From the entrepreneur’s corner (26): The company’s culture as a backbone that grows
It is well known that the founders’ core values, including their personalities, strengths and weaknesses, impact their startup’s culture. Founders and core leaders, who’ve been there from the very beginning, should evaluate themselves and consider asking what are they great at, what differentiates them from other people around them, what do they have in common with their team members, what qualities do they appreciate when about their employees, what’s the process behind a good outcome, or what are they bad at. Answering all these questions will help define the company’s culture; and when hiring, think about the attributes you value and search for those qualities when selecting the candidates. Write the qualities down when you’re small and revisit them later when you’ve hired people, organized them in teams and by departments, and even raised a first or more rounds.
Having a list of words which relate to the company’s culture, write a compelling, succinct company story that repeats in press releases, use cases, product announcements, at all-hands meetings or when hiring and you want your people/employees to say when about the company. The “story is king” phrase (Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar) extends beyond the Toy Story animation. Watch out for the cliché adjectives. Btw, you’ve seen many of these repetitive words in the regular job descriptions, which usually are not 100% honest in terms of the role.
“When you’re small, the focus is always on product product product, but building a strong team and a strong culture is a hugely important part of building a great product long term,” says Molly Graham, COO at Quip, in an article you can read here. Founders should therefore talk about the company’s culture all the time, and revisit it when things evolve. The company’s culture is changing, just like the product/service. When the founders are telling the latest and greatest story of the company’s progress till date, in a pitch or at an all-hands meeting, they’re actually defining themselves as leaders — a quality they should be constantly sharpening by hiring an exec coach, for example.
When your startup’s culture is articulated in such a way that every member of your team can easily tell what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and who it’s for, than you’re at the point of positioning your brand. If you have to introduce new language to better define what you’re solving for your customers, do it (for example, a product expert from Netflix introduced, back in 2005, the streaming concept to a focus group, and the latter’s reps were asking if it’s about streamlining — you may read this and other related stories, as well as get a few more tips on how to tell them, here.)
If you’re great, you’ll succeed to position your brand at the top of the company culture’s backbone. But first, run the Bar Test.
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