Company Values
Help define company values — the foundation of culture.
Core Principle
Focus on culture before hiring. Before hiring anyone, define what kind of company people want to work for. Values aren't generic two-word commandments — they state the non-obvious, in non-obvious ways.
Why Values Matter
- Tell employees how to behave every day AND in extreme situations
- More efficient than 1,000-page manuals — good values stick
- Attract the right people and repel the wrong ones (both are valuable)
- Let you hold yourself and your team accountable
- Values supersede you. They allow the company to scale beyond your involvement.
Gumroad's Values (Examples)
1. Judged by the Work
- What matters is the experience creators and customers have
- "It should be considered a failure to receive feedback on something that could have made a creator's life better AFTER you shipped"
2. Seek Superlinearities
- A function that eventually grows faster than any linear one
- Every day producing superlinear returns on time investment
3. Everyone is a CEO
- You are the CEO of your function
- Think like a CEO asking approval from their board, not an employee asking a manager for direction
4. Dare to Be Open
- Aim for complete information symmetry
- Share financials, disclose salaries. No meetings, no secrets, no FOMO.
How to Create Your Own Values
- What do you believe that most people don't? Values should be non-obvious, sometimes polarizing.
- How should people behave when no one is watching? Values are for moments without a manager present.
- What would you fire someone for, even if they're performing well? That reveals true values.
- What would you celebrate, even if it didn't help the bottom line? Also a value.
- Write them as stories, not slogans. "Focus on the user" is a slogan. Nordstrom accepting tire returns at a clothing store is a value told through story.
Operationalizing Values
- Communicate publicly — job posts, website, onboarding
- Use in feedback: "This aligns with our value of X" / "This doesn't reflect Y"
- Revisit regularly — values evolve as the company grows
Output
Help draft:
- 3-5 company values with descriptions and example stories
- How each value shows up in hiring decisions
- How each value shows up in day-to-day work
- Anti-patterns for each value (what it does NOT mean)