Forward Partners 2016 Values Deck

1. An Ornithopter, an Easel and The
Vitruvian Man
THE DIFFICULT SECOND ALBUM

5. What is an Ornithopter, an Easel and
The Vitruvian Man Doing Here?

6. They all relate to Leonardo Da
Vinci – our mascot and the
representative of three
archetypes that we relate to at
Forward Partners

7. ARTIST
ACHIEVER
INTELLECTUAL

8. ACHIEVER
CHARACTERISTICS
Are
competitive
by
nature
Masters
of
endurance
and
hard
work
Push
the
limits
and
challenge
convention
Challenge
themselves
to
get
better
all
the
time

9. ARTIST
CHARACTERISTICS
A
keen
eye
for
things
that
others
cannot
see
Intensely
focused
(can
do
detailed
work
for
hours
on
end)
Master
of
perspective
(can
see
things
from
many
points
of
view)
Curious
about
the
world

10. INTELLECTUAL
CHARACTERISTICS
Wisdom
Intelligence
Clarity of thought
Rational decision making

11. O u r t e a m a s p i r e s
t o b e l i k e
D a V i n c i

12. 6 T H I N G S W E L O O K F O R
I N O U R S E L V E S
We Succeed Together
We Execute With Skill And Pace
We Share Our Knowledge
We Get Better Every Time
We Have The Courage To Create
We Enjoy Our Journey

13. 6 T H I N G S W E L O O K F O R I N O U R S E L V E S
T H E D E T A I L

14. Camaraderie
is
a
quality
which
is
at
the
core
of
any
successful
team.
For
us
it
is
about
having
a
common
sense
of
purpose
and
the
belief
that
we
succeed
bigger
when
we
pull
together.
We
share
the
commitment
and
discipline
needed
to
achieve
excellence
and
we
respect
each
other
and
the
different
qualities
we
bring.
Whatever
the
project,
big
or
small,
we’re
in
it
together
as
a
team and
we
only
succeed
when
our
companies
succeed.
W e S u c c e e d T o g e t h e r

15. “If everyone is moving forward
together, then success takes
care of itself”
Henry Ford

16. We
work
in
an
environment
where
information
is
fluid
and
ever-­‐changing,
and
where
procrastination
costs.
It’s
important
that
we
make
informed
decisions
as
a
team
quickly
and
execute
with
both
the
speed
and
quality
needed
to
help
our
partner
companies
succeed
faster.
We
discuss,
decide,
delegate
responsibility
and
move
on
with
a
clear
sense
of
purpose
and
determination
to
achieve
our
end
goal.
W e E x e c u t e W i t h S k i l l A n d
P a c e

17. "The most effective way to do
it, is to do it”
Amelia Earhart

18. With
vast
amounts
of
experience
within
our
team,
we
know
a
lot
about
what
it
takes
to
build
successful
digital
startups.
But
we’re
also
smart
enough
to
know
when
we
don't
know.
That's
why
we
constantly
seek
to
learn,
understand
and
share
our
knowledge.
Each
member
of
our
team
truly
lives
this
value.
Since
we
were
founded
in
2013,
we’ve
distilled,
designed
and
refined
our
own
methodology
for
building
a
startup
and
have
shared
it
with
the
world
-­‐ www.thepathforward.io
W e S h a r e O u r K n o w l e d g e

19. “You can only achieve optimal
performance by the
aggregation of marginal gains.
It means finding 1 per cent
margin for improvement in
everything you do”
Dave Brailsford
“The only thing to do with
good advice is to pass it on. It
is never of any use to
oneself.”
Oscar Wilde

20. We
strive
to
improve
ourselves,
our
ways
of
working
together
and
the
ways
in
which
we
work
with
our
partner
companies
every
single
day.
Constant
improvement
and
learning
allows
us
to
provide
the
best
support
for
startups
both
now
and
in
the
future.
W e G e t B e t t e r E v e r y T i m e

21. “You can only achieve optimal
performance by the
aggregation of marginal gains.
It means finding 1 per cent
margin for improvement in
everything you do”
David Brailsford

22. A
creative
approach
and
the
courage
to
tread
our
own
path
is
at
the
heart
of
the
Forward
Partners
ethos.
We
champion
creativity
across
our
business,
from
the
products
we
build,
the
user
experiences
we
create
and
from
within
the
partner
companies
that
we
invest
in.
We
were
founded
to
be
more
than
your
average
VC
and
have
challenged
established
approaches
and
industry
status
quos
from
the
beginning.
We
are
proud
to
do
things
a
little
differently
to
achieve
unique,
creative
and
successful
solutions
that
break
new
ground.
W e H a v e T h e C o u r a g e T o
C r e a t e

23. "Creativity takes courage.”
Henri Matisse

24. Our
journey
is
about
much
more
than
the
destination
we’re
travelling
to.
Along
the
way
we
make
sure
we
enjoy
our
work,
celebrate
our
victories,
recognise incredible
performance
and
rise
to
each
challenge
we
face.
We
support
each
other
in
day
to
day
projects,
stand
alongside
one
another
in
each
decision
we
make
and
take
time
to
foster
our
relationships.
This
mindset
breeds
true
team
spirit,
work
satisfaction
and
trust.
W e E n j o y O u r J o u r n e y

25. “Happiness is a journey and
not a destination"
Buddha

26. L I V I N G
O U R
V A L U E S

27. We Succeed Together
Our company and personal objectives are decided as a team
and we use tools to link and track all of our objectives.
Da Vinci was an expert at many different things – the same
goes for our team. Everyone owns their functional area and
takes responsibility for their area of expertise.
We display our vision and mission around the office to
constantly remind us of the journey.
We use bonus.ly to recongise and promote great work.
We all have lot’s of Forward Partners SWAG.

28. We Execute With Skill And Pace
We love sharing ideas with the team but we also need to get on
and work effectively. All meetings are time-boxed, assigned an
owner and given follow-up actions.
We’ll try new methods, tools and processes but we always
check them against our commitment to quality and pace.
We use dashboards and data to measure and track our work
and use the insight to help guide us to better results faster.
Every Monday we have breakfast together where we run a retro
on last weeks activity complete with data, dashboards and
discussion. We also decide on the actions for the week ahead.

29. We Share Our Knowledge
Everyone has the chance to write an article on The Path Forward
and blog on the Forward Partners website.
Everyone has the opportunity to host a roundtable on a topic of
their choice and sharing their findings on our blog and with the
team.
We encourage and support everyone to speak at, attend and
organise events – we want to help you build your brand.
Everyone can expense a non-fiction book but we would love it if
you shared a short review with team once you finished reading it.

30. We Get Better Every Time
We test everything that can be tested.
We capture all of our learnings in our Start-up Playbook.
We encourage real-time feedback and use tools to help us
deliver it effectively and in a constructive manner.
We run retrospectives on all of our projects.
We regularly find time to learn more about each other in our
Thursday Lunches together.
We support on-demand learning with company accounts to e-
learning platforms.

31. We Have The Courage To Create
We have mood-boards around the office to instill design thinking
into as many of our projects as possible.
The Office is a space for inspiration so we invite a series of guest
curators to exhibit their exhibitions in our office.
We celebrate our failures as much as our success because we
can always learn from our mistakes. We show projects that went
well and also share what didn't’ work so well.

32. We Enjoy Our Journey
We celebrate all of our success – publicly.
Da Vinci needed inspiration, and we do to – our office is regularly
updated with a new theme.
Monday breakfasts, Thursday lunches, Friday Beers with Peers,
daily snacks and drinks – all part of the Forward Partners week.
Monthly socials connect everyone in the room, both Forward
Partners’ team and our partners.
We measure our happiness every day and keep an eye on the
office mood by taking a pulse check every week.
We have no formal dress code.