I love talking about company culture.  It’s important and deserves its due attention.  Culture tends to happen on it’s own because companies are made of people who have personalities, which they tend to bring to work with them.  But it is worth the effort to define culture so that the people with the personalities have a chance to decide if they want to fit in; (blue jeans vs. suits and all that…)

Here’s the thing about culture in a startup:  if there is no revenue or profit, you have a club, not a company.  Whether you have 2 employees or 2,000, everyone should be aligned with the idea that generating revenue and making a profit is society’s way of giving your company permission to suck in air.  Everyone should know specifically how their part fits into that equation.

Tee shirts, free pizza and ping pong tables are great so long as it helps generate a profit.

BloggingGazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

• Culture