ForUs

Case Study

Improving startup performance and cohesion using MBTI insights

Challenge

Navigating new team dynamics and communication challenges in a startup environment.

ForUs is a five-person fintech startup based in San Francisco, founded by a team passionate about improving retirement and healthcare decision-making in the U.S. With three of the five co-founders having previously worked together in a large corporate setting, the transition to a small, high-pressure startup environment brought new interpersonal dynamics and communication challenges to the surface.

The team needed to quickly align, manage increasing complexity, and collaborate effectively while under pressure to develop and deliver their technology solution. Blending old working relationships with new team members from different professional and personal backgrounds added to the complexity. To scale their mission-driven business, ForUs had to understand how to leverage each individual’s strengths while building a cohesive, collaborative, and resilient team.

Solution

MBTI® framework for team understanding and cohesion.

The ForUs team engaged Michael Segovia, a consultant from The Myers-Briggs Company, to lead them through a team development session using the MBTI® assessment. The goal was to shed light on individual and group dynamics—especially work styles, communication preferences, and decision-making approaches.

Segovia used MBTI insights to help the team reflect on their collective personality profile and how it affected their day-to-day interactions. The session highlighted several team blind spots, including a strong shared preference for Intuition over Sensing, and four members preferring Introversion, contrasted with one Extraverted teammate. These insights prompted new discussions about how to balance communication, manage meetings more effectively, and ensure that all perspectives were voiced and heard.

The workshop empowered team members to better understand not just their own styles, but also how others perceive and experience group dynamics. This led to a greater sense of empathy, reduced tension, and more productive planning sessions.

Key Programme Elements:

MBTI assessment-based team development session with external consultant
Focus on individual and group dynamics including work styles and communication preferences
Collective personality profile analysis to identify team blind spots
Discussions on balancing communication and managing meetings effectively
Enhanced empathy and perspective-taking for improved group dynamics

Results

Increased empathy, communication clarity, and startup alignment.

The MBTI-based workshop had an immediate and lasting impact. It helped the team manage Introversion–Extraversion dynamics, improving the flow of meetings and ensuring quieter team members had space to contribute. The sole Extravert gained insight into his teammates’ communication styles, realising his dominant presence in meetings was a response to perceived silence—not a desire to control discussions.

The session also uncovered the team’s collective Intuition preference, which explained their tendency to focus on big ideas and miss critical details. As a result, they set a new team priority: “commit to and deliver on a smaller focus.” This became a guiding principle for balancing vision with execution.

Beyond process changes, the experience deepened interpersonal trust and understanding. Members became more patient with one another, clearer in their communication, and more aware of how personality differences affect startup operations. The result was improved team cohesion, better time management, and a shared sense of purpose—crucial elements in the high-pressure startup world.

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