When should you write up your company values?
As soon as you possibly can.
Here’s why:
Part of the reason to create a company is to create the environment you want to be in.
So it’s important that you reflect your values in your interview process. Otherwise, the sheer number of people joining will dilute things.
Also, it’s important to be flexible.
You're bringing in people who are better than 1/2 the people you have, not just technically, but also in terms of their culture fit.
There’s a lot you can learn from their life experiences and the places they've worked in the past.
So your culture needs to be an organic living thing that can change and adapt to new things.
That's why, even if I wrote up our values describing the place I want to build, I list them as "Our Current Values."
It’s because as important as any individual value is the notion that we listen to each other and change, even on things as important as “Who do we aspire to become?”
