David All is...

On Company Culture

Most people know that I’m not motivated by money. Instead, I have built companies to do innovative work, to change the status quo, to play the game by our own rules, and to surround myself with a team filled with people with core strengths.

In my opinion, the culture of a company is perhaps the most important ingredient to being successful. Another word for culture could be the happiness of your team. Culture is achieved through many different elements, but generally, your team needs to be motivated about the exciting work they are doing, comfortable financially and professionally, and valued.

The biggest challenge I have faced to date as an entrepreneur has been trying to scale and maintain the culture of working on our team. It was easy when I was sitting among my team but this has been especially difficult as our company has grown to establish an authentic presence elsewhere — distributing the team across many offices.

When I meet entrepreneurs who have scaled their companies quickly, I always seek to understand the lessons they’ve learned about maintaining culture. More often than not, they rarely have faced the challenge of opening multiple offices and distributing their team. Instead, they simply move to bigger office space to keep the team together and ensure the space is built to help maintain the culture. Unfortunately, companies that service clients don’t have the luxury of establishing a bunker — they always need to be where the opportunities to work with cool clients are. That means you must distribute.

I’m always learning and trying to improve my own knowledge base in this area, but here are a few lessons I have learned from others that I think could be valuable to future entrepreneurs:

1. Monthly on-boarding of new employees with the CEO. I just learned about this concept yesterday but it makes perfect sense. Essentially, the CEO realized that employees were joining quickly but had no historical knowledge of where the company had come from. So, every month, the CEO gathers all the new hires and tells the company story and lets folks ask questions. Our own history is a really long story, but perhaps it’s worth folks knowing so that they feel like a stronger part of the team from the beginning.
2. Quarterly vision discussions. Every quarter, the CEO would give an update on what has happened at the company over the previous quarter and where they’re going. As the CEO, we often forget that we’re always informed about everything happening in our company — our VPs keep us informed. And it is, in fact, our job to help share that knowledge with the entire team on a regular basis. Even major press events — like a round of funding — was not well-known among the team and this discussion helps ensure everyone is on the same page. This also addresses the importance of an agile vision discussion — your team always needs to know where you’re heading.
3. Friday Happy Hours. Celebrating the end of every week with a cold beer or a coconut water and a smile helps break down barriers among staff. Standing around, holding something cold in your hand, and talking, is a very social experience that makes people happy. It also provides a platform for teammates to work out little indifferences they might have had throughout the week.
4. Hire below market value. The CEO I spoke with yesterday told me that hiring below market value was essential to weed out those motivated by money. His experience when hiring “money folks” was that they hurt the culture and ultimately leave for a greener pasture as soon as the opportunity presents itself. To combat this, he takes money off the table at the beginning and focuses solely on persuading talented people who believe in the vision and the culture he is presenting. As CEO, you need to find the right balance between compensation and motivation but I think the concept is strong if used appropriately. And, of course, you can always promote / increase compensation swiftly.
5. Embody your principles. If you’re leading a team, the team needs to know that you’re guided by principles. No decision can be made which doesn’t directly relate to your principles. Here are the DAG principles. This coming week at our weekly meeting, I’ve asked the DAG team to talk about how they or someone else on the team has embodied one of the principles the previous week. This weekly exercise should help bring focus to our principles on a regular basis and surface interesting information across the team. I’m excited about this discussion.

At the end of the day, it is always good for CEOs to know that a company evolves over time. In fact, if you want to succeed, know that everything will change.

The only consistent should be the spirit of the company — the culture — the happiness of being a part of something special. It is not easy work, especially when you face big challenges like scaling, but it’s worth fighting for. And, perhaps, the only thing that really matters.

Lemonade versus the Lemon Shake-Up: An Early Lesson in Marketing

When I was in sixth grade, my neighborhood friends and I decided to open a small business — selling juice to those thirsty patrons walking by our house.

My friends wanted to open a “Lemonade” stand and reaching for the Kool-Aid, started preparing. However, I had a different idea.

I remembered a moment in my youth when my folks took me to the Ohio State Fair and we drank a “Lemon Shake-Up.” That was a special moment and a happy time.

For those that don’t know what a lemon shake-up is it is essentially water, crushed ice, “fresh” lemon juice, heaps of sugar, and, importantly, a few fresh cuts of lemon. You shake it up (go figure) and serve it tall with a straw. I’m thirsty just thinking about it.

You realize this but to point out the obvious — there is no fundamental difference between “lemonade” and a “lemon shake-up.” The product is the same; however, the marketing and the customer experience is different.

So we went to the store and loaded up on “fresh” lemon juice and lemons. We created posters highlighting that we were offering access to “fresh, ice cold lemon shake-ups.” We set up our stand and got to work flagging cars with our signs and smiles. When a customer stepped up to the stand, we cut the lemons, shook it all up, and served it tall with a straw.

Ask any kid on the street what the market price for “lemonade” from a stand is and they’ll likely say $0.25-$0.50 per glass. At least that’s what it was back then.

We charged $3.00 for a lemon shake-up and I remember a few generous folks giving us $5.00. That was big money back then. Huge money.

Importantly, our customers were happy — perhaps our product reminded them of a happy moment in their life. And we killed it that summer.

Now, whenever I see a lemonade stand, I always stop and tip generously with the hope that perhaps I’ll help inspire an entrepreneur. I’ve yet to see a “lemon shake-up” stand but I’m hopeful I will. That would be special for many reasons.

[Ed. Note: A big thanks to my wonderful mom for helping me fact check this story. She has reminded me of a few other small businesses I started when I was younger — I’ll share those stories in the near future.]