Culture isn’t what you say, Culture is what you do

Correlated has officially doubled in size since I started 120 days ago. 

There's something uniquely special about the experience of joining a startup so early.  It begins with an endless amount of work and limited resources. Sounds awful but hear me out. In reality, you’re moving so quickly there’s no time for monotony. You challenge yourself daily as you continuously learn and build something where there was nothing. Everything you do, every project you start, has the potential to be massively impactful. You build deep relationships with your small team of coworkers because collaboration is constant. Most importantly, you are instrumental in forming the culture of the company.  

My first two months were spent removing bottlenecks, diving headfirst into recruiting, and quietly observing – while taking detailed notes – how the team worked together.  When it comes to culture there’s what companies say they value and then there’s how the people at those companies actually work together. 

Culture isn’t what you say, culture is what you do. 

Month three and four were spent asking the team what they value in each other, how they work together, how they want to work together, and what they want to be able to say years from now when they look back on the company they built. 

And that’s how we began the ongoing process of defining and building our culture. More than empty words, our culture is our team. It’s the way in which we have worked together from the beginning and it's our shared ongoing commitment to each other as we continue to grow.  

How We Work Together at Correlated

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1. We’re a remote first company focused on communicating often, sharing insights, and encouraging two sided conversations.

2. We're transparent about company goals, metrics, and performance, openly discussing what’s working and what’s not.

3. We value one another’s input and genuinely want our teammates and the company to be successful.

4. We give credit and celebrate each other's work.

5. We are each more than our job titles. We encourage employees to take ownership and empower those who are willing to lead.

6. We hire for thought diversity, highly valuing both deep thinkers and pragmatic fast movers.

7. We encourage sharing feedback in real time, with maturity and without ego, assuming the best of each other.

8. We respect each other as people and encourage healthy work life boundaries.