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can be very nice.]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/the-20culture-20coding-20for-20startups-131003081906-phpapp01/75/Culture-Coding-15-2048.jpg)
![Culture comes in many flavours.
We are
on a mission!
Competitors
Customers
People
Investors
People
Customers
Investors
Driven by
purpose
Competitors
Balancing act
Customers
Driven by competition
[we don't recommend it!]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/the-20culture-20coding-20for-20startups-131003081906-phpapp01/75/Culture-Coding-19-2048.jpg)
Uploaded byCorporate Spring
Culture Coding
This document discusses how startups can "hack" their company culture through coding it explicitly. It recommends writing down the answers to questions about company mission, customers, employees, competitors, etc. to make the implicit culture explicit. This allows the culture to be reviewed, tested and improved. The company Corporate Spring helps startups do this through 37-hour cultural hackathons where they discuss foundations, beliefs and hacks to implement. The goal is to beta test an improved culture code by the end of the hackathon.
Culture Coding
- 1.
- 2. We create passionatecultures that accomplish wonders
- 3. What’s inside The Problem TheSolution The Company
- 4.
- 5. You probably don’twant to hear this…
- 6. 9 out of 10startups fail. Source: The Startup Genome Project
- 7. Half of all VC-backedventures fail. Source: Sequoia Capital
- 8. For the mostpart, failure is due to the inner workings of a startup. Source: Dozens of VCs, most vocally Peter Thiel
- 9. Peter Thiel’s Law: Astartup messed up at its foundation cannot be fixed. Founder of PayPal. Founders’ Fund. Breakout Labs. Thiel Foundation
- 10.
- 11.
- 12. Hack your culture. Doit with as much focus and intensity as you hack your products and distribution.
- 13. Since (almost) nobodydoes it, let us explain what we mean.
- 14. Culture is not cookiesin the jar. epic parties. wild perks.
- 15. [Although these things canbe very nice.]
- 16. Culture is whatyou believe ...and then do.
- 17.
- 18. Culture is codedin your answers. Our awesome startup Why do we exist? What business are we in? What’s our secret? What’s our big vision? What’s our plan? People Customers What kind of people do we hire? How do we make decisions? How do we resolve conflicts? How do we do things around here? What do we reward? Who are our ideal customers? How do we reach them? How do we treat them? Investors Competitors Who do we choose as our investors? How do we work together? Who do we compete against? How do we (not) compete?
- 19. Culture comes inmany flavours. We are on a mission! Competitors Customers People Investors People Customers Investors Driven by purpose Competitors Balancing act Customers Driven by competition [we don't recommend it!]
- 20. So how doyou hack your culture code?
- 21. It’s hard tohack something you can’t see.
- 22. To hack yourculture code, you need to write your current code first.
- 23. The language youneed to learn to write your culture code is…well, language. The traditional kind.
- 24. Once you canlook at it together, you can change it.
- 25.
- 26. Let’s do aquick experiment.
- 27. Where would yourather work? Company A We will be a market leader in market X. Our mission is to maximise shareholder value. We value integrity, excellence, team work and profitability. Company B We are on a mission to solve a grand challenge X. We have a big crazy idea. We want to replace a 10,000 year old technology (yes, seriously). We are a team of explorers ready to give it everything we've got. Because if we don't try, we will be letting a billion people down.
- 28. You can feelthe cultural vibe, can’t you?
- 29. 5 tell-tale signsyour culture code is fine-tuned for startup success: 1 2 3 4 5 Identity You have a distinct sense that you are sharply different from the rest of the world. In a good way. Foundation You are on a mission to change the world. You've got the vision, the secret and the plan (product+distribution). Trust You trust the people you work with. And they trust you back. Giftwork Everybody puts in the extra effort, goes the extra mile. Because what you do matters. Because people like each other. Pivot-ability You learn from everybody and everything. Your beliefs are up for discussion, you can change them and pivot.
- 30.
- 31. Well, roll upyour sleeves. You’ve got some culture hacking to do.
- 32.
- 33. Hello, aspiring culturehackers.
- 34. At Corporate Spring, webelieve passionate cultures can accomplish wonders.
- 35. So we helpcreate them.
- 36. We run 37hour cultural hackathons.
- 37. Goal: Hack your culture tohelp you accomplish wonders.
- 38. Philosophy: Make the implicitculture code explicit. Take a hard look. Run cultural experiments. Steal culture hacks from other startups. Invent your own. Fail quickly. Debug. Have fun. Celebrate successes. Laugh at failures. Think of cultural coding as a game with serious consequences.
- 39. 37 hours ata glance DAY 1 – MACRO – start 7:00 am DAY 2 – MICRO – finish 8 pm Foundation Hacks Create ground to stand on. Make every day count. Code stress test. Why’s. Mission. Secret. Vision. Plan. Person #20. Coding Foundation. Code stress test. Setting goals & allocating time. Sharing information & ideas. Tracking progress. Course corrections & pivots. Big & small decisions. Resolving conflicts. Dealing with setbacks. Onboarding, giving feedback and celebrating. Keeping eyes & ears open. Having fun. Coding Hacks. Beliefs Unhide hidden drivers. Code stress test. People. Customers. Investors. Competitors. Coding Beliefs. Review Is that Our Way? People Customers Investors Competitors Code review. One last stress test.
- 40. 37 hours feel likethis: Fast-paced action. Even when you sleep. Answer big questions in 30 seconds. Make impossible tradeoffs on the spot. Get inside other people's heads. Turn hacks into edgy social experiments. And write, write, write the code.
- 41. Outcome: Your culture code readyfor beta testing Monday morning.
- 42. Our hackathons arebased on research… Theory Practice Hacks Without good frameworks, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s important. We draw on two seminal works on culture: Frameworks without practical startup context are useless. Here are some of the people and ideas we follow: Hofstede’s “Culture’s Consequences” Hall’s “Beyond Culture” Steve Blank, Lean Startup Peter Thiel, Founders’ Fund Max Marmer, Startup Genome Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures Paul Graham, Y Combinator Happy Startup Canvas Google Ventures Startup Weekends Startup Compass Funders & Founders We love cultural hacks. We keep an extensive inventory of effective cultural practices. Some we’ve designed ourselves (and won prizes for). Others we’ve borrowed from culture-hacking companies like Asana, Zappos, Google. We are always on the look out for good ideas that work.
- 43.