Why building a great business will never come at the expense of building great people.

I’ve spent a lot of time hiring recently. From working by myself two years ago to now having a team of six full time and then another 6 contract roles — things have changed.

Growing a team has been one of the most rewarding, and challenging, aspects of my life as a newbie CEO. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have hired some awesome, passionate and dedicated legends. We’re a team who cheers each other on, every step of the way.

But a hiring misstep earlier this year turned out to be an incredible learning experience. It solidified for me how important it is to hire for cultural fit first — skills second.

“I can train someone to do finance, I can train someone to SEO, I can’t train someone to be nice.”

People are everything to me. And I want the people who come on the Flaunter journey to feel that… acutely.

As the team grows I’ve thought a lot more about the culture I want to create at Flaunter, how to do a better job of articulating what it means to work at Flaunter. It’s also been an amazing experience to listen to my team talk candidly about working at Flaunter — both to me and to people outside our company.

Just recently the team had lunch with someone who is new to Flaunter and shared with her why they loved working here, the kind of work they did, and the awesome people they got to work with everyday. It was a very solid articulation of ‘what it means to work at Flaunter’. And this was the response from our lunch date the next day via email:

“I know this is a little left of field but ever since I left on Friday I’ve just felt super inspired by everything you and the team have achieved and was thinking how amazing it would be to join Flaunter in a more permanent capacity…I’m so invested in Flaunter and what you’re building that I think I could excel in the position.

I’m looking for something that makes me excited for the long term and since experiencing your team culture first hand I think this could be it.”

The power of consciously bringing someone along for the journey, from Day 1, blew me away. Because what we’re offering when we’re reaching out to new people is not just a job, it’s the opportunity to work in a culture everyone proud of, with a team that is motivated and feels incredibly supported — while we all move relentlessly towards the same goal.

Trying hard to capture a candid moment… sprung.

What it means to work at Flaunter will become more refined as we go on, but this is what I can say with certainty at this point in time….

To me, building a great company is a balance of two things:

1. Being a commercially successful business with global reach. Yes, I want to build a business with a huge impact.
2. Creating a workplace that people love, and thrive in.

It’s not about building a culture that celebrates success at all costs. Creating an exceptional culture and being commercially successful are not mutually exclusive.

At Flaunter building a great business will never come at the expense of building great people.

We work hard but I don’t want to create a culture of 16 hour work days and slavish devotion to our screens. The life that exists beyond Flaunter is also the life that will enrich Flaunter.

Paris team at work…

A great workplace isn’t just ping pong tables and free lunches. While they are awesome extras, everyone at Flaunter knows that a great workplace = working with magnificent people, everyday.

Magnificent people, who apply a ‘no excuses’ policy to everything they do. Because we value each other above all else.

In Steve Blank’s word’s: “No excuses for failures given, just facts and requests for help. No excuses for failures accepted, just facts, and offers to help.” Just relentless execution, individual honesty, integrity and consciously maintaining space for lots of good times too.

So what makes working at Flaunter magnificent?

• We hire for culture first, skills second.
• We are all incredibly passionate and dedicated.
• There’s no room for egos here. We don’t tolerate negative nancys, bossy boots or know-it-alls.
• We acknowledge that we are stronger together. We are collectively responsible for our successes, as well as our failures.
• We are committed to helping each other succeed.
• We ask questions and are never afraid to speak up. No one ever has all the answers, we don’t trust anyone who says they do.
• We have fun. We laugh out loud — a lot.
• We are happiest when we’re punching above our weight.
• We thrive on autonomy and ownership.

Want to join us? :)