Working at Zefir: A Company Guided by Its Operating Principles
At Zefir, our values are called our Operating Principles and they are our roadmap to success. They guide us in creating a work environment where everyone can give their best effort toward achieving Zefir’s mission. They serve as a steadfast principle that drives the growth and longevity of our business.
👷 Committed Owners
Being a “Committed Owner” at Zefir means taking absolute responsibility for everything that surrounds us like a homeowner takes responsibility for everything that happens in their home.
Just as a homeowner is responsible for fixing a leak in their bathroom, we are responsible for all the challenges & obstacles that arise in our roles at Zefir. This means being accountable for our actions and decisions, even when things don’t go as planned. It also means being transparent and openly sharing information, putting in the extra effort to ensure the job is done right, and giving and receiving constructive feedback.
Our take is: you are in control of everything that happens to you. The question is what can you do to change the outcome?
A homeowner takes pride in maintaining their home. We take pride in maintaining the overall success of Zefir.
- In May 2022, our Product team went above and beyond to build a salary calculator, knowing full well it would impact positively our value of transparency and reduce friction in candidate discussions.
- A few months ago, we had a TV appearance (yay!). We were mindful of the workload increase it could cause our pricing team. Over the course of a day, the entire company got trained to help alleviate the pressure when the time came.
- We encourage everyone to push the overall company forward and, for this purpose, have decided to give everyone equity at Zefir.
What we don’t like? People who routinely withhold information, prioritize themselves over the interests of the company, or say “it’s not my job” when asked to help with something. “Brilliant jerks” or “divas” are not our cup of tea either.
🦁 Relentless Builders
The second value at Zefir is Relentless Builders. Just like a home can always be improved, we’re also continuously “building”.
Just spend a day with us and you’ll be convinced that we have a bias toward making things happen and that a Growth mindset is valued over a Fixed mindset. We strongly believe that everyone can improve with dedication, time, energy, and determination.
Team members are encouraged to proactively adapt to do what’s necessary for the company’s success. Being willing to change missions, taking on new challenges or assignments, adapting to business needs, quickly learning new skills when needed, being quick in decision-making, and not being afraid to question what already exists are invaluable traits for our team.
Here are a few examples of this:
- Our Investment Lead, Arthus, is a true Relentless Builder. He not only leads by example but also encourages his team members to continuously grow and improve their skills. Recently, he decided to develop an internal curriculum to help his team members develop their spreadsheet skills and opened it to the entire company.
- During our company’s recent rebranding, our Engineering team showed their adaptability and speed and they delivered it with remarkable efficiency.
- Recently, after introducing a new product offering, Zefir Max, our Customer Success, Sales & Ops teams had to rethink our client onboarding and did so brilliantly, dividing by 4 the amount of time needed to put a home on sale in just under 2 months in order to create delight for our clients.
💜 Simplicity Advocates
The third value, the one that stretches us the most at Zefir but that we are super excited about continuing to develop, is that of Simplicity Advocates.
A cluttered home makes people feel overwhelmed and limits performance. We believe in the power of clear communication. Messages should be interesting, direct, and to the point. And just like a well-designed house makes your life easier, daily, we try to avoid bureaucracy and only build and keep processes that bring clear net value.
Ways in which we are simplicity advocates:
- We set verifiable goals rather than vague aspirations but are expected to use data to inform decisions, not drive them. We use OKRs in a way that works for us and try not to over-engineer things.
- We value the ability to explain complex technical concepts in a simple manner to non-technical team members (or clients!). Our Engineering team does weekly demos over Loom for those interested in learning what’s new.
- At least once a day, I hear Rémy, our co-founder & CEO, say “Let’s not make this more complicated than it should be. What does the user want to know?”
Our values of Committed Owners, Relentless Builders, and Simplicity Advocates are at the heart of everything we do. We understand that they play a significant role in creating a work environment where everyone can give their best effort toward achieving the company’s mission.
At Zefir, we are a team of people passionate about dismantling the selfish approach in real estate. By creating the first collective sales real estate platform, we’ve made the buying and selling process faster and more collaborative for everyone involved. If this problem matters to you too, then you may be an excellent fit for Zefir. Trust me, it is a joy to be working with people who are so determined, collaborative, and pragmatic.
