Most of the startups don’t even bother about creating a Vision, Mission, Value and Culture statements from the initial days… Companies’ without VMVC statements will become very hard to manage in days to come… Since most of the stakeholders like employees, customers, investors are all human they must understand what a company is and can decide if they can fit into that company…
For example a possible customer of mine had sent me an email with requirement and asked for co-creation… My quote for the project was very less where in I can’t afford to consult or provide solution. I clearly told the client that we are a pure service providers and we deliver what a customer needs with high standards… I clearly told the customer what can be offered and what cannot be offered… Now customer has the choice to decide… What would have happened if I had taken the project? Customer’s expectation is to consult and give solution, where as I work as a service person and in the end relationship is going to break… Now I don’t know what call customer took as I’m expecting his reply, but I gave a clear view about my company to the client…
From an employee perspective if he not clear with culture and value it would be difficult to develop a long lasting relationship… Different people fit into different cultures… I’ve seen people resigning companies for lack of work/challenge, such people can’t be retained just by paying money, there is another different folks who can’t take up challenge/pressure etc…
Also with investors we must make it clear about how the promoters want to take the company, like a very aggressive company where chances of success or failure is at par or if the promoters want to e conservative where company grows at 10% – 15% per annum and doesn’t take any risk… Now again an investor can choose if he can fit in or not…
One thing what we must understand is relationship without synergies will not last long… A conservative company can’t get along with aggressive investor/customer/employee… As a company we deal with many individual and it is we who have transparency and allow people to understand what sort of a company we are… That is where Vision, Mission, Value & Culture statements play a vital role…
AnandNataraj 