Is it hard to maintain startup culture as you scale so fast in terms of hiring?

Uzair Usman Partner at Usman Group | Independent Business Consultant

October 11th, 2016

This question is bothering me for some time now. I am afraid that if my company grows too fast it will lose the startup culture it was known for in the first place. It will stop being the “cool place to work at”. How do you hold on to that?

Nabeel Nawaz

October 12th, 2016

It's a delicate balance, it's about trying to hold on to the values that make it a great place to work, but sometimes when your company is experiencing growth, and to scale sustainably, it's important to change some elements of the culture to allow room for that growth. It is also highly dependent upon whether or not you have a high performance tem culture where people are self organizing and empowered generally to mature their own decisions versus a command and control structure. The first type supports the startup mode but a light mix of the first second will help to transition and scale.

Joe Albano, PhD Using the business of entrepreneurialism to turn ideas into products and products into sustainable businesses.

October 11th, 2016

Culture is an interesting thing. It begins to emerge as soon as a second person is involved in your business, yet so many founders wait until it's beginning to become a problem before they deal with it.

I've worked with lots of companies (large and small) to create engaging cultures. The biggest issue is often found in your question. You want to keep your company "the cool place to work at" ... for whom?

Leaders often think they can define and control the culture. The best they can do is influence. The culture of a growing company must leverage the best of everyone who is part of it - not seek to turn every new employee into a copy of the founder.

Chris Kieff Sprinklr- Global Director of Security Operations, Helping Enterprise with Digital Customer First Transformation

October 12th, 2016

In my experience with Sprinklr going from 12 to 1200 employees in 5 years is challenging. We laid the cultural ground work early and often. If you establish the culture you want and can hire managers that support that as you grow it becomes easy to maintain. In my experience the foundation you build with the right people early on is crucial. The ethics of your management team is the template for your future.

Chris

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