Company Values

---
name: company-values
description: >
  Help founders and leaders define company values and culture for a minimalist, lean business.
  Use when setting up company culture, preparing to hire, or codifying what the company stands for.
compatibility:
  models: [any-llm]
  use-case: business-culture
  frameworks: [minimalist-entrepreneur, lean-startup]
---

# Company Values

Define clear, actionable values that guide culture and hiring before scaling your team.

## Use This Skill When

- User is setting up company culture for a new business
- User is preparing to hire their first employees
- User wants to codify and communicate what the company stands for
- User needs values-based decision-making frameworks
- User says phrases like "company culture", "what do we stand for", "core values", "hiring criteria"

## When NOT to Use

- User is asking for generic corporate mission statements
- User needs operational procedures or process documentation
- User is looking for compliance or legal frameworks (use alternative: governance/legal skills)

## Context: Values Maturity

**Undeveloped**: Founder has implicit values; not codified or communicated  
**Drafted**: Values exist but may be generic; not consistently applied  
**Embedded**: Values clear, communicated in hiring/feedback; some inconsistency → **Target**  
**Living**: Values shape every decision; candidates self-select; culture self-perpetuates

## Instructions

Guide the user through defining 3–5 distinctive company values using these prompts:

### Discovery Questions

1. **What do you believe that most people don't?**
   - Values should be non-obvious, sometimes polarizing
   - Generic values (integrity, teamwork) don't work — everyone claims those

2. **How should people behave when no one is watching?**
   - Values reveal themselves in unsupervised moments
   - Real values survive extreme situations, not just normal operations

3. **What would you fire someone for, even if they're crushing metrics?**
   - This reveals your true values, not stated ones
   - Performance can't override culture fit

4. **What would you celebrate, even if it didn't directly help the bottom line?**
   - Positive behaviors that reflect your values, even at short-term cost

5. **What do you want to be famous for as a company?**
   - How do you want to be remembered in your industry?

### Value Development Process

For each value, define:

- **Name**: Short, memorable phrase
- **Why it matters**: The belief behind it (2–3 sentences)
- **Story**: Concrete example of the value in action (better than slogans)
- **In hiring**: How this value shapes who you hire
- **In daily work**: How employees live this value day-to-day
- **Anti-pattern**: What this value explicitly does NOT mean

### Example Framework

**Gumroad's Values** (inspiration):
- **Judged by the Work**: Quality over volume; excellence in execution
- **Seek Superlinearities**: Exponential returns on effort; multiplication over addition
- **Everyone is a CEO**: Ownership and autonomy in your function
- **Dare to Be Open**: Radical transparency; information symmetry

## Operationalizing Values

- Communicate publicly: job posts, website, onboarding materials
- Use in feedback: "This aligns with our value of X" / "This conflicts with value of Y"
- Revisit annually: values evolve as company grows
- Reflect in compensation and promotion decisions
- Hire for values, manage for skills

## Remote-First Consideration

For distributed teams:
- Values become the substitute for constant oversight
- Emphasize asynchronous communication and written clarity
- Document everything: onboarding, decisions, feedback
- Trust over surveillance
- Flexible schedules, clear outcomes

## Output

Deliver a 1–2 page values document including:
1. 3–5 values with names, reasons, and story examples
2. How each value appears in hiring criteria
3. How each value shows up in daily operations
4. Anti-patterns (what each value is NOT)
5. How to revisit and evolve values as team grows