Introducing Thumbtack’s values.

Marco Zappacosta is the co-founder and CEO of Thumbtack

When Thumbtack turned 10 last year, I spent a lot of time reflecting on how far this team has come — and how we can go even further over the next 10 years.

Ultimately, I realized it was time to reinvest in our culture. It got us this far, and it will get us where we want to go next.

This was about defining what makes Thumbtack, Thumbtack — and then raising the bar.

With input from hundreds of team members and the leadership of a core working group, we arrived at these five values. Our goal? Showcase the best of who we are and clarify who we expect ourselves to be. I couldn’t be more proud of where we landed.

01 Purpose | Lead with why.

We set a vision for our work. Serving our customers and pros comes before everything else.

Our mission is to help everyone do life’s work with joy and purpose. We’re committed to deeply understanding not just what people need, but why they need it, and to put that first.

We center our customers and professionals in every action we take as a business.

02 Impact | Make it count.

Once you’ve set your purpose, you’ve got to make it a reality. You have to make a difference that people can feel.

The customers and professionals who use Thumbtack want to know, is the lawn mowed? Is the leak fixed? Am I getting enough customers to grow my business?

We set our metrics to reflect that impact — not the other way around.

03 Responsibility | Own it.

Whatever you’re working on, it’s up to you to make it happen, from start to finish. It’s about doing the right thing, and doing it well.

We expect our team members to take big swings. We trust that they’ll succeed most of the time. When they don’t, we assume there’s a lesson that can be learned. We get up and we keep going.

04 Collaboration | Choose teamwork.

The work here is bigger than any one person or function or office. But just saying you’re a team doesn’t make you a team. Teamwork is a choice.

We choose to focus on helping each other achieve more — rather than doing more ourselves — because that gets us where we want to go a lot faster.

05 Communication | Say what you mean.

This value is about respect.

It’s important to me that every single one of us can find an authentic way to communicate. It’s up to all of us to make this a safe, inclusive space for everyone to be heard.

We want our team members to fully share recognition, ideas, opinions and feedback. Open, honest communication makes us better people and leads to better outcomes.

What’s next?

We mean it when we say we expect people to live our values. And our team has told us time and again that this is how they want to work.

These values are going to be our compass for who we recruit, how we assess performance, and what we celebrate.

I would be surprised if things didn’t get messy from time to time. I’m okay with that as long as we’re learning and getting better.

If you read these and hear a voice inside you saying, “Hey, that’s me,” come check out our open roles at https://www.thumbtack.com/careers/.