Culture Handbook
This document captures how we work, so it doesn't just live in everyone's heads. It's a living document that will evolve as the team does.
Our Values
1. Curiosity
(noun) — /ˌkjʊəriˈɒsɪti/
A drive to explore the unknown rather than settle for what you already believe. You ask questions, test your assumptions, and change your mind when experience tells you to.
In practice
- —“I don’t know yet, let’s find out” is a completely normal sentence, not an admission of weakness.
- —Undefined, messy problems are treated as opportunity, not as someone else’s job to scope first.
- —When new evidence contradicts what we believed, we say so out loud and update publicly, not quietly, not defensively.
2. Agency
(noun) — /ˈeɪ.dʒən.si/
The ability to make your own choices, think for yourself, and take action to shape your life. Instead of letting things happen to you, you act as the author of your own story.
In practice
- —If something’s blocking you, you find a way around it or flag it loudly, you don’t quietly stay stuck.
- —You move toward the highest-value problem yourself; nobody hands you your next task.
- —You shape your own role over time, propose the project, don’t wait for it to be assigned.
- —“That’s not my job” is replaced with “here’s what I think we should do about it.”
3. Honesty
(noun) — /ˈɒnɪsti/
Telling the truth to yourself and to others directly and with respect, even when it would be easier not to.
In practice
- —Feedback is specific and direct, and it’s given to the person, never about them behind their back.
- —Saying “I was wrong” is treated as a strength, the sooner it’s said, the better.
- —Disagreement happens in the room or in the doc, not in a side-channel afterward.
4. Generosity
(noun) — /ˌdʒɛnəˈrɒsɪti/
A willingness to give freely your time, your knowledge, your credit without keeping score.
In practice
- —Write it down. A documented null result is worth more than a positive result stuck in someone’s head.
- —Give credit generously; take blame personally.
- —Help a teammate before they have to ask twice.
5. Audacity
(noun) — /ɔːˈdæsɪti/
A willingness to take bold, unconventional risks and let your own point of view show in what you do, choosing a meaningful long-term outcome over the safe short-term one.
In practice
- —“Good enough to ship” gets treated with suspicion, we ask “is this actually good?” before “is this done?”
- —We’re willing to trade a good quarter for a great multi-year outcome.
- —The work can have a point of view and a sense of humor. Polished doesn’t have to mean generic.
What We Don’t Accept
Some behaviors work against these values no matter how talented the person is. Worth saying plainly.
- —Gatekeeping hoarding information, access, or decision-making power instead of sharing it.
- —Credit stealing claiming someone else’s idea, work, or contribution as your own.
- —Favoritism treating people differently based on closeness rather than merit and its quieter opposite, letting someone down or leaving them out of opportunities they’ve earned.
- —Agreeing, then undermining nodding along in the room, then working against the decision afterward. If you disagree, say so before it’s decided, not after.
Working Together
Default to written, async-first. Decisions and findings live in docs, not just in someone’s head or a Slack thread that scrolls away. Meetings are for discussion and decisions, not status updates.
Clear decision owners. Every decision has one named owner, not a committee. Others give input, the owner decides, and once decided the team commits: no relitigating without new information.
Protected deep work. Set blocks (e.g., no internal meetings before 1pm, or one no-meeting day a week) so research and build work isn’t death by a thousand syncs.
Regular, lightweight retros. A short recurring check-in (biweekly or monthly) on what’s working, what’s not, and one thing to change, kept small so it actually happens.
Team Rituals & Retreats
We believe time together compounds. Alignment, trust, and shared context don’t happen by accident on a distributed or fast-moving team, they need protected space. So a few times a year, 3–4 times, we deliberately step away from day-to-day work to be in the same room.
These gatherings vary in length and depth, but they share a shape:
- —A reason to be there. Something real to align on, decide, or work through — not just a calendar habit.
- —Structured and unstructured time, both. Real work gets done, but so does a shared meal, downtime, or an activity with no agenda, that’s often where the actual trust gets built.
- —Something written down at the end. Decisions, priorities, or takeaways get captured so the gathering outlasts the room.
Shorter, more frequent gatherings are for alignment, checking in on where things stand, resetting priorities, and surfacing friction before it festers. Longer, less frequent ones create room for the deeper stuff day-to-day work doesn’t leave space for: strategy, culture, and rest. Tying one of these to a natural milestone (a funding close, a major result, year-end) gives it extra weight.