A thread on Culture

After having seen 13 years of start-up world, having built and sold a start-up, working with unicorn founders, angel invested in 30 odd start-ups I think Culture is an underrated piece of running a company.

10 years after running CoCubes if there was one thing @vibhore_goyal and I were proud of, it was that we built a firm with 'Good Culture'. So

What is the need for Culture?
What is Culture?
What Culture is not?
How can we build it?

As a young entrepreneur we got our first taste of the importance of culture by reading an interview of Tony Hsieh (Zappos) where he mentioned that he sold his earlier company to Microsoft because he didn't enjoy getting out of bed. Because the culture had gone downhill.

This was eye opening for us as young entrepreneurs. That the impact of culture could be as profound as 'not feeling like getting out of bed' to run one's own baby (company). This is the NEED for CULTURE.

Another way to define need is as @bhorowitz wrote - in good organizations people can focus on their work and have confidence that if they get their work done, good things will happen for both the company and them personally.

So Culture has a high impact on everything. And every company has a culture. The only decisions founders need to take is to decide to create it knowingly.

What Culture Is Not

It is not a fully centralized AC office designed with vibrant colours. It is not a fancy coffee machine or a laid-out lunch buffet. Culture is not a ping-pong or air hockey table. Culture is not material comfort.

The truth is you can’t throw money to build a cool office and say we have great culture. You don’t suddenly get venture capital and develop great culture. Actually, that is when you almost always lose it. Because HIRING dilutes CULTURE.

What Is Good Culture

Culture can be easy to feel but difficult to describe. To get it right there are a million small things to take care of. And as founders you can’t take care of all those small things. So what can you take care of?

You can take care of creating a place of TRUST.

‘I trust you’ in a company means that I am willing to take a risk on your behavior. We can create this TRUST by devising a set of common VALUES.

Having common VALUES encourages consistent behavior. This consistent behavior becomes your CULTURE.

CULTURE gives everyone in the company a common language. The greater the number of team members who TRUST that common VALUES will be upheld -> the more consistent their behavior -> more consistent the CULTURE in the organization.

On the other hand, a company where mutual trust is lacking will consistently see inconsistent behavior. Inconsistent behavior will make it harder for the company to reach its goals.

The key thing I try to remember is that every company has a CULTURE. It is your choice whether you want to make it consciously or not.

Good Culture Is Not a Guarantee for Success. But it is
1. Damn good way to increase your chances of success if all the other things (market, timing, product etc.) are right
2. And have fun while building the company :-)