Gunnar Holmsteinn, COO of QuizUp, gave us some inspiring
insights about the topic “Culture” in the latest lecture of “How to start a
Startup”. Before I share some impressions of the lecture a couple of words
about Gunnar:
The Icelandic born entrepreneur was founder and CEO of CLARA previously, which is the first Icelandic startup that existed successfully.
After this exciting event, Gunnar spent a couple of months in the Silicon
Valley and worked for the acquiring company, Jive Software. In 2014 when he
started working for QuizUp, the startup had about 40 employees and was struggling
a bit with the growth of the company. He gave us some incredible insights how
he handled this situation and how valuable a company culture can be.
As
an introduction, Gunnar showed us three different perspectives to take into
account when outlining a company, specifically here QuizUp:
#the feature – they are going to be the Trivial Pursuit of the 21st century ->
their north star
#numbers – making the company transparent and interesting
for investors as well as employees
#soft-touch/emotional part – the network effect they are
creating with their vision
When
he started working as the COO, he interviewed all employees and asked them
about what is going well (highlight), not so well (lowlight) and topics that
are not talked about (nolight) in the company. He analysed the current
situation and started leveraging the “lights”. For instance, the QuizUp Camp
was initialized, a two day event once a year outside of Reykjavik where all employees
are participating. Basically, it is a huge brainstorm and socializing session
to reflect the past and the future of the young company. In this way, the
nolights and typical lowlights of the startup are considered and discussed.
Especially the fast growth of startups make it more difficult for them to keep
their traditions. That is why Gunnar puts emphasis on the personal fit already in
the job interview. He talks about the values of the company, asks how the
applicants interpret them and makes sure that not only their skills match to
the job requirements, but also their character.
One story that inspired me very much concerned the following
value:
“Wait for Nothing! Risk something!”
QuizUp has just started a cooperation with an American
television show. They are going to make a Quiz, which users will use during the
show on a Sunday evening. That means a lot of traffic and requires a robust
IT-System, because they are going to have millions of active users at the same
time. A situation they never had before – something venture! They decided to grab
this opportunity of cooperation because they believe in their vision. In order to
achieve goals you have to risk something – sometimes the entire company.
“Hopefully it’ll work!”
Another value that Gunnar talked about a lot and which is
the basis for highly performing teams is trust. One measure they introduced are
the so-called “Friday-feeling-meetings”. During the afternoon in the chill
area, the team members are talking about things that made them happy, sad or
angry and share stories from their personal life or the job. Sharing these
basic emotions and opening up like that creates a team spirit and trust.
Moreover, employees are welcome to bring their family along for breakfast,
lunch or even dinner. Very unique, I would say!
However, many of these attitudes are strongly connected to longer
working hours. Nevertheless, people who decide to apply for a job in a startup
know that they are rather working to change something in the world than working
just for the money.
Gunnar shared an incredible view on teamwork with us, a
philosophy that he is creating at QuizUp which is unique and a way of modern
leadership which improved the company day by day.
Thanks for the inspiring lecture and if I could
have pushed the “feeling button” after the lecture, I would have gone for a
happy smile :-)