Why Startup Culture Matters: 5 Key Takeaways

Author: Elena Vrabie

When you have a small team, startup culture represents a mimetism of what the co-founders, alas the leaders, do and say. In the case of #dreambigorgohome, the business culture is a “steward to accelerate success”. 

Culture is at the core of a fast-scaling business, and an essential topic to ponder at the beginning of the year when budgets are set and departments realign. As I heard last night from UiPath Alumni, Ana Cinca - former VP of Product, and Marius Istrate - former CPO, at the winter fireside chat hosted by Endeavor Romania to facilitate experience exchange.  

They are currently advising and investing in local tech startups that want to build an international tech ship. And what better way to engage local entrepreneurs with global goals, like Radu Negulescu - Sessions, Gabriela Constantinescu (She/Her) - Chambr, Bogdan Nicoar? - Bright Spaces, Tudor Darie - Fagura or Mircea Popa - Medicai, amongst others, than at an Endeavor Romania event?

“Endeavor is a worldwide community designed to support entrepreneurs to get access to knowledge, markets, and money. It includes more than 2,000 entrepreneurs coming from over 40 countries and is supported by a network of over 4,000 mentors and over 500 investment funds,” Mihnea Craciun, Managing Director of Endeavor Romania shared in a previous interview for The Recursive.  

Although it was hard to choose only five, discover below my takeaways from the ping-pong of ideas shared between Ana and Marius when it comes to growing a global company with over 3K employees. 

5 things about building a business culture

#1 All aboard the startup culture trip

Before embarking on this journey, both Ana and Marius were adamant about the fact that no matter if you are focusing on building a business culture as a startup founder or not, you have a “company folklore”. Therefore, it’s important to pay attention to it, keep evolving it every six months, or how often and quickly your company grows.

#2 The value of startup culture

What’s important about culture is the fact that future employees can tap into the co-founders’ passion. People will join the company because they believe in it. This is what will also turn them into the company’s ambassadors even before landing the first customers. 

#3 Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Every speech a founder says should enforce the startup culture. This is eminent in hybrid or remote teams when you don’t often get to meet face-to-face, and people need the motivation to keep building. 

#4 Communication is everything

When you are growing at the speed of code, communication is everything. But this can mean something different to each team. Some innovate by going outside on the terrace and pitching their ideas; others can listen, and not necessarily agree, but it’s important to do it together. 

Ana shared that her team wasn’t stuck on specific workflows or bureaucratic work, for example. But their culture deck offered an operating system that kept team members aligned. Also, she isn’t a firm believer that you can grow a tech startup without physical infrastructure. 

#5 “Builders can’t be scalers”

While the company evolves rapidly, the team members will also grow. Some are thinkers, others are doers. And while the culture can keep some together, in other cases “builders can’t be scalers”, and it’s OK to let people go to develop separately. 

This is also a core element for your hiring. You need the right people for each job to access their enthusiasm for doing what they like, as nothing can be imposed, no matter what perks you offer. 

What’s a core pillar of your business culture? 

Share it in a comment below! ??