The IEI People Filter
Filter every hire and partner through Intelligence, Energy, and Integrity—no exceptions.
Naval Ravikant's three-criteria vetting system for anyone you work with long-term: Intelligence (domain-specific aptitude for the task at hand), Energy (intrinsic motivation that requires no external pushing), and Integrity (ethical consistency observable through behavioral signals, not verbal claims). All three are required simultaneously—smart plus energetic plus dishonest gives you a high-performing crook; smart plus honest plus lazy gives you someone who never ships; energetic plus honest plus wrong-domain intelligence sends the team in the wrong direction. The filter works by observing signals—how someone treats service staff, how they handled past investors when things went wrong, and whether their ethics hold when no one is watching.
- All three criteria are required simultaneously—no two-out-of-three shortcuts exist.
- Integrity is the hardest to fake long-term and reveals itself through behavioral signals, not verbal claims.
- Energy must be intrinsic to the specific domain; you cannot sustainably manufacture motivation in others.
- Intelligence is domain-specific: find someone smart at the exact thing you need done, not in general.
- Consistent behavior when no one is watching is the only reliable integrity signal.
- People who loudly advertise their own honesty are typically among the least honest.
- Define the domain-specific intelligence requiredIdentify exactly what kind of smart this role requires. Intelligence in logistics, coding, persuasion, and design are different capacities—find the variant that matches the task at hand precisely.Pro tipAsk them to talk for 20 minutes about an unsolved problem in the domain. Real intelligence shows up as non-obvious insight, not credentials or rehearsed talking points.WarningDo not conflate general IQ or academic credentials with domain-specific aptitude. A graduate degree does not make someone a good operator, salesperson, or builder.
- Test for intrinsic energy toward this specific workDetermine whether they pursue this type of work naturally, not just when incentivized. Ask what they read voluntarily, what they build on weekends, and what problems they obsess over unprompted.Pro tipNaval will not start a company with someone unless he can see they are already into what he needs them to do—not what he can pitch them into caring about.WarningCharismatic candidates can simulate enthusiasm during interviews. Validate with evidence of self-directed past action: what have they built or shipped without being told to?
- Read behavioral integrity signals, not verbal claimsWatch how they treat people with no power over them—service staff, former investors in a failed deal, critics, or enemies. These low-stakes moments reveal whether their ethics are self-sustaining or purely social performance.Pro tipThe strongest integrity signal is costly ethical behavior: a founder who injected personal capital to protect investors when he was legally entitled to walk away. Real integrity is self-referential, not performed for observers.WarningVerbal claims of honesty and ethics are inversely correlated with actual integrity. The more a person advertises their trustworthiness, the more cautious you should be—that is a characteristic of con artists.
- Apply the all-three-required rule without exceptionOnly move forward if all three criteria pass. Two out of three produces predictable failure modes: smart plus energetic plus low integrity equals a high-performing crook; smart plus honest plus low energy equals someone who never ships; high energy plus honest plus wrong domain equals hard work in the wrong direction.WarningResist rationalizing exceptions under time pressure to fill a role or close a partnership. The cost of compromising once compounds badly over the life of the working relationship.
Naval describes a founder whose company failed through three pivots. The founder kept injecting personal capital to prevent wiping out investors even though he was legally entitled to walk away. When Naval expressed gratitude, the founder was offended—he said he did it for his own self-esteem, not for his investors. This is what passing the integrity test looks like: someone for whom ethical behavior is self-sustaining, not performed for observers.
Naval describes a younger version of himself who believed you could sell someone into caring about an idea and keep them motivated. He attempted to recruit partners by pitching the vision convincingly. Over time he found that externally installed motivation evaporates at the first serious obstacle, leaving the founder as the sole motivational source—an unsustainable position.
Extracted from Naval Ravikant's 'How to Get Rich' podcast series, where he explicitly calls this the three-part checklist he applies before starting a company, hiring anyone, or entering a long-term partnership—with zero acceptable compromises across all three dimensions.