HR for Startups: Corporate DNA

A company's DNA is the combination of traits that make up its personality. It is a set of visions, values, and a sense of purpose that bind an organization together to enable employees to understand and emit the mission and challenge of the whole enterprise.

The company's DNA is established during its initial stages, reflecting the founders' personal and professional values and vision. Since that moment, it defines the company's ability to perform and transmits the organization's culture to generations of employees.

DNA Integrity

Even small changes in corporate DNA can lead to significant differences in organizational performance. That is why it is essential for startup founders to define the company's DNA, to protect it later from being controlled by external influences, and to evolve it at the same time to adapt to changing environments.

One of the most common ways to protect DNA from destructive external influence is by remaining privately owned with share capital's limited control or by branding corporate work environments to reflect the organization's culture.

The only way to evolve with positive advantageous DNA adjustments is from the inside. You can not do that by hiring consultants or advisers; it should get transformed through the entrance of new people (new employees) with new ideas.

Building Blocks

As the founder, you can put any principles you feel right into your company's DNA. However, the building blocks usually connect to the four organizational fundamentals - structure, decision rights, motivating factors, and information.

Structure. What does the organizational hierarchy look like? How are the lines and boxes in the organization chart connected?

Decision Rights. Who decides what and how? How many people are involved in a decision process?

Motivators. What objectives, incentives, and careers do people have? How are people rewarded? What are they encouraged to care about?

Information. How are activities coordinated, and how is knowledge transferred? What metrics are used to measure performance?

After all, keep in mind that there are neither standard benchmarks nor ideal corporate DNA. All companies are different, their founders are different, their stories are different, as well as the environments they exist. E.g., part of Facebook/Meta's DNA is the short-term focus, while Amazon's is the opposite long-term focus.

Let me share below the DNA of?Grubmates.

Little Yellow Book

New Employee FAQ

1. Essentials:

What do we do:

Grubmates - local delivery from any place within an hour ??????

We deliver food, groceries, medicine, and more seven days per week.

What is our value for customers:

We enable neighbors to get any product in the city within an hour.

Thus, by every delivery, we save one-two hours of people's lives to devote to what really matters to them.

Who are our customers:

Our customers are people looking out for food, grocery, and other commonly used products in the comfort of their places.

We are currently available in Mauritius: Flic en Flac, Tamarin and Black River City.

Why we do that:

Our mission is to provide the most convenient delivery service for neighbors, and to boost the local economy by improving consumer logistics infrastructure for local businesses.

2. Structure:

We are a modern tribe:

We are a tribe of people brought together to "hunt" and make a better future. We share resources, and we depend on each other. We share the values, and our personal goals are aligned. We are united by the mission - to enable anyone to get anything in their city within an hour.

Two-pizza rule:

• To do great things, we need big teams. But we need to subdivide them into small cell-teams, aligned with the same culture, mission, goals, and interests.
• Every internal cell-team should be small enough that it can be fed with two pizzas. That means every team should be of at most ten people. That is natural for humans that evolved from small pre-tribal groups living near campfires.

3. Values:

Our workspace values:

• Be kind.
• Be responsible.
• Be polite.
• Be local.

Be kind:

• We don't build delivery services and logistics infrastructure to make money. We make money to build better services and better infrastructure.
• We build our services for people, so their happiness should be our customer-centric priority.
• Being kind means being friendly, empathic, polite, and considerate.

Be responsible:

• Neither rain, nor storm, nor heat, nor gloom of night strays grubmates from the swift completion of the deliveries.
• Do our best to fulfill our promises. The nature of promises is that they remain immune to changing circumstances.
• Build trust. Don't take people's trust for granted. Re-earn it with every decision you make and with every delivery you complete.

Be polite:

• Smile. That is the easiest way to say, "I like you, and I'm happy to meet with you." Our actions and gestures speak about our attitude toward others more than words. It doesn't cost you anything, but when you smile, you make yourself and the people around you happier.
• Do not criticize. Don't judge or blame others. That won't bring any good outcome. Try to understand people and take into account their flaws. Work on the problem in your hands and how to prevent it instead of searching for the guilty.
• Give appreciation and praise. Be genuine in complimenting people and saying "Thank you" or "I'm sorry."
• Treat with respect. Treat people seriously, with respect and dignity. That is the basement for mutual sympathy and trust.
• Have genuine care for others. Try to remember people's names and personal details about them. Talk with them about the topics they care about.
• Avoid disputes. Don't tell others they're wrong - you won't get anything good from that. If you think you're wrong - admit it immediately and decisively.

Be local:

• We are a neighbors-to-neighbors company. That means we hire neighbors, we deliver to neighbors, we help neighbors, and we support neighbors.
• Remember, people don't use Grubmates because they like deliveries. They use it because they like food. Value your local food suppliers (restaurants, groceries, and markets) no less than your customers.

4. Decision Making:

There's always a solution:

Usually, a lot. If what you're doing isn't working, try thinking about the problem in a different way.

Everything is up for debate:

Don't be afraid to have an opinion. The goal should always be to make the best service. Not everyone will agree on the best way to do that, and that's fine. Use arguments to protect your vision.

Collaborate openly:

We hire the best people to solve insanely hard problems to make people's life simpler and happier. That means you're good at what you do. That means the person next to you is good at what he does too. So don't hide things. Be open. Show off what you're working on. Talk. Let other people throw in their opinion. It doesn't matter who they are or what dpt they work in. It doesn't matter how senior they are. Everyone here wants to make a good service. And they also probably know something you don't. At the very least, they can offer a fresh perspective. So listen to their opinion. Then feel free to disregard it.

Don't reinvent the wheel:

• You don't have to disrupt to be successful in what you do.
• The simple solution is probably the right one.
• Features and new products don't fix problems.
• Other businesses may have solved your problem already.
• A willingness to adopt solutions leaves more time for innovation.

Right to make mistakes:

It's ok to make mistakes. It's important not to repeat them. Learn from the mistakes of yours and others, getting better with each of them.

Focusing on impact:

Being able to solve problems is nowhere near as important as being able to pick the right problems to solve. Focus on solving big problems. Focus on helping the most people. Focus on impact.

Quick is better than slow:

While the slow is adding unnecessary embellishments, the fast is out in the world. That means the fast can learn from experience, while the slow can only theorize. Those who experiment quickly can improve quickly.

Done is better than perfect:

Products, services, and tasks that have not been done, rarely make a difference. It doesn't matter how amazing or challenging the process is; the result is always binary: done or not done. Make things done no matter what.

5. Career Progression:

People Company:

Any organization can achieve only as much as its people.

The people of our tribe are the most valuable assets, not liabilities.

Corporate Meritocracy:

• Development and comfort rarely coexist.
• A person's career development in the company should be based on the value that person has generated only.

Hiring:

• We hire only people we would like to hug. We hire smart, talented, hardworking people who want to be a part of our mission.
• We hire evolvingly. Every new team member's level should be higher than the current average.
• We hire slow, and fire fast. We take the time when bringing someone into our tribe. On the flip side, if it is not working out, we let the person go quickly. It isn't compassionate to keep one person - but make their whole team struggle as a result. We need teams in which everyone can trust each other to do a great job. So, it is better to be shorthanded than to hire the wrong person.

Training:

We train people so they can leave, and treat them so they don't want to.

Biannual reviews:

The periodic team-members evaluations should happen every six months. That is an effective way to assess people's value generation performance to keep the company's pace. Moreover, that is the opportunity to invest in people's potential through vertical and horizontal promotions.

6. The way of delivering:

Everybody delivers:

We solve one of the most complicated logistics challenges for people. To be synchronized inside our teams and corporate tribe, we need to share the same first-handed experience.

Rite of passage:

Any people in the company should deliver at least 100 orders personally. The higher role in the company, the more personal deliveries a person should complete to be initiated.

Ruthless focus:

When you are on the order mission, keep focused and keep calm. Evade distractions which you will meet a lot during your delivery quest.

Safety prioritizing:

The road is a dangerous place. Always follow the traffic rules, pass hurrying people, evade overspeeding, be polite, and use protective gear.

Customer-centric service:

Getting food at any time is necessary, but delivery companies are not.

Lofty goal:

We do not help neighbors to make money; we make money to help neighbors. When delivering, be the hero that city needs.

This is the way.