

Startup Culture is Not About Ping-Pong Tables - dberube
http://blog.mojotech.com/post/55703401894/startup-culture-is-not-about-ping-pong-tables

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jonnathanson
This is incredibly true.

But I'd add/caveat that I've seen (and, unfortunately, worked for) plenty of
startups that write up a "cultural code" \-- typically, a big-ass document
that gets posted on a wall somewhere -- and then completely ignore or violate
its tenets.

Culture is a living, breathing thing. It's not just a mission statement. It
needs to be carried out, and if it's not, then all the mission statements and
codes in the world won't force culture into existence. If anything, they'll be
revealed for the farce that they are.

And it really does flow from the top down. As the founder, or as a founding
exec, you have to eat your own dogfood. You are not above the culture. You are
not above the laws of your own land. If you set cultural guidelines and
expectations, you are the _first_ person people look to to see if those
guidelines are being put into practice.

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innguest
Paraphrase of the "Challenge" paragraph: "We only solve very very hard
problems, we turn away the easy problems, and we all agree that's the way to
go"

Does anyone really think that way or fall for that? This is incredibly
immature. Why would you turn away easy jobs? You're not researchers, you're a
business.

I never think of whether the problems I'm solving are "easy" or "hard". They
just need to be fixed.

It seems to me that MojoTech's culture is 'look at us, we're superheroes, look
at the problems we're solving, they're ultra-difficult.'

You're taking yourselves too seriously. We're all doing the same stuff.
There's software, then there are bugs, then we fix them. We're not special.
Get over yourselves.

~~~
Zergy
> It seems to me that MojoTech's culture is 'look at us, we're superheroes,
> look at the problems we're solving, they're ultra-difficult.'

What is wrong with that? If they want to attract people who enjoy finding
difficult problems and solving them more power to them. What you see as easy
money they might see as grunt work getting in the way of what they enjoy.

The industry needs many different cultures. The practical people who grab easy
money when they see it should find a company that does so. People with a lot
of pride (you may argue excessive) and think certain tasks are beneath them
should a company with simiar views. It might hurt the bottom line but if they
are fine with that because it allows them to be more selective I can
empathize.

~~~
innguest
They're showing off in a holier-than-thou douchey way. Contrast that with the
attitude the folks at freenode#haskell sport, who are _actually_ solving hard
problems, and you'll understand why I think MojoTech's blog post is immature.

~~~
planetmcd
Good news: [http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2010/12/haskell-
researchers-...](http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2010/12/haskell-researchers-
announce-discovery.html)

~~~
innguest
That's cute, but my point is not about Haskell, but about the new grounds
computer scientists are breaking using Haskell as a tool. Those are seriously
hard problems. Making a phone app is not hard.

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bitwize
Startup culture isn't about ping-pong tables.

What's about ping-pong tables is Silly Valley VC culture, where founders are
handed enough money to use $100 bills as fapkins because someone on Sand Hill
Road thinks they're as cool and aggressive as Mark Zuckerberg.

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aggronn
This article reads as "This is not company culture, this other thing is". But
goes into very little detail about why. The only description of what culture
generally is, is this:

> It’s about values and mindset.

What if your mission statement is "We value a fun work environemnt", or "We
value our employees"? Is that /not/ an acceptable culture value? If you don't
think it is, then the rest of my post won't be of interest to you, but I'd be
interested to know why "we value winning" is, but "we value a fun workplace"
isn't.

If it is, then how would you convey it to prospective employees? Do you just
tell them that and hope they understand what that means?

I think a much more compelling (dare I say, meaningful?) way to convey those
kinds of values is to say how they're implemented. If you say you value
constant learning/professional development, people have to take it on faith
that you are on the cutting edge, or that you give them freedom. A more
meaningful thing to say, I think, would be to give specific examples. The
extends to human values, like "we value a fun, casual workplace--we have a
video game room, no dress code, and flexible hours".

So, to make an analogy: I think that ping pong tables are to "we value a
playful office environment" as "we don't have team leaders" is to OP's
inspiration section.

~~~
jacquesm
> We value a fun work environemnt

If a ping-pong table is on your stuff-to-buy list for the first 3 years or so
you've either hit one out of the park or you're as good as dead.

~~~
wooster
Ping pong tables cost about ~$150. That seems pretty cheap for stress relief
and entertainment.

I'd be careful not to read too much data into tiny signals like whether a
company has a ping pong table.

~~~
innguest
As a ping pong hobbyist and an employee at a company that _does_ have a ping
pong table, I can assure you a $150 ping pong table is not good enough for
anyone that actually plays ping pong because they think it's fun and they'd
like to get better at it over time. It might be good enough for when you have
nothing to do and you're just killing time. If you care about the game, then a
ping pong table goes for ~$1500.

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lmartel
It's not really about generic "move fast and break things" posturing either,
though, is it?

Maybe adding some examples, anecdotes or evidence would help, but if the point
of this article is to convince me that mojotech has "real" company culture
then just saying that ping pong tables are dumb and bolding the word WINNING
isn't going to do it.

I think the HubSpot slide is a great example of actually implementing
culture/values, but everything else in the article seems pretty boilerplate.

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tjsnyder
This reads like the exact sort of mission statement that is passed from HR and
is defined as the company 'culture.'

Culture is something built from the top down and must be prevalent as an
absolute deal breaker in each and every hiring decision.

What I mean by this is if you aren't asking the question 'Is this someone I
want to work/have lunch with?' during the interview process then you are going
to bring people in who won't be a proper fit. As a byproduct of this, there
needs to be a decent amount of time just getting to know the person before
hiring them where no interview questions are asked.

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runawaybottle
Reading "Endless supply of food" and "pool table" is such a turn off now days.

Mention "work life balance", it speaks volumes more for culture.

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jkuria
On hard problems: Just because something is hard does not mean it is valuable.
If you are succeeding at the moment I'd say you are doing so in spite of
embracing this kind of thinking.

Challenge, Experimentation, Inspiration, Winning? They all sound very generic.
If you truly have a culture it shouldn't sound like it could apply to any
other company.

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robryan
Such hate for ping pong tables. I can't think of a better way to get a bit of
energetic competitive sport in to relax you and break up the day, all without
leaving the office.

Sure if you spent $50k on a games room I can see where you are coming from.
Ping pong table for a few hundred doesn't seem to be a real sign of startup
excess.

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sutro
True. It's about foosball tables.

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tapatio
Nice marketing.

