Scaling culture How to nurture a coherent company culture amidst change and growth Scaleup Meetup Köln, 16.05.2024 | Jutta Horstmann | CEO, Mailvelope / ex-COO, eyeo

Case Study

eyeo… Who?

FROM: 2 to 14 products 16m to 250m users 6 to 300 people 3 to 35 nationalities 0 to 10 lawsuits 1 to 700 partners

The startup needs to scale

Growth vs Scaling Output Output Input Input

Aspects of scaling 💰 💰 Business 💻📲 👪👪 🌱 Product Organization Culture

Scaling culture

How to scale a culture to 250+ people? 📋 🗣 🤗 🤝 Provide clarity Tell stories Embrace diversity Break down silos

Evolution of culture - from implicit to explicit Implicit ▪ Developer-first ▪ Remote first ▪ Open Source ▪ Libertarian ▪ Full transparency ▪ Work family A bit explicit ▪ Core Values Very explicit ▪ ▪ Communication guidelines Leadership principles Evolving ▪ Culture Council ▪ Core Values update ▪ Mission & Vision statements

Scaling culture is all about balance

Balance Optimizing for publisher revenue Short-term success Optimizing for user experience Long-term sustainability Remote Co-located Professionalization & standardization Creativity & innovation High Performance Sustainable pace Control Empowerment Rapid change Iterative and participatory approach

“Scaling people”?

Helping people to grow with the company 🛠 👏 🌿 The Old Guard Resilience 10% of staff hired 2011-15 Finding and keeping talent Change is here to stay 33% of staff hired 2016-18 World-wide hiring Anti-fragility 57% of staff hired 2019-21 Flat hierarchy Trust Talent development Empowerment & Enablement Appreciation

“In the past we were pirates, now we are the Royal Navy.”

Addressing identity crisis 👂 🔦 👉 Empathy Clarity Leadership Explain. Listen. Repeat. Vision & Mission Commitment “What’s in it for me?” Strategy Multiplicators Values Leading by example Behavior

Scaling yourself ● Let go ● Step out ● Empower ● Relax

How to keep disrupting? Beware of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse: ● Complacency ● Bureaucracy ● Mistrust ● Timidity

Takeaways

  1. Growth comes with pain.

  1. Build for scale, embrace change, and allow people to grow with the company.

  1. Enjoy the ride.

Thank you! Jutta Horstmann Mailvelope GmbH CEO, Mailvelope GmbH https://www.mailvelope.com jutta@mailvelope.com @mailvelope (X, Mastodon) https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhorstmann/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/mailvelope/ @smphr (Mastodon) PGP: 89D1 69A3 ECAD CA3D A4E6 F3A7 DFA4 EE0F 9113 4859