Superstar team vs. team of superstars
We believe the most important thing businesses can do to succeed is to create the right culture. And, it’s better to hire early in anticipation of future bottlenecks rather than reacting when the bottlenecks occur. This is the conundrum that has dominated our last nine months as we’ve doubled our team to ten people. Hiring people isn’t very hard, but hiring the perfect blend of the best people for your organization at any given moment while maintaining an exceptional culture is remarkably difficult. We screened over 400 quality candidates since the summer, increased our deployment pace, and strengthened our portfolio support function, all at the same time. There's no sugar coating it, some of those days and weeks were long, tiring and full of debates on the right path forward, but we always knew it would be worth the hard work in the end.
During this time, we’ve learned that our hiring process is unique and our culture is a real differentiator. Here’s a couple cultural practices we think create our superstar team:
Hire well: After initial interview questions, all final shortlisted candidates for any position always do a demo project. By evaluating a task we’re able to screen for certain behavioral attributes and emphasize talent over experience.
Shared mission: First thing every Monday we have a full team huddle that starts with shout-outs — popcorn style appreciation across the team. To close the huddle we have a rotating ‘Why Leader’ who speaks to why they would do this work even if they weren’t being paid. The ritual creates a culture of gratitude while also encouraging everyone to lead with their “why”.
Prioritize joy: We celebrate A LOT. Sure there’s birthdays … but also new homes, pets, babies and all the other important parts of someone's life beyond work. We also host monthly outdoor activities and try to involve extended families as much as possible. Making people feel good and encouraging laughter can’t be overemphasized!
Challenge the status quo: All team members are empowered to breathe life and our values into any mundane system or process that becomes standard. We value courageous candor.
Put more simply, a superstar team beats a team of superstars any day of the week. These core components of our culture have allowed us to attract the right talent from industry titans and competing organizations — people who are brilliant and selfless, accountable and hungry to keep learning. We’ll continue to prioritize culture, because we continue to see the dividends it can pay.