Sticker Mule handleiding
Door Anthony Constantino
The Sticker Mule Guide, written by founder and CEO Anthony Constantino, explains the principles, ideas and operating practices that have shaped Sticker Mule. It offers employees, candidates, journalists and others a direct look at how Anthony thinks about building and running the company.
Mission
We created Sticker Mule to be the best place to work and shop. That means making ordering fast, simple and fun while creating a stable, low stress and enjoyable place for talented people to work.
The best place to work
We are building an environment where great people want to work and retire. That means providing a stable, low-stress and enjoyable place to work.
To provide stability, we focus on profitability and have high expectations for our people so there’s never a reason for the company to do poorly.
To stay low-stress, we hire ahead of demand to avoid overtaxing our teams.
We make work enjoyable by not taking ourselves too seriously and by finding opportunities to have fun.
The best place to shop
We build experiences that other people want to imitate and avoid releasing things that aren’t great. Our ideal customer experience is fast, simple and fun.
To be fast, we improve metrics like time to: ship, proof, reply, checkout and load website content.
Simplicity complements our desire to save time (i.e. confusion wastes time). We build intuitive experiences and avoid adding complexity that harms the many to help the few.
We make ordering fun by incorporating social features, building delightful experiences and using surprises.
Characteristics
We work extraordinarily well together because we share a similar perspective on work. We all tend to be humble, independent, logical, thoughtful and autodidactic.
Here’s why these characteristics are important:
Humble
Possesses a modest view of one’s abilities and importance.
Why: People fail when the disparity between what they can do and what they think they can do becomes vast. Also, humility is a prerequisite for improving.
Thoughtful
Concerned about the well-being of others and the company as a whole.
Why: People that put the well-being of each other first can be trusted to make optimal decisions. Inconsiderate people are difficult to trust no matter how talented because they tend to optimize for their own benefit.
Independent
Good to work with but able to get stuff done on their own.
Why: The best teams in business and sports are comprised of talented people that know how and when to interact to achieve a goal.
Autodidactic
Willing and able to learn from others and on their own.
Why: People that are unable to self educate run the risk of eventually becoming a burden because it can be hard to place them as our needs change.
Logical
Strong decision making skills that we can trust.
Why: Decision making skills are hard to train and responsibilities change as we grow, so we favor logical people over those who are merely experienced.
Departments
Design
Design creates the interfaces and experiences that make ordering fast, simple and fun.
Engineering
Engineering improves manufacturing productivity by creating new equipment and processes.
Finance
Finance provides guidance to help us plan and maintain profitability as we grow.
Human resources
Human resources recruits, hires, onboards and trains our staff to ensure we have the best people.
Marketing
Marketing grows revenue using email, advertising, sales, search, social and conversion optimization.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing works to meet demand while improving quality, cost and turnaround.
Software
Software builds features that improve our services, website performance, conversion and automation.
Support
Support assists customers and identifies problems that harm their experience so that we can resolve them.
Compensation
Compensation is hard to get right. It’s a tool to keep us aligned, but it’s easy to design a compensation strategy with harmful side effects. Our obsession with simplicity led us to design a compensation strategy that’s easy to administer and understand.
We pay above market wages for all positions. While many companies develop bonus programs that are difficult to understand and create harmful incentives, our approach encourages financial discipline and long term thinking while reducing anxiety.
Encourage financial discipline
Doing more with less is the only way to pay exceptional wages. Accepting this fact forces us to avoid wasteful spending, such as over hiring, and to be vigilant to hire the best people, design effective processes and avoid low impact activities so that we provide exceptional compensation for the long term.
Encourage long term thinking
Bonus programs encourage a short term focus by tying compensation to annual results. We hope our team retires here. Paying above market wages reinforces our commitment to make Sticker Mule viable for the long term.
Reduce anxiety
Some companies use bonuses to compensate people because they can be reduced. This creates anxiety for both employers and employees. Employers stress about the disappointment created if bonuses don’t meet expectations. Employees, who have limited control over results, anxiously wonder what their bonus will be. By focusing on offering exceptional wages, we reduce uncertainty and make a lasting commitment regarding pay.
How we determine wages
We design sensible pay grades that define what a person makes based on their role and years of service.
Grades may be revised upwards based on changes in the job market or nature of a job, but we do not offer wages to new hires that deviate from our system. If a grade increases, it constitutes a pay raise for everyone on it.
We don’t use equity
Companies use equity to encourage long term thinking and reduce costs by exchanging wages for equity. While these are desirable characteristics, equity-based compensation has downsides. It shifts risk onto employees and requires outside investors to allow employees to realize the value of their equity.
By avoiding investors, we have absolute freedom to focus exclusively on the well-being of our customers and coworkers. This freedom allows us to attract exceptional people and maintain outstanding employee satisfaction.
Revenue model
Ecommerce growth is governed by a simple formula:
To grow, we increase traffic, conversion or order size.
There is no other way.
Traffic
We increase traffic through organic search, advertising, email, brand awareness, referrals, repeat visits and internationalization.
We grow organic search by creating a lot of high quality content to obtain high quality links and high search rankings.
By making improvements to conversion rate, referral rate and other areas, we’re able to spend more on advertising than weaker competitors.
We craft short, effective email content for our customers and grow our email list with deals, promotions and product launches.
We gain brand awareness with outstanding customer service, sponsorships, public relations and referrals.
Referrals spread the word about our products, features and experience.
Repeat visits are influenced by customer happiness, memorable experiences and lifecycle marketing.
Internationalization allows us to expand our services worldwide.
Conversion rate
We increase conversion through site speed, design, turnaround, retention, onboarding, support and functionality.
- We increase site speed by decreasing page load time, time to 1st byte and time to perform a task (i.e. determine pricing).
- Better design is a combination of usability, clarity and aesthetics.
- A faster turnaround is achieved with more capacity, variability, stability and less rework and unplanned downtime.
- Retention is influenced by our quality & service, ease of ordering, reminders, turnaround and win back campaign effectiveness.
- Our onboarding efficacy is determined by email, website UX and retargeting.
- Faster, higher quality replies improve support, increase NPS and post inquiry conversion.
- Functionality is determined by the features we build and the number of customers that use them. If they are useful & intuitive, customers will be more likely to order, repeat & refer us.
Average order size
We grow the average order size through the ease of ordering multiple items, breadth of product, order size incentive and repeat visits.
- Making it easier to order multiple items increases the avg. order size.
Breadth of product influences avg. order size. However, before adding additional products, we should consider:
- What’s the overall market for a new product?
- How strong is competition for a new product?
- How likely are our customers to buy a new product?
- How easy is it to manufacture a new product at scale?
- Can we innovate in manufacturing?
- Can we improve the ordering UX?
- How much manufacturing space is required?
- Order size incentive influences customers to spend more. Examples include spend $X and get a free t-shirt.
- Customers spend more on each subsequent visit so keeping them happy and encouraging them to return increases avg. order size.
Principles
We use principles to define our culture and guide decision making in each business area. They provide a framework to make decisions and reduce the need to create specific policies.
Decision making principles
Don’t waste time
A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week. - George Patton.
Time is finite and the rate at which we complete projects drives growth and profitability.
Growth > saving time > saving money
Prefer growth over saving time and saving time over saving money. Postponing growth reduces the slope of the growth curve leading to a long term loss of profitability that exceeds short term savings.
Since time is finite and fixed it’s more important than money. We cannot make more time, but fast execution makes us more money.
Recurring savings > 1 time savings
Do not fret about 1 time savings or expenses. Recurring costs are what matter.
Revenue = traffic X conversion X avg. order size
There are only 3 ways to increase revenue: 1) increase traffic 2) improve conversion 3) raise the avg. order size.
Process improvements > capital investment > adding staff
It’s better to fix a broken process than make capital investments and better to make capital investments than increase headcount.
Prioritize projects based on benefit and time to implement
Tackle quick wins with high return before difficult projects with moderate return.
Delegate when possible
If a subordinate can do a task let them do it, but don’t push work onto people that are already busy or unable to do the work you are delegating.
Avoid ideas that do not scale
If you find yourself saying “well as long as this doesn’t become too popular we should be okay” then you’re probably discussing something that’s not worth doing.
Do not undercut competition
Let competition win on price to avoid a race to the bottom.
Avoid provoking competition
Provocation prompts action and retaliation. It’s best for competition to be complacent.
Don’t be dogmatic
At times it makes sense to ignore principles but we should do so knowingly.
Marketing principles
Revenue = traffic X conversion rate X avg. order size
The only way to grow revenue is to increase traffic, conversion or average order size.
Take the path of least resistance
Focus on what works and avoid trying to force ideas that don’t succeed naturally.
Live within constraints
If you pursue every marketing channel you won’t master the most important ones.
ROI > creativity
Marketing is not about creativity. It’s about finding and executing tactics that generate a return on your time and money.
Don’t screw up
You do not get do overs when you screw up a marketing campaign.
Don’t provoke competition
Provocation prompts action and retaliation. It’s best for competition to be complacent.
Prioritize hidden improvements
Prioritize tactics that are not obvious to competition over tactics that are noticeable.
Focus on long term
Avoid short term wins that have long term consequences.
Build and protect your brand
Actively build goodwill and recognition for your brand.
Avoid discounts
Competing on price is a race to the bottom.
Look for leverage
Find levers, such as referral rate, that when improved make everything else perform better.
Content principles
Content multiplies as we grow. It’s important to be vigilant about content quality to demonstrate our commitment to crafting great experiences. Content includes everything from web copy, videos and FAQs to internal documentation and dashboards. Our principles are designed to produce meaningful content that’s easy to understand. They are:
Omit needless words
Use the fewest words possible.
Practice by editing content after you write it to see if any words can be omitted.
Practice editing content to omit needless words.
Omit needless information
Delete information that doesn’t matter.
Consolidate and optimize
Combine similar pieces of content into a single optimized piece of content when sensible.
Always be polishing
When revisiting content fix problems when you spot them.
Obsessively organize
Put content in the right place so that it’s easily found.
Use sentence case
Camel Case Makes Reading Harder. Use sentence case.
Use hyperlinks
Link to additional content when appropriate.
Think about the future
Good content is long lasting. Avoid creating content that doesn’t provide long term value.
Practice
Crafting quality content is difficult. It takes constant practice to become good and stay good.
Blog writing principles
Write for people
Provide value to readers rather than rank for keywords.
No spam
Do not publish SEO/AI spam that only search engines want to read.
Be authentic
Write about topics you understand to provide readers value.
Be useful
Teach something, solve a problem or tell a story. Just always provide value.
Write with clarity
Posts should be clear, easy to read, and written in a human voice.
Quality > volume
It’s better to have fewer great posts than a steady stream of mediocre ones.
Show and tell
Use data, screenshots, examples, and stories that make the content memorable.
Seek a peer review
We have a number of talented writers at Sticker Mule who can help polish your post before you publish.
Set the example
Our blog should be the model for how any individual or website should write on their own blog.
Secure editorial approval
Do not publish without approval from designated editors.
Task writing principles
Be concise
Explain the problem in the fewest words possible.
Be comprehensive
Explain the problem fully so that your coworkers do not need to ask for clarification.
Make the document easy to scan
Use bulleted lists and section headings to make tasks easy to scan.
Group related tasks
It’s more efficient to address related tasks in batches even if some are low priority.
Include relevant links
Link to anything relevant so that a problem can be researched quickly.
Include screenshots and screencasts
Include screenshots and screencasts that can be reviewed to better understand an issue.
Verify if a problem can be reproduced
Attempt to reproduce a bug and provide the sequence of steps to reproduce it to a developer.
Estimate difficulty
Improve your ability to estimate task completion time comparing your estimates with reality.
Start task subjects with a verb
Start task subjects with verbs (such as fix, consider, create, remove and add) to make them clear.
Use consistent formatting
Use templates so that coworkers become used to a format and are able to scan it quickly. The following template works for most tasks:
Title:
The purpose should be clear from the task title. Start task titles with verbs (such as fix, consider, create, remove and add).
Description:
A brief description of the task that’s, ideally, one sentence stating the problem or intent.
Screenshots / mockups (if applicable):
Link to screenshots or mockups.
Acceptance criteria:
A bulleted list of functionality that must be provided for the task to be accepted.
Out of scope (optional):
A bulleted list of functionality that is out of scope for this iteration of a task to help provide additional clarity to an assignee.
Notes (optional):
Provide any additional notes, related links or links to related tasks.
Design principles
Start with the simplest solution
The best features are the ones that are easy to understand. Starting simple will maximize usability, speed up development, and make it easy to measure success.
Protect dev resources
Dev resources are finite and scarce. Don’t add unneeded features, styles, or flourishes that will disrupt implementation or waste time. Respect the design system and always attempt to reuse existing styles.
Conversion > usability > performance > aesthetics
Usability, performance and aesthetics help improve conversion, but they should not be goals unto themselves.
Prioritize projects with high return / effort ratio
Favor quick wins and easy implementations. Avoid difficult projects with questionable returns.
Prioritize problems that affect the majority
The most impactful improvements are those that address common problems and affect many people. We can’t fix every problem for every customer.
Ignore edge cases that affect few people
When designing new features, build for the masses and avoid working on edge cases that affect the few. Edge cases can be addressed once a feature is live and we get feedback from customers.
Break large projects into phases
Keep implementations simple by designing in phases, starting with an MVP (minimum viable product). Ensure goals and objectives are clear for every major project or release.
Ensure a seamless handoff process
Implementation tasks should be clear, detailed, and understandable—even for developers who are not familiar with the project. Provide up-to-date mockups and prototypes showing all possible states. Provide assets to save developers time.
Apply familiarity
People develop a preference for things they are familiar with. Use design elements and interfaces that people already understand.
Stimulate delight
Creating a positive emotional response will make people remember us and come back. Design friendly, pleasing interfaces that aim to make people smile.
Avoid sizzle
Sizzle - Dazzle or excitement, as opposed to substance. 2 quotes on this topic:
Good design is as little design as possible - Less, but better -- because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.
and
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
The second is about omitting needless words. It is important to omit needless design elements too. Avoiding sizzle does not require designs to be simple or boring, but every element should have purpose.
Avoid redesigns
Good design is long-lasting - It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years -- even in today’s throwaway society.
Like most great websites our original design aesthetic changed minimally since our inception. We should avoid redesigning and, when designing new projects, we always aim for long lasting designs.
Avoid polishing frequently
Design with precision and attention to detail to avoid rough edges. Avoid perpetually polishing if it’s low impact.
Avoid modals
Modals break navigation and lack dedicated URLs. Favor full pages layouts instead.
Software development principles
Move fast
Time is finite so avoid wasting it.
Delegate to make best of resources
Use resources wisely by assigning tasks to others when appropriate. Don’t sit on a task that another person can do.
Focus on features that benefit the many
Prefer working on features that benefit the masses over features that benefit the few. Push back on marketing if they violate this principle.
Ignore edge cases that affect few people
When building new features, build for the masses, and don’t code edge cases that affect the few. Edge cases can be addressed once a feature is live and we get feedback from customers.
Avoid stupid bugs that affect few people
Countless bugs affect small numbers of people and we can easily waste resources trying to fix them. Focus on only fixing bugs that affect the masses.
It’s better to break things than move slowly
It’s worse to delay features than to break the web site. Culturally, other departments are conditioned to prefer things breaking than to wait longer for new features to be released. In other words, there are no consequences for making mistakes in order to move faster. The rate of innovation is what’s important and breaking things to move faster is acceptable.
Offload legal decisions to other departments
Don’t waste time and energy trying to assess the legality of features. We have a strong legal team that includes multiple in house lawyers of the highest caliber. It’s generally a waste of time and resources for a non lawyer to try to determine legal compliance.
Create new teams when sensible
As the scope of work for a team grows too large, we should split into multiple teams to move faster and create more leadership roles.
Practice using AI where possible
AI will continue providing increased value to all departments, but it’s only as good as the person using it. Practice using AI to learn to take advantage of it so we can improve productivity which is the best way to also produce wage improvements.
Avoid polishing too often
Set aside polish tasks and schedule periods to work on polishing once or twice annually at the direction of team leads.
Support principles
Avoid negatives
Avoid saying sorry, can’t, won’t, not able to, unfortunately and so on. People become adversarial when they read these words.
Avoid apologies
Avoid saying sorry. Saying you’re sorry diminishes your credibility and is often a filler a phrase. Empathize and offer solutions instead.
Avoid patronizing
Avoid saying anything that seems patronizing or insincere. Words like “sorry” and “appreciate” often seem insincere. Also, use exclamation points cautiously!
Be concise
Respond in the fewest words possible.
Practice by editing your responses after you write them to see if any words can be omitted.
Practice editing your responses to omit needless words.
Be comprehensive
Do not leave anything to wonder, but do not overwhelm the customer with needless information.
Ask coworkers for help
Practice replying to difficult conversations with help from coworkers.
Don’t respond when upset
Some customers are rude. Get help from a coworker or take a break if you’re upset.
Use saved replies
Saved replies ensure consistency and we can report on their use to prioritize improvements.
Tailor saved replies to fit the conversation
Do not use saved replies exactly unless appropriate. Tailor replies to be clear and concise.
Research the situation
Retrieve all facts and craft your reply based on them.
Research the customer
Evaluate the customer’s potential and tailor your response accordingly.
Use names
For example, don’t say “Thanks! Credit added!” say “Thanks Brian! Credit added!”.
Use screenshots to add clarity
Take and share annotated screenshots to add clarity to replies when sensible.
Offer solutions and alternatives
Use your information and experience to help customers discover their options.
Develop resources for common issues
Document and note common problems and questions so that resources (i.e. saved replies, FAQs or web development) can solve or reduce the frequency of those issues.
Proofing principles
Read all comments thoroughly
Always read all comments, including notes from coworkers, before creating a proof.
Ask coworkers for help if necessary
If you don’t understand the comments on a proof ask nearby coworkers for help. Reassign to the “production assistance” if necessary.
Always try to recreate low resolution artwork
Try to recreate low resolution artwork to ensure optimal print quality and a better customer experience. If a recreate is especially time consuming it’s okay to ask customers for better artwork.
Avoid multiple rejections
If an artwork is rejected always ask a senior team member for help to prevent future rejections.
Double check product requirements
To ensure artwork is prepared correctly check the product requirements in Guru.
Use saved replies
Use saved replies when communicating with customers to ensure consistent messaging.
Check your file before uploading
Use the QC Checklist before uploading your file to avoid common mistakes.
Manufacturing principles
Safety > quality > turnaround > cost
It’s not worth operating if we do not keep people safe. There’s no reason to ship product that is defective. And, there is little value in trying to save money if we do not deliver on time.
Design processes so anyone can perform them
To scale, you need to make processes intuitive so that you can quickly add staff when needed.
Judge people primarily on attendance
Attendance is a straightforward evaluation metric. It’s mostly all that matters if processes and positions are well designed.
Manage via metrics
Focus on turnaround, labor productivity, material utilization and quality.
Share metrics publicly
Metrics improve faster when they’re visible. The important thing is to pick the right ones to share.
Talk to people
Keep good relations with people to stay abreast of problems and spot opportunities to improve.
Talk to attorneys
Always get advice on how to handle personnel problems. Don’t assume your instincts are correct.
Use pay grades
To ensure people are treated fairly design sensible pay grades and do not deviate from them.
Do not use incentive pay
Incentives are difficult to design and maintain. It’s best to design processes that minimize productivity variance among staff.
Recurring savings > 1 time savings
Do not fret about 1 time savings or expenses. Recurring costs are what matter.
Don’t tolerate malicious behavior
Mistakes happen, but it’s unacceptable when harmful acts are intentional.
Discuss important situations in person
Manufacturing problems are rarely solved via email. It’s best to talk in person.
Err on the side of extra training
People tend to want less training, but it’s better to err on the side of wanting more.
On progress
Mission: Be the best place to work and shop.
Strategy: Find and fix the biggest problems that we are able to solve to become so good it’s a mistake not to buy from us or work with us.
Our process
Select metrics
We select metrics for each area to guide progress. The metrics we choose focus our attention so we try to select a small number of sensible metrics for each department and position.
Identify problems
We identify & document problems by area. It’s easier to identify problems than propose solutions so we start there. We update this documentation quarterly & suggest proposed solutions that link to tasks in Asana.
Set objectives
We set objectives by area and identify tactics, focused on resolving problems, that help us achieve them.
Prioritize tactics
We prioritize tactics to maximize impact. Resources are finite so effective prioritization determines our rate of progress.
Summarize progress
We summarize progress periodically to state our accomplishments, results, learnings and next actions.
Conclusion
To guide progress, we select metrics that define success. Then we identify problems, find solutions and prioritize effectively while using Asana to move faster. We improve the rate of progress by prioritizing better & expanding our capacity to get work done. Standardization also improves efficiency so we created this document to clarify & disseminate our process.
On prioritization
Organizations are the sum of their decisions. Those that prioritize well prosper, and those that don’t falter. At Sticker Mule, prioritization is the most important thing we do. Our growth accelerated as we got better at it, and there’s still room to improve.
What prioritization is not
Most literature on prioritization is terrible. It treats the subject as time management or how to use to-do lists. That misses the point. Priorities make and break businesses, and no to-do list saves you from working on the wrong thing.
Amazon started as an online bookstore in 1994 and reached $147 million in revenue within three years. Last year it did roughly $719 billion with about 1.58 million employees, and passed Walmart as the largest company in the world by revenue, ending a 13-year run at the top. Walmart is a great company that has since built a serious e-commerce business. But Amazon compounded a decision Walmart made late, and the gap between them is still about a trillion dollars in market value.
What prioritization is
Prioritization is picking the work that does the most for the business and declining the rest.
The hard part is that the highest-impact task is usually elusive. You rarely know which one it was until it’s done. That’s not a reason to avoid choosing. It’s a reason to choose deliberately and revisit often.
It also means giving yourself permission to neglect things. A list of everything you need to do is just a list of everything you need to do. A prioritized list is a decision, and once you’ve made it you can work without the rest of the list distracting you.
How we weigh work
You don’t need to prioritize every task, but it helps to roughly classify them. These are the tradeoffs we weigh:
Growth over costs
Time is finite. You can always make more money, never more time, so we’d rather spend it growing revenue than trimming expense.
High impact over low impact
Though a pile of low-impact tasks is worth clearing if it’s quick.
Enduring over temporary
Work that keeps paying beats work that pays once.
Definite over potential
A smaller certain gain beats a larger maybe.
Grouped over scattered
Related tasks go faster together, so we’ll often pick up a low-impact task riding along with a high-impact one.
Fast over slow
All else equal. The exception is a long-term bet with a real payoff. Those compound, and most companies neglect them.
How we sort work
- List the big projects.
- Group the related ones together.
- Estimate each one: how long it takes, whether the value is definite or potential, whether it lasts, and how much it moves the business.
- Sort into three piles:
Do now. High impact, definite value, quick to finish.
Do later. High impact but slow or less certain. Worth doing, not worth doing first.
Delete. Low impact, low value. Not “someday”, just delete. Deleting work is a decision too, and usually the cheapest one available.
Questions we ask
Ask these periodically and your prioritization improves:
- What’s the most impactful thing you can work on?
- Did you identify the right problem?
- Do you know the most important problem to solve next?
- Can you replace a planned task with a better one?
- Can you delete a low-impact task entirely?
We aim to embed a passion for prioritization into our culture.
On secrecy
Sticker Mule will become a large company, but that doesn’t mean anyone needs to know. Strategically, it’s ideal for us to fly under the radar while we build an enduring competitive advantage. This approach helps ensure our longevity and maintain our culture.
Why secrecy is important
- People like an underdog: We have a bias for underdogs. Likability goes down when you become the favorite.
- Attention is a tactic not a goal: Businesses exist to serve customers and employees; not to become famous. Attention, especially in the form of earned media, is a means to an end; not an end unto itself.
- We don’t have a growth problem: We already enjoy extraordinary growth and don’t need to seek attention to grow faster.
- Earned media is inherently risky: Exposing information about us makes complacent competitors active, encourages new entrants to the market and diminishes our underdog status.
- People tend to copy success: There are countless examples of boastful startups pursued by copycats. Get rich quick schemers can’t copy success they don’t know about.
- Prestige attracts the wrong type of talent: We value humility and aim to avoid prestige seekers. Like-minded people hopefully appreciate our commitment to quietly building our brand.
How we maintain secrecy
- We avoid talking openly about our success. It’s tempting to want to boast. After all, kudos motivates most people. Athletes, celebrities and artists all enjoy public recognition. Unfortunately, in business, seeking recognition for your success is often a strategic error.
- We don’t use public relations as a growth tactic. Many companies use public relations to grow. If our growth ever slows we may consider using it, but not until then.
- We are cautious when dealing with vendors. Vendors love sharing information about successful clients to ingratiate themselves with other customers. Consequently, we rarely let suppliers into our factory, divulge minimal information and require them to sign non-disclosure agreements.
- We require all employees to sign NDAs. Signing an NDA is part of our onboarding process for new people. Luckily, it’s rare for someone to leave us after joining, but we take care to protect ourselves.
What we share publicly
We share public information about our culture to help educate potential team members about us before they join. This includes information on the characteristics we look for in new teammates, our approach to compensation and principles that guide our decision making. We also talk about how we use services like Asana and Slack to emphasize their importance to us.
Concluding thought
Many companies who receive public accolades lack an internal culture to match their public persona. We want to be the opposite. Loved internally and indifferent to external opinions unless they belong to customers. By taking this approach, we sacrifice the temporary enjoyment of public praise for our long-term well-being.
Looking forward
To prosper, we find & fix problems quickly while effectively prioritizing. Each area of our organization has their own unique problems, but these are our biggest known challenges as a whole.
Challenges
- Scale: What size business will we become?
- Products: What additional products do we want to sell?
- Marketing: How do we maintain our growth rate?
- Onboarding: How do we scale a positive onboarding experience?
- Disaster recovery: What's our plan to mitigate disastrous events?
- Security: How do we maintain security and confidentiality?
- Automation: How do we complete automation projects faster?
- Branding: Should we rebrand to something less specific?
- Knowledge: How do we organize our knowledge and keep concise?
- Vertical integration: Should we make our own material?
