Reinventing the Wheel, why Tech startups need to consider Business Culture

By John Mulhall, see more by him here.

When developing tech solutions for business problems, startups can fall victim to being too correct in their new product development. This can cause many human related issues in business that can lead to project failure or technically succeed at an unforeseen cost to business.

For example, a business idea can be a great one but if the entrepreneur does not consider market demand in terms of who wants the product and why, then sustainability of demand won’t be truly understood in the earliest stages of development. Founders often consider company culture to be the concern of large companies with budgets, people and time to write policies on the area. This assumption often misses an important point that company culture is ever present in companies of all sizes. It is a reflection of how well people work together, how internal groups are formed and how productive groups are when pursuing objectives in the company’s best interests.

Brittany Forsyth, VP of Human Relations at Shopify was speaking on company culture and said; “Determine what behaviors and beliefs you value as a company, and have everyone live true to them. These behaviors and beliefs should be so essential to your core, that you don’t even think of it as culture.”  Such teamwork at a startup takes like-minded colleagues, collaborate leadership, two-way communication and a project mentality where expertise centers, not functional silos are built upon each and every day. It all sounds like good business process and teamwork rather than company culture, which is true to an extent. As the startup grows, these practices are accepted, understood and known to all from the grass roots level upwards, which becomes the basis of an evolving company culture.

If you start as you mean to continue, thinking at a fundamental level how you do business and in particular how you engage employees can determine your ability to make successful decisions over the longer term driving growth, sustainability and success! Just make sure its what you want from the start and be rewarded with a functional company culture, which embraces your initial vision that becomes the organisational compass for the continuing journey your company will make into the future.

Sources

Enplug quoting Brittany Forsyth, VP of Human Relations with Shopify: https://enplug.com/blog/37-company-culture-quotes-that-will-inspire-your-team

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