ES 602: Culture By Design

Guest lecture for UM Ross ES 602 (Leading Startup Teams)

Transcript

1. ES 602: Culture By Design  @dugsong 
2. Would you ever join, or quit a team because of culture?
3. Learning Objectives • Define culture • Align culture with strategy & execution • Lead culture through growth & governance
4. About Me
6. Skateboarding 
7. Punk Punk Rock 
8. Graffiti Graffiti 
9. Hacking: wØØwØØ 
11. #givefirst
12. Defining Culture
13. What is Culture? Culture is the everyday reality of organizational life. “Culture is what we do and say, the way we behave, the way we treat each other, our products, our customers, our community and ourselves. In essence, it’s the personality of the company.” – Zingerman’s Delicatessen
14. Duo Culture At Duo, culture is the operating system of our team. Culture defines how we come together as a team to accomplish something bigger than ourselves. It is our only long-term, sustainable competitive advantage. We do not have more resources, time, or talent than our competitors. Everything we produce can be examined, reverse-engineered, and copied. How we think and act – make decisions, find solutions, and incorporate learning – defines our success.
15. CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION PROPERTY OF DUO SECURITY, INC. DEMOCRATIZE SECURITY by making it easy & effective for all Mission
16. Vision: The Most-Loved Company in Security 2017 BEST PLACES TO WORK 4.8 70+ NPS
20. Examples of companies where culture was a clear differentiator?
21. Aligning Culture
22. Product, Culture, Brand Purpose The Why Protect Others From Harm Mission The How Democratize Security By Making It Easy & Effective Vision The What The Most-Loved Company In Security Pillars Our Promise Easy Effective Trustworthy Values Our Principles Be Kinder Than Necessary Engineer The Business Learn Together
23. Duo Values ▸ Engineer The Business ▸ e.g. Experimentation, Hack Days, Lean/Agile ▸ Learn Together ▸ e.g. Retrospectives, Tech Talks, Book Clubs, Training ▸ Be Kinder Than Necessary ▸ e.g. Appreciations, Feedback, Conflict Resolution
24. Ann Arbor: A Culture of Learning, Teamwork, ...
25. … and Revolution
26. What makes for a winning team? Creative Rebels, Fast Learners, Team Players (... or Freaks, Geeks, Jocks) What do you select for? History, Skills, Values, Motivation
27. How can you be successful? Make a bunch of right decisions! How do you make right decisions? Make a bunch of wrong ones!
28. Push decision-making down Do what’s right for our customers, company, community We win or we learn Blameless retrospectives
29. Example Rituals & Practices
30. Sales Dashboard
31. Duo Hack Day • Why hack? ◦ The best ideas come from all parts of the company ◦ We have exercise our innovation muscles to be successful ◦ You can get a lot done in a single day with focused effort and the right team ◦ If we’re not experimenting and failing frequently, we’re not taking enough risk ◦ Have fun and create new social connections! • Great hack day projects… ◦ Take risk, make bold bets ◦ Involve cross-functional teams ◦ Are not your day job!
32. Duo Tech Talks • Monthly tech talk series • World-class security leaders with BlackHat-quality talks • Hosted across Ann Arbor, Austin, and San Francisco • 40+ meetups • 3200+ members • 100+ average attendees
33. Coffee Roulette
34. Reducing Barriers to Brilliance • 16-week paid parental leave • Paid medical, bereavement, jury duty, military leave • Unlimited book budget • Free healthcare option • Same-sex domestic partner coverage • 9-5 working hours • Unlimited PTO with 3-week minimum • Stocked snacks, drinks, mini-kitchens • ASL interpreters • Prayer/reflection rooms • Gender-neutral bathrooms • Nametag day / pronouns
35. Duo Circles Disability: inclusion and justice for those with disabilities Race & Ethnicity: community for inclusion & racial justice Gender: equality & empowerment across the gender spectrum Faith: a community for all faiths, spiritualities & meaning Families: inclusion for caretakers Social Class: community for economic justice & inclusion Veterans: inclusion and empowerment for those who have served Global: inclusion for nationalities, languages & home countries LGBTQ+: inclusion & justice across all sexual orientations Generations: community and wisdom across generations
36. Appreciations & Karma • Model the behavior we want to see ◦ Uphold success - not top-down, but all across the business • Give diamonds, not hearts ◦ Timely & specific, vs. general positive feedback • Positive feedback in public, critical feedback in private ◦ At DLT, on Slack (#thanks/duobot), thanks@ app for office display • Social trust required to give or receive feedback well ◦ Build Trust - #1 directive of Duo management (#2: Create Clarity, #3: Drive Results) • “Be Kinder Than Necessary” - go out of your way to help others succeed ◦ Not always comfortable - like pointing out spinach in someone’s teeth
37. What values matter most to you, and how would they show up in a great team?
38. Leading Through Growth
39. MFA & Access Direct US Inside Inbound 500 people Beyond Channel EMEA / Fed Enterprise Outbound 250+ people Growth Takes Change 2018 G row th Scale Ludicrous M ode!!!
40. Right Team Positive & purposeful, with diverse skills, experiences, mental models, frameworks Hackers & designers → Public company, SaaS GTM, Webscale experience Winning Strategy The right story: Relevant, Inevitable, Believable, Simple 2FA Everywhere → Access Security → Zero Trust Security What Changes, What Stays The Same Strong Execution Predictable, consistent growth Velocity, US, Inside → Enterprise, International, Channel, Verticals
41. Punk Rock, Jazz, or Marching Band? Seed + Series A • Productize • Build product • Product/market fit • Early traction Series B • Operationalize • Management team • Grow distribution • Reliable results Series C... • Strategize • Growth portfolio • Revenue models • Leadership Startup • Builders • Rapid Change • Not Predictable • Many Hats Growth • Improvers • Iterative Change • Some Predictability • Roles Forming Scale • Operators • Controlled Change • Predictable • Defined Roles
42. Leadership Molecule COO Operations CEO + CTO Vision & Strategy CFO Systems Infrastructure Governance Discipline Growth Execution Alignment Product Culture Brand
43. Org Design COO Operations CEO + CTO Vision & Strategy CFO Systems Finance & Accounting IT Facilities Marketing Sales & BD Cust Success Product People Engineering Security Legal
44. Org Development
45. **
46. Manager Manifesto • Build Trust ◦ First job of any leader - confidence born of 2 dimensions: ◦ Character: your integrity, motive, and intent with people ◦ Competence: your capabilities, results, and track record ◦ Listen first, demonstrate respect, keep commitments, assume positive intent • Create Clarity ◦ Alignment through transparency ◦ Give direct feedback: ♢ and ♤, not ♡ and ♧ • Drive Results ◦ Through delegation & accountability ◦ Agree on: What’s to be done, how they’ll be supported, how you’ll measure success ◦ Push decision-making down: we create and own our own commitments ◦ Have courage to fail: we win or we learn
47. Management Systems • Regular 1:1s ◦ 3 part agenda: about you, about us, your professional development • Professional Development ◦ Roadmaps to Promotion (RMTP) ◦ Shadowing & Rotation • Training ◦ Internal - Duo University, Lunch and Learns, peer-led ◦ External - courses, conferences, certificates • Blameless Retrospectives ◦ Agile, QBRs • Planning ◦ Offsites, summits, MBOs
48. Operationalizing Culture Practices optimizing for transparency, alignment, & connectedness: • Duo Lightning Talks Global monthly all-hands (DLT) • Ask Duo Anything At DLT, plus Slack channel, anonymous feedback, ADA Hub • Board Reports Every 6 weeks • Duo Pulse Survey Bi-annual, plus working groups • Sales Dashboard Bashboard app & office displays, Slack channel • Appreciations & Karma At meetings & DLT, thanks@ app & office displays, duobot • Duo Hack Day Practice collaborative innovation, 3x year • Duo Tech Talks & LnLs Creating community and sharing knowledge • Community Support Through service, sponsorship, engagement • Coffee Roulette/Brew:30 Slack channel, bot, $5 coffee gift cards • Duo Circles Slack channels & meetings of employee resource groups • Culture Day Onboarding for every employee, led by leaders • Local Conversations Site leaders, standups, rotations, Slack channels • Cultural Production Videos, swag, stickers, company, team, releases, events
49. Duo Cultural Development 2011 5 HC Team Meetings Company Updates 2012 21 HC Culture Deck Duo Lunch Talks & Bios Appreciations & Karma Hack Day Holiday Parties Equitable Benefits 2013 44 HC Strategic Plan / OKRs Board Reports Ask Duo Anything Sales Dashboard Open Houses Interview Training 2014 79 HC Culture Day Duo Gives Duo Pulse Survey 2015 195 HC Duo Kickoff Sales Bootcamp Summer Picnics Duo Tech Talks 2017 547 HC Coffee Roulette 2018 726 HC Culture Zine Duo Circles
50. Duo Pulse Survey (via CultureAmp) Factor Q3 2014 Q1 2015 Q4 2015 Q2 2016 Q1 2017 Q4 2017 Q2 2018 Participants / Invited 77/77 97/100 174/177 269/276 371/393 490/514 626/664 Participation 100% 97% 98% 97% 94% 95% 94% Engagement 77% 85% 87% 92% 91% 91% 96% Performance 56% 76% 77% 81% 87% 87% 82% Leadership (MTeam) 67% 81% 86% 84% 93% 91% 88% Direct Manager 64% 78% 76% 83% 89% 88% 85% Culture - 75% 77% 84% 89% 89% 90% Feedback 61% 72% 69% 82% 78% 81% 80% Comm. Effectiveness 78% 69% 63% 81% 82% 80% 82% Work & Life Balance 70% 59% 70% 67% 72% 75% 75% Learning & Development 72% 71% 71% 68% 69% 67% 56% The Office 56% 73% 66% 66% 82% 76% 70%
51. Company Action Plan Learning Advisory Committees Dedicated team of Duo leaders and team members with focus on providing support to those identified as initiative owners, and serving as a champion for initiative / program launches. Create spaces to continue the review and analysis of survey results, guide the ongoing program and initiative needs, and encourage sharing and learning on the team & individual level Engage Duo Circles A review of survey results demographic data with the appropriate Duo Circles to identify trends, identifying where overlaps and intersections occur across demographics, to guide future programming and community engagement. Manager Learning Cohorts Self identified cohort of managers to connect on identified areas of learning, crowdsource best practices and serve as an advisory for future learning & development initiatives and programming. Dept / Team Action Plans Department and team specific action groups created to analyze results and address low trending areas of focus, championed by the Department head / managers with involvement of all employees ACTION TO BE TAKEN THIS MONTH IDEAS BEING DISCUSSED THIS QUARTER
52. The Board Is A Team Too
54. Strategic Investors Connected to: • Industry. Customers, partners • Talent. Executives, key hires • Top Investors. Strategic follow-on capital • Wisdom. CEOs, board members, advisors, relevant to stage Behavioral profile: • Accessible & responsive • Here to serve, not to judge • Highly regarded by other founders, privately
55. Duo Board Lorrie Norrington Nominations & Governance Ron Gill Audit Hilarie Koplow-McAdams Compensation Matt Cohler, Karim Faris, Puneet Agarwal
56. Board Cultural Contribution Security Sales Finance / Accounting SaaS Public Board / CEO experience Board Member A Board Member B ◒ ◒ Board Member C ◔ ◔ Board Member D ◒ ◒ ◒ ⬤ Board Member E ⬤ ⬤ ◒ Board Member F ⬤ ⬤ ◒ Recruit 1 ⬤ ⬤ Recruit 2 ⬤ ⬤
57. Board Meetings • Board meeting every 6 weeks until $10m ARR ◦ Then quarterly board meetings, and mid-quarter calls - but still a board report before each ◦ Board dinners should be awesome, and investors always pay ;-) • Agenda: ◦ Prior quarter review ◦ Next quarter plan ◦ 2-3 Strategic topics ◦ Board business ◦ Closed session
58. Board Reports • Communicate our plans, progress, problems every 6 weeks ◦ 3-5 paragraphs per department, plus CEO summary • Sent to board as GDoc with comments enabled ◦ Board meeting to focus on 2-3 topics of strategic concern • Shared with entire company ◦ After every quarterly board meeting and mid-quarter call ◦ Typically ahead of all-hands meeting • Also useful in onboarding ◦ 8 per year, since 2014 ◦ Effectively comprises the Book of Duo ◦ The story of every major success/learning by our team
59. Boards Amplify Culture
60. Values to Valuation
61. Duo: Best-in-Class SaaS Company 2018
63. Ann Arbor San Francisco London Austin 70+ NPS
65. Key Takeaways • Culture drives behavior, behavior drives results • Values must be lived as practices • Leadership shapes culture at every stage
66. Q&A