Since we are kids we are taught by parents, teachers, relevant figures and the whole of society around us to have and respect principles, which can make us relate to a community and recognise ourselves anywhere, anyhow.
Brixel was born at the startup studio Wide Ventures and from there we have been building on a few basic principles that define our culture and guide our decisions.
Even if we are all very different individuals among ourselves, we share this common vision which connects us towards a common goal and defines us as a solid team of creators, from Zurich to Lisbon.
Love what you do
As cliché as this may sound, we share the belief that for greater achievements, one must love whatever it is one is doing. Whenever we do something, there must be some kind of inner commitment that allows you to be intertwined with it, and that bond or connection will always be present when you love what you are doing, making you tweak edges and make it sleekier and slayish. May it be painting a wall for the new office or creating a beautiful interface of a new signup screen, loving it will make you better, prouder, wider. And if for some reason you stop loving what you do, it is your job to change it for the better. It’s easy to quietly blame others. That’s why we speak up and address issues openly.
Be brave, be humble
Those who create, will always fear. They may fear feedback, a sense of infinitude and even a point of over-perfectionism, capable of setting back the rhythm of a shipping team.
At Wide Ventures we are no different. We create things we love and we want them to be perfect enough to be enjoyed by others as much as we enjoy them, or even more, since at some point we will no longer look at it as the newborn baby it once was.
Hence, as creators we face that creator-issue as well, and we like to proud ourselves of being able to overcome it each week, on our unicorn-hunting friday meeting (internally known as the beer-meeting — with ocasional beers or timid cakes). It is a part of our weekly roundup, to share with the team the accomplishments of our work, divided by sprints of 5 days, during which we will actually come up with something that will get feedback, no matter what. All of us, no exceptions granted, are capable of being humble enough to look at those pieces of feedback and take it into consideration to improve the work we’ve done and build from it again.
Keep moving
Everything we’ve ever done at Wide Ventures is paved with movement and a single energy that pushes us to change. All the way from Lisbon to Zurich, the energy we feed on allows us to go from one prototype to another, to listen to people, to find a new office, to face a new challenge, to make up a new idea. The digital products we create are therefore always unfinished.
We keep moving, and that motion — up or down — will keep us running, going places.
Share your knowledge
We do believe in the power of sharing what we know, a part of what we’ve read and think will be useful to another team member, that he/she will relate to it somehow and be able to apply it to the daily work/life.
Sharing our knowledge also makes up for a stronger team, sponsoring interaction among members and providing common ground. Everyone is a teacher and a student at the same time.
One team many individuals
From Lisbon to Zurich, we differ both in culture as in timezones, food tastes and troubled wifi connections. But that which sets us apart is what also enriches the way we interact and the outcome of our work.
Don’t get me wrong, we do have our challenges, but we play some tricks to make them fade away. We occasionally go on team retreats (we call them “work weeks”) where we are able to merge, bond and communicate, building empathy, trust and respect. We get to know more of what each one thinks and feels like and creating that kind of relationship is key in anticipating reactions and overcoming communication issues and misunderstandings.
We all bring a whole lot to the table and learn a lot from one another, which wouldn’t happen if we were all the same or shared the same background.
To end up as we started, we are all very different individuals among ourselves, but we do work as one team.
All of what we do and all of what we build at Wide Ventures is imprinted with these 5 principles, which we are individually responsible for growing and nurturing within ourselves, making sure that this vision and balance are still there. We relate to them in a way that is not imposed nor external, it is a part of who we are as persons and a way we use to make sense of what is around us. Our flag of recognition, which we can relate to and identify along our path here and our checkpoint for when we hit the road to our next adventure.
It is clearly more than just a company mantra, it’s a way of life and we share it everyday, from Lisbon to Zurich — the Wide Way.
