🎯 Building Startup Culture

👋 Hi there - it’s Egemen. Thanks for reading Scalable.

I’ve started reading this amazing book recently: “What You Do Is Who You Are” by Ben Horowitz. It’s a book about startups, specifically on building and setting the culture.

It’s such a taboo subject, however, I’ve recently come to realize it’s a lot more vital than what most of us think.

Early-stage founders often make the mistake of confusing “flexibility” with “no boundaries,” creating a culture that’s great in theory but impossible to scale in practice.

In today’s edition, we’ll be having a deep dive into this.

Here’s a snapshot of what’s on the menu today:

☝️ Scaled This Past Week: UMX

Jetapult invests $4.5M in Saudi game studio UMX - it’s the scale of the week!

Jetapult is an an India-based global strategic investment firm backed by Accel Partners, this is Jetapult’s first investment in the MENA region.

This collaboration will focus on utilizing advanced analytics and AI tools under Jetapult’s “Invest & Operate” (I&O) model to scale UMX’s user acquisition and monetization strategies.

💡 Spotlight: Pencil

I recently discovered Pencil, a platform that uses generative AI to double productivity and performance.

I’ve found them particularly useful for generating key visuals and ad copies. You chat to Pencil about what you want, and it generates it for you.

They also provide an analysis of how your ad will likely perform, highlighting winning traits. Ads generated with Pencil are predicted to perform 2x better - a stat based on over $1B in ad spend.

You can also launch your ads directly there. Pretty neat - check Pencil out!

👉 Scalable partners with best-in-class publications.
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🧠 Deep-Dive: Creating Shocking Rules

Our brains are wired to do things that are rewarding to us - that’s why we do them.

One of the reasons why repeated behavior naturally occurs is this exact reason.

Well, startups are no different. Each and every startup, being companies and organizations themselves, strives to find what is rewarding for them. Once something that’s working is identified, an organization will essentially want to keep doing it as consistently as possible. This is the fundamental reason why most rules or company-wide policies exist.

I’d like to mention this book I’m reading for being an inspiration for this week:

If such rules are set in the right way, where it is rewarding for the startup and the team members in the long run - that often means you have a winning culture.

Ben Horowitz talks about creating shocking rules that are so powerful that they set the culture for many years. I’d like to share some of my notes from that part.

Here are some rules of thumb to set rules to ensure consistency and diligence to set the culture right. A rule must:

• be memorable.

  • People will dismiss the culture once they forget the rules.

• raise the question “Why?”

  • As the title goes, it should be shocking that everyone’s first reaction is to ask if that is a real rule.

• have a direct impact.

  • The answer to the “Why?” question must be clear.

• be frequent.

  • If an incredibly memorable rule applies only to situations people face once a year, then it’s probably irrelevant.

At first, these might seem a bit up in the air and hard to visualize concepts, let me share some practical examples:

At Google, this rule is a reminder to consistently strive for high standards and innovation. Setting ambitious, sometimes unachievable goals challenges employees to stretch beyond their comfort zones, which drives engagement and long-term growth. This memorable motto reinforces a culture of excellence across projects.

Why was this such an effective rule?

👉 Well, it’s memorable, and almost raises the question “why?” since it is thought-provoking, clearly explains the impact, and is applicable in day-to-day operations.

Here’s another one by Hubspot:

HubSpot emphasizes transparency with a clear, memorable rule: radical transparency.

This directive pushes team members to ask “why” by prompting leaders to openly share metrics, mission updates, and even failures. It also applies daily, aiming to cultivate trust and a shared understanding among employees.

👉 While many founders envision a dynamic, rule-free environment, a few well-chosen “rules” or principles can enhance creativity, maintain alignment, and guide decision-making across a growing team.

👋 Working on a startup? Here’s how I can help:

📨 Keep in mind - you can also reply to this email, I read every reply.

🗺️ Method: Startup Culture Playbook

To help you with some actionable next steps, I’ve created a little culture playbook so you can apply things for your startup as you go.

👉 I hope it comes in handy for you - it’s yours!

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