The Problem With Tech Startups Is In Their Purpose, Not Your Privacy
By: Divad Sanders
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Business, Technology, Politics, Startup

Photo by Ales Nesetril on Unsplash

Tech startups thrive on human innovation. The industry has had an unbridled renaissance. In the past decade, we have seen the rise and fall of startups in tech. The world has moved forward. However, our adulation over the speed in which tech has evolved has shifted into criticism, fear, and concern.

Perhaps rightly so. Should science-fiction films be any precursor to the advancement of technology, movies such as The Terminator, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Matrix were all a glimpse into our collective future.

The scrutiny stems from the deterioration of trust. The issues in data privacy, monopolization, electoral hacking, and potential job loss from rising automation are affecting us today. Our hubris and naivete, wanting bigger and better, have led to these unintended side effects.

This is part of the natural progression that accompanies any new field. Tech was unrestrained from regulatory pressure and government policies for years. Let’s face it, our government can fall behind when it comes to the nuance of technology. The average age of a United States Senator is 62. How many 62-year-olds do you know can operate an Instagram account or take an electric scooter to work? Advancements in technology move a lot faster than the shifts in our political system. The lack of diversity in age and culture tends to stifle the birth of new ideas.

However, we should look at this from a different perspective. Not as a lack of purpose, but as a failure in its defining. Leaders in the tech world are advocates of corporate purpose. Most develop their startups in an attempt to advance human society. The problem is not that their purpose is nonexistent — it’s often too narrow. This leads to a failure in design and application. The intended use is hacked and modified to serve another purpose.

To give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. — Facebook Mission Statement

Facebook’s mission statement works perfectly for the billions of users who want to stay connected to family and friends. It also worked perfectly in the 2016 presidential elections when Russian intelligence made its way to small-town America. Bringing those worlds “closer together”.

Looking to the future, this issue is not singled to the tech industry. Soon it will span into every business. Tech is the connective tissue. To operate successfully a business must have a social media account, payment processing software, and an avenue to connect products to the consumer. Tech is woven into our everyday lives.

At its core, the purpose is the reason a company exists. It’s the “why”. Much of the time the purpose is embodied solely in the product or service. Only in what the company sells the customers. When that is the case and the purpose is tied to profits, that raises the question: Do you really believe in what you do or is it just for the money?

WHY PURPOSE MATTERS

A well-designed purpose goes beyond a product and answers these fundamental questions. Why do you exist? What are you good at? What need do you fulfill?

Purpose Outlives the Times

In a world that is constantly changing, with trends coming and going, purpose provides the north star in which a company can always follow. Today, it is essential for employee engagement. Millennials, especially, seek motivation beyond a paycheck. Purpose improves the quality of hirable candidates and longevity in working with a company — which is important in the technology sector where talent is fierce. The importance tech startups play in society and their contributions to human life go beyond increasing profits and will continue to grow.

Purpose Benefits Performance

Companies with a clearly defined purpose perform better. Research shows that companies with long-term goals beyond short-term profits and those who consider their societal impact important perform well on both financial and nonfinancial metrics.

Human’s have seen an unprecedented amount of growth in numbers and overall advancement due in large part to technology. Corporations in the industry have multiplied that with the help of capitalism. The constant competition calls for greater breakthroughs, bigger teams, and the use of better high-quality resources. This promise for innovation has proved good for the human experience — allowing for greater worldwide economic opportunities, bringing social justice to the forefront, and tackling issues as complex as climate change. With this level of responsibility, tech companies have the opportunity to embrace their purpose more vigorously.

If you create technology that changes the world . . . you have to step up to the responsibilities that the world wants you to assume. — Microsoft President Brad Smith

While companies are instilling a deep sense of purpose in their organization, it is often reflected in a heavy product or customer-orientated mission statement. This is not surprising given how much emphasis tech companies place on the product. Investors prioritize product-market fit early when the focus should be on founder-product fit. Is this founder the best person to lead and embody the purpose of the product?

In the tech industry, this narrow view of purpose is not enough. A company has more to offer than its products; it has a collective mind, distribution networks, financial resources, political influence, and in the case of tech, expertise in innovation. These assets can be used to expand the company’s purpose.

HOW TECH FIRMS CAN IMPLEMENT THEIR PURPOSE

Whether starting from scratch or revisiting their existing purpose, tech companies can transform their organization by enacting these steps:

Step 1: (Re)Discover Your Purpose

A company’s purpose, in this case, a tech startup, often stems from the founder’s vision for the product. Many startups, especially those in tech, have a defined purpose. It would be more advantageous to examine the definition and discover how to apply their purpose in practice.

As the company is established, with iterations in product taking place, the purpose can shift. With the direction for the company, once only envisioned by the founder, now is altered by stakeholders in the business.

Founders should hold their company mission and maintain its purpose as a guiding factor to why the product works. Intertwining purpose with product sees to that. This provides the company with a rooted understanding of its customers and its place in the world.

Step 2: Specify Your Purpose

The purpose should be aspirational and realistic. It is not easy. As a way to compensate for a lack of purpose or mission, a company will try to help everyone. It’s goals become broad and cover a wide range of issues. This lowers risk and allows for amendments to the company later on. However, expressing an organization’s purpose in specific, memorable, and clear language helps to translate into practical actions.

A narrow purpose is as powerful as the organization itself. It provides parameters for stakeholders, employees, and customers to ensure that their behavior, whether selling or buying, represents the company.

An effective company purpose is Simple, Compelling, Measurable, and Relevant. This removes room for misinterpretation and promotes a single-minded movement.

Step 3: (Re)Energize Your Purpose

Narrowing a purpose is not enough. Founders must pump life into it and embody its meaning through their actions. For example, referring to it during important decisions, using its guiding principles to make changes in policy, and provide incentives consistent with the company’s purpose.

The goal in founders living the company’s purpose is to engage employees, ensure they understand how to do the same, and are encouraged to make decisions that are in alignment. Full engagement requires transparency between the company and employees about decisions on complex topics. Should founders ever compromise their values, employees may feel betrayed by the entire company. In today’s world, with the help of social media, what at one time might have been an internal discrepancy can escalate and make headlines in no time.

Society is holding tech startups at a high standard and rightfully so. The public’s demand for a positive impact heavily outweighs the company’s need for financial return. Also, employees are demanding more than just a paycheck. We can see this in today’s workforce. According to the annual Deloitte Millennial Survey, 75 percent of millennials believe businesses are focused on their agendas rather than helping to improve society.

Purpose is no longer an option — it’s mandatory.