Mission Statement

To be honest, when I first started thinking of establishing a company it was for selfish reasons. It had become clear to me that I am “unemployable”, the good kind. So it became a choice between being miserable in a 9 to 5 or going on my own. I chose the adventure of starting my own business, and all of the obstacles that it provides.

Before I go any further, I should define what being “unemployable” means in this case, so here’s something from Forbes:

Five Signs You’re Unemployable, For All The Right Reasons

1. You cannot keep your mouth shut when you feel strongly that your boss or client is about to make a mistake that will hurt them.
2. You have little or no tolerance for the viewpoint “This is the way we’ve always done it.”
3. You hate to be boxed in by routine policies and procedures, by unnecessary measurements and/or by strict rules (like the rule that says you’ll be written up and put on probation the third time you walk into work five minutes late).
4. You have a big idea that’s dying to come out (and that won’t very likely pop out when you’re performing a structured job).
5. You feel that your contribution to this planet could be much greater than what it’s been so far.

With that in mind, it’s been hard to define a mission statement for Bear & Giraffe that isn’t “It’s where I would want to work.” because if you look at this list of questions from which you should be able to derive your business’s mission statement, the answer to a couple of them is exactly that.

• Why are you in business?
• Who are your customers?
• What image of your business do you want to convey?
• What is the nature of your products and services?
• What level of service do you provide?
• What roles do you and your employees play?
• What kind of relationships will you maintain with suppliers?
• How will you use technology, capital, processes, products and services to reach your goals?
• What underlying philosophies or values guided your responses to the previous questions?

I didn’t start B&G for others, for the customers. I started it for myself. The reason it exists, the purpose of its existence is purely selfish. And everything else is just a byproduct of that.

But here goes an attempt at answering all these questions and formulating a real mission statement…

Why are you in business?

B&G is in business to create a people first environment that focuses on the people and allows them to be the best version of who they are.

Who are your customers?

People with ideas who need help implementing them.

What image of your business do you want to convey?

The primary image I want to convey for B&G is openness/transparency and honesty. Hence this blog post detailing the entire thought process instead of just showing you the polished end result.

The way I want to do business with clients is through an open and honest dialog. It’s important that we remove all the facades and work together for the benefit of all parties involved.

What is the nature of your products and services?

This is where I need everyone to pay attention the most:

B&G is not a “bam bam, thank you ma’am” type of service provider. We aim at B&G to become your technical partner. So the nature of the services we provide will be directly tied to the needs of our customers, and customized to ensure their success.

What B&G does not do is push clients to buy services they do not need under the pretense of giving the client a service that will increase their revenue (I’m looking at you everyone who sells SEO services to small businesses, pretending that adding a couple of keywords in the description meta tag will 2x-3x their revenue.)

What level of service do you provide? / What roles do you and your employees play?

As a founder of B&G, I have experience being the lead developer of a multi-million dollar product, the co-founder of 2 tech startups, and the co-founder of an NGO. That experience has given the knowledge to know what it takes to succeed, and what are the lessons of failures (I have a few under my belt.)

Which means when you hire B&G you are hiring a CTO/VP of Engineering and his team. As a small business, or an entrepreneur the nature of your products/services might not be technical but by virtue of technology being ubiquitous and a major driving force behind any kind of business, it is vital that you have a solid technical foundation to your business. And that is the role B&G will play.

And with the meticulousness, detail oriented character of the people behind B&G and the sense of ownership discussed in the previous post you know you will be getting a level of service that is equivalent of any top agency but with the intimacy of small company.

What kind of relationships will you maintain with suppliers?

N/A

How will you use technology, capital, processes, products and services to reach your goals?

We describe our process, the iterative approach, on our home page, check it out: http://bearandgiraffe.com.

What underlying philosophies or values guided your responses to the previous questions?

Transparency. Honesty. Open Source. Open-Source Governance.

Based on the answers above, the mission statement for B&G becomes:

Bear & Giraffe’s mission is to use an iterative and open process, through transparent communication channels to become the technical partner for SMEs. B&G builds on years of experience to provide top notch service without compromising on the relationship fostered between B&G and its clients.