Startup Culture — What is it? Why do you need one?
Tags: Startup, Mist, Silicon Valley, Culture

Culture is everything

Working at a Silicon Valley startup is an exhilarating roller coaster ride to say the least. Many people focus on product, technology and vision as the key elements for startup success, which obviously are extremely important. But I want to highlight another “X factor” that is equally vital: culture. Here are my thoughts on how the right culture impacts startup success, and what you can do to create an excellent one.

What is company culture?

Early in my career, I did not have a real understanding of what company culture meant. When people talked about culture in the context of the workplace, I had no solid basis of reference. I went to work for a large company that was reported to have very good culture for the employees. I knew people wanted to work at the company, but I could never put a finger on how to actually define what that meant.

After being part of a Silicon Valley startup from the ground up, I finally know what company culture means:

“The culture of the company is how employees carry themselves when no one else is watching”.

The culture of the company is exemplified by the way employees treat each other, and each customer, partner, and vendor. Beginning at the top, the culture is established by the way leadership carries themselves in their actions — not just in their words. The culture of the company is how employees address situations, good bad or indifferent.

Why is a company culture so important in a startup?

A startup is a daily series of setting precedents. Many times each working day, employees will be asking and answering the question “How will we do it in our company?” That goes for everything from sales process to marketing to engineering. A big factor that often gets overlooked — the type of culture that we will develop for our teams, and the interactions they have with other employees, customers, and vendors.

Make no mistake, if not directly addressed, a culture will develop anyway — but it might not be positive. A negative culture can generate itself quite as easily as a positive one, and have a major impact on the success of the company. It is vitally important, as part of the planning of your startup from day one, that a commitment to culture is established.

The company culture at Mist

When Mist began as a startup, the fabric that wove us together was our culture. I finally saw how to define the culture of a company, as well as how to live it, and how to know when employees are not living it. As an old saying goes “you cannot expect what you don’t inspect.” It just doesn’t work to expect a strong positive culture, when you can’t hold yourself and your employees accountable to uphold your values in the company setting.

So, what is our culture at Mist? Why is it so remarkable, and how does it permeate to every new employee? Our culture began by having strong company values, and is kept alive by reinforcing them constantly. At our company, we live these values in every scenario with employees, customers and partners. In the hiring process, we ensure that every new hire fit in to our value system and culture.

The culture starts with having clearly defined company values. Each startup will have to decide which core values you choose to implement. For our company there are four:

· Family First

· Relentlessness (24hr rule if you are stuck)

· Transparency

· Team before self

Family first. When a colleague has a family member to take care of — from a pickup at school to something more serious — they are encouraged to handle this task above all else. We consistently re-enforce this value — from the CEO down. A startup is a marathon undertaking, and it won’t succeed without a group effort. Trying to start a new company is especially painful if you don’t have a supportive family. Family first is a fundamental supportive pillar for the extended Mist family, and we live that out in every scenario.

For example, we had a critical large customer RFP presentation. One of our best Sales Engineers had a family commitment. We started the meeting by explaining why he wasn’t there, and why this aligns with our company values. Even though the client was very important to us, family first took precedence over this presentation. The customer actually appreciated that we stood by our values so strongly. We live out our company culture, every day.

Relentlessness. (We call it the 24hr rule). Our CEO, Sujai Hajela is relentless at a legendary level. He drives this sense of urgency in everything we do, everything we inspect, everything we deliver, and how well we provide everything that our customers need. How do you measure this? By evaluating every interaction you have with employees, customers, partners and with vendors. How fast do we respond to a customer email? How fast do we respond to a support ticket? How fast do we get on a call with the customer for a critical issue? How fast do we send the presentation to the customer after the meeting?

At Mist, if any employee is “stuck” for over 24 hours, they are expected and encouraged to escalate to senior staff to get the roadblock moved. This helps to drive relentlessness with every team across every function. This value was key, not just when we were small but especially when we were accelerating — maintaining this relentlessness made the momentum snowball for us. We had some tough customer situations. However, our customers stood by us, because ultimately they knew we would do everything in our power to make them succeed. Relentlessness is a must have core value for startups.

Transparency. We are extremely open with all aspects of the business to all Mist employees — from customer wins, to engineering bugs, to help desk escalations, to the amount of funding in the bank. (This last one has obviously become less of a focus now that Juniper has announced its intent to acquire Mist). We don’t want our employees distracted by wondering if the company is doing well, and whether their job is at any risk. While we want to have everyone share in the joys of every win, they also have a right to hear about the chalenges so they can help to overcome them. Transparency brings a feeling of belonging and care.

Team before self. As our co-founder and CTO Bob Friday says, startups are a team sport. Ultimately, company culture is carried forward by the people we hire. In every new employee interview, we look for a culture fit. We pay close attention to the little things people do, say, or have demonstrated during their career, that shows who they really are.

A key filter for me is that we don’t want any prima donnas, who want the spotlight all to themselves, and can’t be a team player. We look for people with high skill, who don’t have a sense of entitlement. We want people who put team first, and will do anything for the team. At Mist, this was a major factor for a developing a very low stress environment. Startups are inherently a stressful endeavor, but if you have a team that has fun and low ego, the work becomes far more enjoyable!

These four core values have become the foundation of our company culture. We didn’t just put them on a poster in the break room and consider that good enough. We internalized and lived them. We start every company meeting by reinforcing our company values. We want to remind the employees about our values, and reinforce how we deeply we are committed to those values.

If you are starting a new company, set the tone for the culture from the very beginning. It will determine what your company becomes, and how customers and partners perceive you and treat you. It will be how employees evaluate you.

Develop a company culture with three simple steps:

· Define a value system.

· Live by it every day, in everything you do.

· Hire people that fit in with that value system.

You will keep your company culture powerful and dynamic for a long time!