From my response on the Yabbly Startup Survivor Challenge: How do you think about building culture at your company? And how do you think “good” culture helps your company? Thanks!

In my experience, culture isn’t something that can be layered onto an organization. It’s stamped indelibly by the founders/leaders and the values they establish and live by. From a practical standpoint, founders, as I’ve said before, must have a set of operating principles that transcend the “what” of their products and business, and inform the “how” of their work. Step one is to literally articulate and know what these values are (think simple, informal statement or bullet points); step two is to continually ask whether the work you conduct lives up to those values (periodic check ins); and finally, step 3, as you grow, involves evaluating prospective new hires in light of those values.

Having “good” culture isn’t a choice; it’s hardwired into the DNA of the company, and its lines of force are mapped directly back to the leaders. The rest is window dressing.