Establishing Company Culture in a Tech Startup

Here's what I learned about company culture after founding and scaling Wondery – insights valuable for both founders and job seekers. Many people get it wrong. They think culture is about perks and ping pong tables. But it's all about who you hire (and later, promote). And timing is everything. When I started Wondery, I knew the culture I wanted to build. We defined five core values: Wonder, Character, Care, Drive, and Fun. Each had its own clear definition and purpose. But here's the key —we didn't just write them down and hope for the best. We made these values the foundation of every single hiring decision. Why? Because while you can teach someone skills (like 'emotionally immersive storytelling', or 'unit economics'), you can't teach them core values. They either align with your culture or they don't. Quick advice for job seekers: When interviewing at a company, ask every interviewer about the company culture. If you get three completely different answers, run the other way. A unified vision of culture starts at the top and should permeate through every level. Here's the brutal truth about timing: when you have 5 employees, each new hire represents 20% of your culture. At 100 employees? Just 1%. The math is clear – your cultural foundation is set in those early days. Jeff Bezos and Reed Hastings understood this – they didn't wait for their company cultures to "just happen." They built them intentionally from day one. So: Founders: What are your non-negotiable values? How are you screening for them in every hire? Job seekers: Are you hearing a consistent cultural message across your interviews? The strongest cultures aren't accidental. They're built with intention, one hire at a time. Would love to hear your experiences with company culture – good or bad. What signals do you look for?

Over the past 6 years, Legacy has had a near-100% voluntary retention rate and a 100% Glassdoor score. Here are 6 things we do that help explain it: 1. CEO involvement - I am the final interview for every single person who has ever joined Legacy. We do a "Legacy clap" for every new hire, one of our onboarding rituals. That's followed by a Legacy Mission/Vision/Values session in their first week, and a 30-day check-in to reiterate they have a direct line to me. The first month is the most predictive of a person's tenure and happiness in a role. We even celebrate people on the way out, giving us an opportunity to "close out" their time with us. 2. Genuine investment in diversity - Francis Frei at HBS says diverse teams on their own don't outperform, but you have to invest in making that diverse team work. We've always been a multicultural, multi-religious, multi-ethnic workplace, in part because this flows from the founder's own diverse background and networks. 3. Getting to know people as full human beings -- including monthly presentations called "MyTakes" where people tell their life story and how they were raised. People write user guides when they join, explaining how they work best and what behaviours are most helpful for them. People are expected to be professionals, but they also have space to be their authentic selves. 4. Verbalizing our values. We link everything back to our 5 values -- including making them recite them to the full team on their second week. We do weekly "Culture Carrier" nomination which are read out to the full team. We link our OKRs and our performance reviews to our values, and we reference our values when making decisions. 5. Transparency & Openness. Not everything at a startup is perfect -- in fact, the opposite is often true. Our openness is described as unparalleled, from weekly CEO Update e-mails to monthly Legacy Town Halls where we talk through our financials. It's a given that we're all on the same team and working together. Folks reference the fact that this contributes to a culture where people feel seen and are focused on winning together, not competing against each other. 6. For obvious reasons, we welcome families. We have a hybrid culture with an expectation of 3-4 days a week in the NYC office but we understand that life happens. We also have a generous parental leave policy for all new parents - and encourage *our men* and not just our women to take it. Included: A couple of snaps from our holiday party!

"Will I be more or less likely to want to work here after this decision?" Answering this question has guided Brendan and me over the years as we've made big and small decisions that could impact the culture at Wistia. We've faced explicit decisions that will significantly impact our culture, such as how to give employee feedback, define our core values, and structure our organization. But it's the tiny pivots, those more minor decisions we make each day that often go unnoticed, that truly shape culture. While it's easy to focus on bigger issues, compromising on these smaller choices can lead to an incremental shift in our culture, making it something unrecognizable over time. As a startup founder, it's easy to become so invested in your company's success that your passion overshadows other considerations, leading to poor decisions that compromise work culture. Reflecting on our early days, Brendan and I realized we needed to change our approach. We began to view our company from a new perspective, asking ourselves: "If this weren't our company, would we want to work here?" This shift in perspective helped us make better decisions and foster a culture we truly wanted to work in. We learned that culture isn't just about the founders or the early team—it's about how everyone's decisions shape the environment around them. By questioning how our actions affect the company culture, we create a positive feedback loop where individual values become company values, leading to a community eager to come to work each day. Enjoying your work leads to better results and a longer-lasting commitment. Impressive growth comes from a remarkable culture requiring constant vigilance and daily effort. By prioritizing culture, we enhance our company's chances of success. Want a great company culture? Go out there and build the company you want to work for—one decision at a time.

The last company I co-founded won 20+ culture awards, including Forbes' Top 100. But here's what most don't realize: Great culture isn't about ping pong tables or free snacks (although those are awesome perks). We wouldn’t have been able to take my last company public if not for the culture. Even though we were just a small company on the coast of North Carolina, we were able to: - Hire top tech talent - the kind you might see at FAANG. - Early on retain employees 2x as long compared to most tech companies - Win new customers because they liked us (for real) That’s because when culture is done right, it creates specific behaviors that drive real business results. Here are a 3 KEY cultural behaviors that I've pulled into Raleon (and shared with other startups). // 1. Speed as a moat At Raleon, our company mantra for this is: Why not today? There are few things as disruptive as moving faster than your competitors. Example: Early on at nCino, a $500K ACV prospect needed a crucial feature we didn't have related to underwriting. Most companies would've said “we'll add it to the roadmap.' and moved on. Instead, the team put in the time and I was in a McDonald's parking lot the morning of the demo making final configuration touches before we walked in. We won the deal that afternoon. // 2. Ruthless cultural fit Cultural fit doesn’t happen by accident. The hiring process should always have 1 interview dedicated to cultural fit. It shouldn’t matter how skilled or experienced the person is if they’re not the right fit. But here’s the thing - hiring the wrong person WILL happen. That’s not what will kill your culture though. Not acting when you realize you hired the wrong person will. Nothing demotivates a team like seeing their leader unwilling to remove someone from the team that doesn’t fit. That’s why my rule of thumb is move fast. We’re talking 30 days from realizing they’re probably the wrong fit to some kind of action (this gets harder as the co gets bigger). // 3. One team mindset Companies move and grow quickly when everyone is aligned. Nothing slows down progress, kills culture, and drives me crazy like finger-pointing and departmental silos. An easy way to know if you’re not in a one-team mindset: You have department heads fighting for their "area" more than what's best for the company. The mentality should be we’re all in this together. That’s why I’ve always been a fan of the “We’re all in…” phrase: - Sales needs help? We're all in sales - Customer success swamped? We're all in customer success - Product pushing a key feature? We're all in product When culture is done well it's not building a family, it's creating a winning sports team. And that team becomes one of your biggest competitive advantages.

"How is your startup growing so fast??" I’ve been hearing this a lot lately. The truth? It’s not about strategy or execution. It’s about culture. Here are my top 3 lessons for building a winning culture: 1. Hire people with a little mud on them Exceptional people aren’t spotless. They’ve faced adversity, and it’s made them stronger. I’m always skeptical of the “perfect” candidate: Ivy League grad → fancy consulting firm → no battle scars. Building a company isn’t case studies and PowerPoints. An old Buddhist proverb says: “The lotus blooms most beautifully from the deepest, thickest mud.” Hire for resilience. Hire the lotus flowers. They bloom brighter every time. 2. Be crystal clear about what you stand for Hiring the right people is only half the battle. The other half? Giving them a purpose. Culture is rooted in shared values and a mission that energizes your team. That’s why the best companies define their values early—and live them. Even Joan of Arc built culture before leading the French army to victory. Her strategy? Banning gambling in the campsite, mandating morning prayers, and reminding them they love their homeland. Against all odds, her army won its first battle. The lesson? Define your values. Stick to them. Your mission depends on it. 3. Celebrate the wins (big and small) Sequoia’s legendary Don Valentine said the key to great culture is one word: "Winning." It’s tempting to skip the celebrations and move on to the next milestone—but don’t. Momentum is built by pausing to recognize progress. Celebrate the small wins, the big wins, and everything in between. When the confetti flies, the team feels it: We’re doing something that matters. Building culture is like blowing glass. In the early days, you’re forging it in the fire—it’s tough, messy, and uncomfortable. But once you achieve some success, it cools and hardens fast. That’s why you must be deliberate about the shape you’re forming; it will last for a long time. Changing culture later is possible—layoffs, going from remote to in-person, restructuring—but it’s painful. You have to stick the glass back in the fire. The takeaway? Get it right the first time.