How We Fight

We hire smart, opinionated people with ideas and execution ability, and give them independence. That means arguments happen and strong opinions clash. We think that's a feature worth respecting: contesting ideas is how they get tested and how decisions get better.

If we do this right, we will have a strong culture of independence, which results in rapid shipping. We will also have a strong culture of contestation of ideas, which leads to stronger decisions in the long term.

Freedom of Speech, One Voice

Internally, everyone gets to speak their mind. You can push back, contest an idea, and disagree out loud, including with leadership. That freedom is what lets small teams move fast and make strong calls without waiting for permission.

Externally, we have a single, united narrative, communicated through designated spokespeople.

Fight Hard, Fight Kind

Arguing is healthy right up until it isn't. The trick is to go at the idea, not the person — ferocious yet kind. Learning to do that well is one of the most useful skills there is: fights are inevitable in marriage, in partnerships, in business, and a lot of adulthood is learning to have them, recover from them, and build relationships that survive them.

When something does boil over, leadership's job isn't to referee every disagreement. It's to make the right call for the company, expect everyone to act like professionals, and trust the team to work it out. Once the call is made, we disagree and commit: you can lose the argument and still get behind the decision.

This Culture Isn't for Everyone

That's by design. The best way to grow is to learn to defend your ideas and build a thicker skin, because the world isn't gentle with anyone who puts themselves out there and tries something new. As we grow and take on more competitive markets, that matters more, not less. You'll meet critics everywhere, from well-meaning people to outright bullies, and we'd rather you were ready for them than shielded from them.

We'll keep things from boiling over, but a real amount of friction is part of working here.

A word from Daniel, our CEO:

Life is hard, the world is cruel. I won't coddle you (go to FAANG for that). For those of you who become founders: startups are hard and chaotic, and you'll only find that beast inside you by going through shit.

Hanlon's Razor

When something feels like an attack, it usually isn't. Most conflict here comes from missing context, not bad intent. Our take on Hanlon's razor:

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity lack of communication or ambiguity."