This chapter covers
- Why does culture matter? And why does it matter more for a startup?
- How is culture formed and maintained?
- Is there a core set of principles that drives company culture?
Startup culture is related to organizational culture, an idea introduced in 1951 by Elliott Jaques in his book The Changing Culture of a Factory, where he submits that organizational culture incorporates a set of shared assumptions that guide the behaviors of its members. Shared assumptions will involve all aspects of your work life at a startup, such as how team members treat each other, how disputes are handled, how communications are delivered, how customers and partners are treated, how the company thinks about work–life balance, and many more that we will get into. These patterns of behaviors and assumptions are taught to new team members as they join the startup so they integrate well into the culture and the company. We sometimes joke about new additions to a startup becoming “assimilated,” as if the startup is pretending to be the Borg from Star Trek. But that is not so far from the truth. Ultimately, startup culture will affect how much team members identify with the company. Put simply, if the culture is great, they will identify strongly with the company, and if it is poor, they are probably already looking for their next opportunity. Culture is that important!