13 hours Ago
Scaling a business getty In my work advising early stage companies, I’ve seen how culture often develops organically in the beginning. It’s shaped by the founder’s personality and vision, and often reflects the relationships between key players in the leadership team. The adrenaline of building something from scratch fuels the cultural energy, and solidifies behavioral norms.
This typical entrepreneurial cultural behavior—informal decision-making, flat hierarchies, rapid iteration, and a strong “we’re all in this together” ethos—is not only appropriate for that stage, it’s often essential. It creates momentum, attracts enterprising talent, and fosters the kind of camaraderie that fuels innovation. But what works in a 10-person startup can fall apart in a 100-person company—and become a liability at 500.
The same founder-driven culture that once gave your organization its edge can become the very thing that holds it back. Early-stage company culture is built around people, not systems. The founder’s behavior sets the tone—how they make decisions, how they communicate, what they reward, and what they tolerate.
This creates a powerful, fast-moving culture, but one that’s often undocumented, inconsistent, and overly reliant on personalities. But the founder’s personal blind spots--impulsivity, blame shifting, or conflict avoidance can also get baked into the company’s DNA. In addition, early stage culture often reflects what I call “core wounds” that develop from dysfunctional founding team dynamics.
For example, if a hard-driving founder exploits others in order to successfully execute on their vision for the company, the result can be a culture of mistrust and suspicion. Early disagreements or toxic positivity among leaders can leave deep, long-lasting cultural scars that become institutionalized as dysfunction. As headcount grows, the limits of this model become obvious.
New hires interpret cultural cues differently. Decision-making slows or bottlenecks. Core wounds become normalized ways of working.
What was once considered “nimble” starts to feel chaotic. Employees may struggle with unclear expectations, uneven accountability, and inconsistent values enforcement. That’s when companies realize: culture doesn’t scale automatically.
It must evolve intentionally. Many leaders think they can scale culture simply by hiring “rock stars.” But even the best hires can’t succeed in a system that hasn’t been built to support them.
Scaling culture means translating intentional values into operational norms: repeatable behaviors, scalable rituals, and shared language that make sense to people who didn’t grow up inside the company. It also means designing structures—onboarding, performance management, decision-making protocols—that reinforce culture at scale, rather than relying on informal cues or hallway conversations. A scalable culture isn’t a watered-down version of your startup roots.
It’s a more deliberate articulation of what matters most. Here’s what that looks like in practice: Codify the Culture : Translate values into clearly articulated behaviors. “We value transparency” means little without defining what transparency looks like in meetings, feedback, or decision-making.
Create Leadership Consistency : Invest in leadership development early. If managers interpret values differently, culture fractures fast. Reinforce Through Systems : Embed cultural values into hiring, promotions, compensation, and recognition systems.
If collaboration is key, reward it. If innovation is prized, give people room to take risks. Evolve Without Losing Your Soul : Scaling doesn’t mean abandoning your origin story.
It means evolving it into something resilient—so your values can survive the founder stepping back, new leaders joining, and the business doubling in size. Practice On-Going Cultural Assessment: Monitor how your actual culture aligns -or doesn’t- with your intended culture, and identify ways to adjust as needed. Culture isn’t just a feel-good concept—it’s a critical business lever .
When intentionally designed, it drives alignment, accelerates decision-making, and attracts the right talent. When left to chance, it can become fragmented, toxic, or reactive. The companies that scale successfully don’t just build great products or raise capital—they evolve their culture with the same care they give to their growth strategy.
They know that a culture built for now might get you started. But a culture built for scale is what carries you forward..
