Unsplash

Photo by Land O'Lakes, Inc. on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Innovation policy and startup support programs often focus on funding, technology, and mentoring—but our findings show that founders’ psychological resources also matter, especially in AgTech, where uncertainty and delays are the norm. Practically, the results suggest two actionable levers: (1) strengthening commitment-based resilience (helping founders persist and stay meaningfully engaged during setbacks), and (2) supporting self-regulation and planning to avoid “hasty scaling” behaviors that can undermine innovation in long-cycle sectors. This can inform how accelerators, incubators, and public innovation agencies design programs—for example by integrating resilience and self-regulation modules into AgTech acceleration initiatives and training founders to balance fast action with strategic foresight. Ultimately, helping AgTech founders sustain innovation has spillovers for productivity, sustainability, and food-system challenges in emerging economies.