Culture Code: Creating A Lovable Company

1
CULTURE
CODE
THE
Creating a company we love.

WHAT’S CULTURE?
A set of shared beliefs,
values and practices.

HubSpot’s CULTURE CODE
is the operating system
that powers the company.

WHY DO WE
CARE ABOUT
OBSESS OVER
CULTURE?

Culture doesn’t just help
attract amazing people,
it amplifies their abilities and
helps them do their best work.

Culture is to recruiting as
product is to marketing.
Click to tweet
this quote.
Customers are more easily attracted
with a great product.
Talented people are more easily attracted
with a great culture.

CULTURE HAPPENS.
Whether planned or not,
all companies have a culture.
So why not create a culture we love?

PEOPLE HAVE
DRAMATICALLY
CHANGED HOWTHEY
LIVE AND WORK.

THEN NOW
FOCUS Pension Purpose
NEED Good
Boss
Great
Colleagues
HOURS 9-5 Whenever
WORKPLACE Office Wherever
TENURE Whole Career Whatever

But although people have
dramatically changed…

Too many
organizations
operate as if they’re
frozen in time.

This document is
part manifesto and
part employee handbook.
It’s part who we are and
part who we aspire to be.

When something is still
aspirational (not yet true) we
try to call that out.
This document is
part manifesto and
part employee handbook.
It’s part who we are and
part who we aspire to be.

THE CULTURE CODE
1. We commit maniacally to both our mission and metrics.
2. We look to the long-term and Solve For The Customer.
3. We share openly and are remarkably transparent.
4. We favor autonomy and take ownership.
5. We believe our best perk is amazing people.
6. We dare to be different and question the status quo.
7. We recognize that life is short.

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1
We commit
maniacally to both
our mission and
our metrics.

We love small and
medium-sized  
businesses.
Especially those that 
want to do better.

OUR MISSION is to
help these organizations
GROW.
We want to transform
how they attract, engage and
delight their customers.

We’re working to
help the world
GO INBOUND.
To take a more empathetic,
human-friendly approach
to marketing and sales. (Turns out, it’s also
more effective.)

“Pursue something
so important that
even if you fail, the
world is better off
with you having
tried.”
TIM O’REILLY.
Note: The O’Reilly conference room at
HubSpot is named after Tim.

We believe:
Success is making
those who believed
in you look brilliant.

Our commitment to our
mission will help us earn the
love of many.
Our commitment to our
metrics will help us earn the
resources to further our
mission.
We are passionate about both.

This dual personality of
mission & metrics is uncommon.
It’s partly what makes us
DIFFERENT.
And also kind of
quirky, in mostly
good ways.

26
2
We look to the
long-term and
Solve For The
Customer.

SFTC.Solve for the customer
We don’t want to satisfy them,
we want to delight them.
Our goal is to help them succeed.

FOR EVERY DECISION
WE SHOULD ASK
OURSELVES:
“Selves, what’s in it  
for the customer?”

WAIT. Does “Solve For The Customer”
mean just giving more away for free?
Wouldn’t that delight customers?
NO. To delight customers in the
long-term, we have to survive in the
short-term.
Because…

Bankrupt
companies
don’t delight
their customers.

HubSpot has a professional sales team.
How do we ensure we SFTC?
How do we know we’re doing it right?

We’re on the right path as long as
we sell to customers that we
expect to delight.

We’re on the right path as long as
we sell to customers that we
expect to delight.
This is the key. Don’t sell to
customers we’re not justifiably
confident we can delight.

34
3 We share openly
and are remarkably
transparent.

WE SHARE
(ALMOST)
EVERYTHING.
We make uncommon levels of
information available to
everyone in the company
(all 1500+ of us, and counting)

WE HAVE THE MOST ACTIVE
WIKI ON THE PLANET.*
Examples of things we share and discuss:
• Financials (cash balance, burn-rate, P&L, etc.)
• Board meeting deck
• Management meeting deck
• “Strategic” topics
• HubSpot Lore & Mythology (the funniest page on
the wiki)
*Unverified claim

We protect information only when:
It is legally required.
Example: Information covered under a
Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
It is not completely ours to share.
Example: Individual compensation data

WAIT.
ISN’T HUBSPOT PUBLICLY TRADED?
Yes. We had our IPO in Oct 2014 [NYSE:HUBS]
Usually, publicly traded companies can only share
detailed information with a select group of “insiders”.
This didn’t fit well with our culture. So…

We officially made
every employee at
HubSpot a designated
insider.

Power is gained by
sharing knowledge,
not hoarding it.

“Sunlight is the
best disinfectant.”
-LOUIS BRANDEIS

Everyone has open access to
anyone in the company.
It’s not an open door policy.
It’s a no door policy.

NOBODY HAS A CORNER OFFICE.
Not because we work in circular buildings,
but because nobody has an office.

An important note on transparency…

Transparency is about being open,
not making decisions by consensus.
We each have a voice, but not always a vote.
TRANSPARENCY ≠ DEMOCRACY

All this transparency
doesn’t matter unless we do
something with it.
So…

47
4 We favor
autonomy and
take ownership.

Just because someone made a mistake years
ago doesn’t mean we need a policy or rule.
WE DON’T PENALIZE THE
MANY FOR THE MISTAKES
OF THE FEW.
We only protect against big stuff.

We don’t have
pages of policies
and procedures.

USE
GOOD
JUDGMENT.
Instead we have a 3-word policy
on just about everything:

Social media policy.
Travel policy.
Sick day policy.
Buy a round of drinks at an event policy.
Work from home during a blizzard policy.
Our policy on all of these (and most other) things:
USE GOOD JUDGMENT.

customer > team > individual
Here’s the cheat sheet on good judgment:

team > individual
Don’t solve for your personal interests to
the detriment of the team.
We loathe selfishness and
love teamishness.

customer > company
When in doubt, favor solving for the
customers’ interest over our own.
Solving for customers’ interest
is in our long-term interest too.

The thing that matters most:
RESULTS
(i.e. are we making a positive impact?)

Results matter more than
the number of hours
we work.

Results matter more
than where we
produce them.

Results matter more
than how much
vacation we take.
(we have unlimited vacation)

Our best results come when
our decisions are insight-driven
and data-powered.
WE LOVE DATA.

Debates should be won
with better data not
bigger job titles.
We disfavor pulling rank.
It happens sometimes,
but we don’t like it.

People want
direction on where
they are going…
micro-directions
on how to get
there.
h/t Simon Sinek
NOT

smart,
self-motivated
people
clear,
compelling
vision
+ =
Shared understanding
around mission and
goals.
The discretion to do
what best moves
us forward.
sustainable,
scalable
growth

To support transparency and trust,
we have to be thoughtful
about who we hire.
It’s also important because…

64
5 We believe our
best perk is
amazing
people.

DISCLOSURE:
HubSpot is not a utopian
workplace.
We are not a perfect fit
for everyone. And not every amazing person
is a great fit for us.

What makes someone
a great fit for HubSpot?
What makes this the place
they belong?
What does it mean to be 
HUBSPOTTY?

There are 5 attributes
that we value in people.

Self-aware and respectful.
HUMBLE.

Wait. Doesn’t being humble mean
lacking confidence?
No.
The very best people are self-aware
and self-critical – not arrogant.

“
Humility is not
thinking less of
yourself; it is thinking
of yourself less.
C.S. LEWIS.

When things go well,
humble people tend to
share the credit.
When things go poorly,
they tend to
shoulder the responsibility.

Goes beyond understanding
another person’s perspective.
Acts with compassion and respect
for customers, partners and colleagues.
EMPATHETIC.

Innately curious
and constantly changing.
Life-long learner.
ADAPTABLE.

STANDS OUT BY BEING:
Remarkably helpful.
Remarkably resourceful.
Remarkably effective.
*h/t to Seth Godin
worthy of being remarked upon*
REMARK∙ABLE.

EFFECTIVE PEOPLE:
Are predisposed to action.
They just do things.
Have a sense of ownership.
Are resourceful and always
looking for leverage.

Open and honest with others
and with themselves.
TRANSPARENT.

WAIT. Aren’t some people just private?
This is not about sharing personal
information. (What happened in Vegas should stay in Vegas)
This is about sharing knowledge
generously.

HUMBLE
EMPATHETIC
ADAPTABLE
REMARKABLE
TRANSPARENT
We like people
with heart.

Yes, “heart” is a bit cheesy.
We’re a bit cheesy sometimes.
HUMBLE
EMPATHETIC
ADAPTABLE
REMARKABLE
TRANSPARENT
We like people
with heart.

We don’t just
believe in these values,
WE BET ON THEM.
We recruit, reward and release
people based on these values.

EXAMPLE:
THE J.E.D.I. AWARD
Awarded to those that just quietly
and selflessly do the right thing and
move us forward.
(J.E.D.I. stands for “Just Effing Does It”)

Compromising on culture fit
is mortgaging the future.
It’s reasonable to want to hire for skills and
experience when the need is painfully acute.
It’s reasonable. But, it’s also wrong.
The interest rate on culture debt is crushingly high.

We’re a team, not a family.
We hire, develop and cut smartly
so we have stars in every position.
+1 We couldn’t have said it
better ourselves, so we didn’t.

WE HAVE A NO
ASSES RULE.
(Truth: We try hard not to hire
them. But, they temporarily
sneak in sometimes.)

Don’t just hire to delegate.
It’s tempting to bring people in that you can
push off work you don’t have time for.
Hire to elevate.
Bring people in that can teach us something.
Continually seek to raise our average.

Culture Code: Creating A Lovable Company

Our best people
don’t just fit our culture,
they further it.

Our core values stay
constant, but we constantly
iterate the code.

With great people comes
great responsibility.

We want to be as proud
of the people we grow
as we are
of the company we grow.

We believe in
investing to increase
individual mastery and
market value.

THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO
PROGRESS AT HUBSPOT.
1. Gain mastery as an individual
contributor and make magic.
2. Provide spectacular support to  
those who are doing #1.
Confession: We have a lot of first-time managers at
HubSpot. We’re working hard to develop them.

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To achieve
mastery you must
dive deep.
Talent is not enough.
Mastery requires
intense commitment.

We’re doing a few things
to help you learn…

HubTalks: Learning From Leaders
Clay Christensen
“Innovator’s
Dilemma”
Eric Ries
“The Lean
Startup”
Patty McCord
Former Chief People
Officer, Netflix
Deval Patrick
Former Governor,
Massachusetts
These are private talks given at HubSpot.

Unlimited Free Books Program.
Request a book – it magically shows up
in your Amazon Kindle account.
No muss, no fuss.
No expense sheets.

Unlimited Free Meals Program.
Take someone smart out for a meal.
Learn something.
Expense it.
No approval needed.
Use good judgment.

But the most important thing
is to provide big challenges.

Amazing people don’t
like average goals.

6
We dare to be
different and
question the
status quo.

Why do we care so much
about being different?

Many companies start
out being exceptional.
As they grow, there is a
dark, powerful force that
pulls them towards the
average.If we regress to the mean, we
fail. It’s that simple.

Remarkable outcomes
are rarely the product
of modest risk.

#inbound12
We encourage
experimentation.
Better to try and
sometimes fail
than to sit
tight and…
fail for sure.

We don’t mind making mistakes,
we do mind repeating them.
Each mistake carries a lesson,
we try to make sure we learn it.

Speaking of being different…

To think different we
need to be different.
We cannot all be the same.
We want a diversity of
backgrounds and beliefs.
Confession: We want diversity,
but do not yet have it. Still work to
do.

One of the most important
ways we try to be different:
THINK SIMPLE.

110
Conventional wisdom suggests more  
is better. More bells, more whistles.
We believe simplicity is a
competitive advantage.

Things usually start simple…

COMPLEXITY
QUIETLY CREEPS IN.
ITS TOLL LIES BELOW
THE SURFACE.

WHY DOES COMPLEXITY CREEP IN?
It is often the quick, seductive answer
to short-term issues.
Fighting for simplicity
and looking to the long-term
takes courage and commitment.

You cannot add simplicity in.
You must take complexity out.

1
Like software…
Organizations should be
Refactoring means to improve
internal structure without
changing external behavior.
frequently 
refactored.

REFACTOR.
• Stop generating unused reports.
• Cancel unproductive meetings.
• Remove unnecessary rules.
• Automate manual processes.
• Prune extraneous process. A handy acronym to
remember these: SCRAP

Fight for simplicity.
We want HubSpot to be:
EASY TO BUY.
EASY TO USE.
EASY TO LOVE.

One more thing…(super-important)

7 We recognize
that life is short.

So it should be fulfilling and fun.
Work is a big part of life.
So work should also be
fulfilling and fun.
LIFE IS SHORT.

It’s important to take care of yourself.
Healthy @ HubSpot initiative:
• standing desks
• healthy snacks
• fitness room
• spontaneous laughter
LIFE IS SHORT.

Always be kind
and compassionate.
LIFE IS SHORT.
We encourage candor and
criticism. It helps us grow.
But remember,

And full of tough choices.
Always take the high road.
LIFE IS SHORT.
The view is better and
it’s much less crowded.

THE HUBSPOT CULTURE CODE
1. Mission and metrics.
2. Solve For The Customer.
3. Be transparent.
4. Take ownership.
5. People > Perks.
6. Dare to be different.
7. Life is short, make it matter.

Whether you were delighted
or displeased, all feedback
is appreciated:
@dharmesh (one of our founders)
reads every email.

THANK YOU.
Congrats for making it this far.
Visit CultureCode.com
to ask questions or
join the open discussion.
Yes, we’re hiring.
Click the logo.

Culture Code: Creating A Lovable Company

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