Lab Papers: Our Welcome Letter to New Staff

Welcome to The Lab, for those of you who are new.

It’s best to see The Lab not as a company that you work for, but a team that you collaborate with. Together we build the company we deserve.

From our experience, there are four days that every “lab rat” will go through:

Day one. Excitement. Nervousness. Nice office (after it’s cleaned up). People are welcoming. Everything’s fresh. Excited to learn. To prove yourself. To make friends.

A bad day. Your boss or the client doesn’t like your work. Maybe you’re late on a project and the pressure’s building. Another company launched something great. Your teammate isn’t doing the work you expect them to. You come home late. You’re sleepy, you’re bored, you’re broke, or you’re sick.

A good day. You just launched a project. You nailed a presentation. You received a thank you email from client. Maybe you got a raise. Maybe you brought a client back to the team and became everyone’s hero. Maybe your work gets published in a book. Maybe you learned something new. Maybe we’re on a company trip. Or maybe, it’s your birthday.

One day. You feel like you’ve learned everything and tried everything. You want to switch careers. You want to go back to school. You want to open your own business. You want to build a family. It’s natural. Just let us know to see if we can craft a future together. Some of our best collaborators are ex-lab rats!

We want you to know that no matter what day you’re on, that we’re here for you. We hope you remember—on one of those weirder days—to take out this letter. Of course, these are just words on a page. But we’ll try to live up to these ideals everyday.

Tuan, Phuong Anh, Laure

"The Partners"