How to Help Build Culture At Your Startup
Building company culture at your startup takes more than free snacks in the breakroom and post-work Zoom chats. Use the 6 tips in this guide to get it right:
Getting a startup off the ground is no easy feat.
But in the hustle of launching a product or service, finding your market fit, securing funding, and building your team, creating an official company culture may wind up on your back burner.
And that’s a big mistake.
Without a strong company culture, you may attract the wrong employees, struggle to retain your current team, and fail to give your managers the direction they need to lead and grow. You may also find it difficult to connect with customers.
So this guide contains everything you need to build culture at your startup the right way. To make sure we’re all on the same page, let’s begin by answering:
What is Company Culture Anyway?
No two companies or startups are exactly the same, and that comes down to company culture. This umbrella term is used to reflect your brand’s:
- Shared vision and goals
- Core values and fundamental beliefs
- Standard operating procedures
Your company culture gives your brand a unique identity and philosophy, which helps define what you stand for and how you do business. Company culture also highlights how you treat your employees, what you expect from them, and how your team gives back to society.
As you can see, it’s more than committing to a stocked pantry in the breakroom and flexible work-from-home arrangements.
In an article titled “Don’t F*ck Up the Culture,” Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, explains:
“We build [company culture] by upholding our core values in everything we do. Culture is a thousand things, a thousand times. It’s living the core values when you hire, write an email, work on a project or walk in the hall. We have the power, by living the values, to build the culture. We also have the power, by breaking the values, to f*ck up the culture. Each one of us has this opportunity, this burden.”
Why Company Culture Matters
Why should you care about company culture? Because company culture helps you:
Stand out from your competitors. Showing customers, investors, and employees what makes your brand different allows you to carve out a loyal fanbase of like-minded people.
Align employees with your goals and beliefs. Company culture provides guidelines for employees to make decisions faster and perform their duties better without a founder being there to tell them how.
Attract, engage, motivate, and retain the best employees. Companies with outstanding culture attract the top candidates. And when employees have a solid understanding of your goals and a shared sense of purpose, they’ll have more motivation to clock in every day and move the needle instead of trying to become Insta-famous.
Engaged employees also make fewer mistakes, take less time off, boast higher productivity levels, and tend to stick around longer. Every startup could take advantage of these perks.
Fortunately, it doesn’t take much effort or expense to create a company culture your founders can be proud of. You just need the right gameplan.
How to Help Build Culture at Your Startup
Fostering company culture takes planning and a deep dive into the ethos of your brand. Follow these tips, and you’ll build and nurture culture at your startup from day one:
1. Start with the Basics
Company culture starts at the top with the founders. And whether you know it or not, you already have a bit of company culture just by being who you are. It was your vision and goals that sparked the idea for the company, after all.
Nathan Hubbard, the Head of Commerce at Twitter, says: “The job of a CEO is to do three things: build the best team, get resources, and communicate the mission.”
So schedule a brainstorming session with your founders and key teammates to narrow down and define your company mission. Ask yourselves:
- Why does the company exist? What problems do we solve? How do we help people?
- What does the company stand for and believe in?
- What is the short- and long-term vision for the company?
- How do we want employees to best represent our values?
- What type of customers/employees do we want to attract?
This mission statement will become the backbone of your business and your company culture. Once you have a clear idea of who you are as an organization and how you want to operate, it will be easier to get this vision in writing and share it with everyone who interacts with your brand.
2. Share Your Company Vision and Mission
It’s smart to draft a statement that explains your company’s mission and culture right from the start. You can add this copy to your website, job ads, social media pages, and more.
Your company mission should be easy to understand, inspirational, and tell a compelling story that connects with customers, investors, and potential/current employees.
Dispersing this intel means everyone should be on the same page. Employees will know what’s expected of them and why their actions matter. You’ll foster a cohesive team that’s driven to complete its mission and behave as a collective.
3. Practice What You Preach
Everyone knows actions speak louder than words. People see the difference between a company spouting empty values versus one that actively practices what it preaches. That’s why it’s crucial to model the behavior you want your employees to have.
Besides practicing this in the work environment, consider leading programs and volunteer outreach efforts that allow your company to put your words into practice in the real world.
For instance, a company on a mission to eliminate preservatives and chemicals in baby food should stock their break room with snacks that live up to their healthy standards. And a female-led group of programmers could host a free coding camp for young girls one weekend.
Examples like these reinforce company culture and help others see the embodiment of your values and beliefs in action. You’ll build trust with your team members and customers and encourage them to follow suit.
4. Take Care of Your Team
Startup employees often spend more time working with their teams than they do with their friends and family. So don’t take this for granted. Your company culture should reward employee contributions and show how much you appreciate them.
When teammates specifically go the extra mile to exemplify your company culture, give them kudos and recognition. Send out a Slack message to the crew spotlighting this team member’s achievement and allow them to bask in the well-deserved praise of their peers.
To show your company values each employee, think about offering:
- Daily, weekly, and monthly recognition of jobs well done
- Childcare or petcare stipends
- Monthly self-care packages
- Open vacation day policies
- Flexible work schedules
- Personal development courses
- Company retreats (and virtual hangouts)
Ideas like these tell the world you care about the well-being of your employees as an organization.
5. Hire the Right People (and Don’t Waste Time on the Wrong Ones)
One bad apple on a small team has the potential to rot a budding startup before it has the chance to blossom. So even if it means spending more time on the hiring process upfront, this extra attention to onboarding the right team members will pay off dividends down the road.
You want employees who believe in your company culture and strive to live and demonstrate your values every day. A team like this will cohesively work in the same direction, on the same vision, and with the same ideals/ethic.
Consider these ideas to find the best fit:
Schedule two types of interviews. Let your team interview a candidate based on their qualifications, experience, and ability to do the job. Then, hold another interview to discuss company culture and assess whether they’ll be the right fit. Bring up your goals and values, and see how candidates respond.
Prioritize passion and attitude over experience. You can’t teach or fake genuine excitement for a company’s mission. But you can train employees on tasks they have less experience performing. So candidates that come off as eager to further your mission may be more valuable to your company’s growth than those with more impressive resumes.
During his TED Talk, bestselling author Simon Sinek said:
“If you hire people just because they can do a job, they will work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they will work for you with blood, sweat, and tears.”
Don’t ignore culture-destroyers. Employees who are “too cool” to get on board with your company culture will slowly destroy it from the inside. Their negative attitude may rub off on other team members or affect your brand’s reputation and credibility.
Employees showing a blatant disregard for your company culture must be let go, regardless of whether they’re high performers. These bad apples often spiral and get worse over time, not better.
In an article titled “Your Culture Is Your Brand,” Tony Hsieh, former CEO of Zappos, said that the company offers its employees $2,000 to quit at any time because they want to make sure everyone is there for more than a paycheck.
6. Keep Reviewing and Updating Your Company Culture
Your company culture isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it kind of task. You must constantly assess it and look for ways to improve processes and upgrade expectations.
So each year, gather your team for feedback and talk about what’s going well, what’s no longer working, or what could be done more effectively.
You may want to send out annual reviews or anonymous surveys to solicit feedback from everyone. You could also hold town hall-esque meetings where employees voice suggestions and pow-wow ideas.
Your culture will evolve as your business does: over time and with experience. But this review process ensures your company is still heading in the right direction, no matter how big you get.
Ready to Build and Foster Company Culture at Your Startup?
You now have six tips to help you build and encourage a stronger company culture at your startup. These go beyond the basics of laid-back startup staples like ping-pong tables and kegs of beer in the break room. And they’re even more effective for productivity and retention rates.
When you create your company culture right from the start, you’ll have an easier time finding the best team members who share your vision, principles, and excitement.
Still looking for awesome candidates? Consider adding a small write-up about your company culture to your job ads. You’ll give candidates a better introduction of what your brand stands for and hopes to achieve. And you’ll attract more candidates eager to contribute to your vision and mission.
Don’t forget to post your job ad on UNICORN HUNT, Europe’s magical beast of a startup job board! With over 10,000 unique users, your dream candidate is just a click away.
