Why

<aside> 🚨 Our operating principles are critical because:

• We recognise just how damn hard the problem we’ve chosen to work on is. We need to be our best selves.
• We all have limited time and multiple choices regarding how we spend it. We’ve chosen to be here. We want to make the most of it.
• We feel fortunate to be working on such a meaningful problem with such amazing people. We want to maintain this.
• Our world is depending on us, we need teammates we can depend on.

Our dream is to create a workplace where every single person is someone you’re genuinely inspired by; someone you respect and learn from. A place filled with lofty ambitions, lots of laughs and intense learning. Imagine that… it’s ours to make.

</aside>

On preservation…

<aside> 🚨 It is no one’s responsibility to “preserve” this culture. Our culture should not be preserved! It should change, much like our product changes. There will be bugs, cultural debt will build up (stuff that no longer works for us) and we will need to refactor/edit our cultural code. but we should always be intentional about how it changes so it remains the culture we want.

</aside>

🏭

Concrete Honesty

Be honest — as concrete forms the foundation of our world, genuine honesty and transparency are our cultural bedrock.

✅ What does this mean:

• You act with integrity in everything you do
• You are quick to admit mistakes
• You are known for candour and directness
• You give feedback directly, not behind someone’s back
• You question actions inconsistent with our values
• You never disagree silently

❌ What this does not mean:

• Giving ‘feedback’ to make someone else look bad
• Lessen our ambition
• Making it hard to work here, and disrespecting our colleagues

📑 Example:

• A teammate shows you a presentation before a customer call. You think it’s poor. You do not sugarcoat the reality. You are clear in explaining where we need to improve.
• You adhere to our Expenses Guidelines when spending company money and expense only what you would otherwise not spend if it were your own money, and is worthwhile for work.
• Your manager did a bad job of communicating the priorities in the weekly meeting. You are unclear on what you need to do to succeed this week. You directly address your manager about it as soon as possible to gain clarity and give feedback on what was missing, instead of complaining about it to a teammate.

📈

Forever Optimising

Always look for ways to improve — we are in the process improvement game, we have high standards and we’re striving to improve.

✅ What does this mean:

• You inspire others with your thirst for excellence
• You continually set a new standard for what ‘good’ looks like
• You take responsibility for up-skilling yourself and your team, and are willing and open to learn from others
• You take responsibility for up-skilling the business
• Your passion for our mission is palpable

❌ What this does not mean:

• Nagging for changes without taking ownership to drive change
• Searching for perfection at the expense of delivering
• Ignoring / never celebrating the small wins

📑 Example:

• You see that a process is broken in your team. You reach out to your manager, or someone outside the company to ask how they’ve seen a similar scenario fixed. You propose a solution and drive that solution to a good outcome.
• You are lost in a product conversation. You reach out to someone to ask how best to upskill yourself. You then share the fact that you felt out of your depth with your team and how you solved it, recognising others are likely in the same position.
• You come across a new tool or methodology that you think would be helpful for the team to adopt. You put the effort in to understand if it is relevant for the team’s activities, and if so, pitch it to your team/manager.

⏩

Increase Torque

Move with urgency — Our world depends on us, we have a responsibility to find a way to move faster, always.

✅ What does this mean:

• You exude passion and lift up others around you
• You recognise the urgency of our mission and hold our company to account to move faster to solve it
• You are known to be respectfully demanding of your teammates
• You have a bias for action over deliberation
• You always look for a way to go the extra mile
• You take calculated risks

❌ What this does not mean:

• Cutting corners or producing sloppy work
• Deciding things in isolation to increase speed
• Ignoring the infrastructure effort today that increases speed tomorrow

📑 Example:

• You’ve worked hard on a new model and are in a discussion about the product launch date. The PM says it can’t be launched for 4 weeks. You respectfully dig into why and push for an earlier release.
• Your team has a big customer or product deadline to meet and you have to stay late. You know that our Flexible Working Guidelines aim to support you to do your job well and have a work-life balance but that, occasionally, you may need to work long hours. You also recognise this is a marathon not a sprint, so care for yourself to ensure you don’t burnout.
• The customer tells you that they’ll get back to you on a case study approval by a deadline and doesn’t. You don’t wait for them to come back to you, but reach out proactively to get the review completed and the case study published.

🔧

Maintain Reliability

Earn trust — Machines break, humans falter. We recognise that to inspire confidence in ourselves, we must earn our teammate’s trust.

✅ What does this mean:

• You are known for a “no task is beneath me” attitude
• You do what you say you were going to do when you say it
• You own your mistakes/faults and work to do better next time
• You are comfortable with ambiguity and bring a sense of calm to your teammates
• You optimise outcomes to benefit: Customer > Company > Individual
  • Company > Individual: you don’t solve for your personal interests to the detriment of the team
  • Customer > Company: when in doubt, you solve for the customer’s interests over our own (it’s in our long-term interest)
• You are known as an expert in your field; and when you’re not, you’re #concretelyhonest about it and work towards becoming it #foreveroptimize
• You live our operating principles

❌ What this does not mean:

• Taking an “I know better than you” attitude
• Dismissing what others have to say without listening first
• Exclusively doing what you are great at, at the expense of team spirit
• Assuming the worst in others’ intentions

📑 Example:

• You are generally honest about where your faults are and work earnestly to improve
• Your teammate asks you a question and you do not know the answer. You do not guess the likeliest response. You tell them that you do not know, and that you will find out for them. You follow up as soon as you can.
• You realise that you were incorrect when you answered a teammate’s question about a technical problem. You immediately reach out and admit your mistake and what the correct answer should have been.

😄 Cement it with Fun & Kindness

Have fun, be kind — We’re here to extend earth’s life but ours is still limited. We want to enjoy it.

✅ What does this mean:

• You really really care about your teammates and will help others where you can
• You go the extra mile for the organisation and teammates personally
• You respect teammates who are different
• You contribute to making our work environment welcoming and fun to be in
• You say thanks sincerely and regularly

❌ What this does not mean:

• Making inappropriate jokes or ‘fun’ of people
• Avoiding difficult but needed conversations for fear of being unkind

Example:

• You contribute to keeping the shared space pleasant by cleaning up after yourself and helping clean up for your teammates when they are busy.
• You are the most active person at earnestly using the ‘#shoutout’ slack channel to recognise teammates.
• Someone comes past the office (investor, new hire, partner), you walk past with big smile and introduce yourself.