Is your business a tugboat or a smooth sailor?

"There are two types of companies: Tugboats, where growth feels like you have to put a ton of fuel in to get only a little speed out. Smooth sailors, where growth feels like the wind is at your back." -- Brian Balfour

I recently read an interview by Coupa's new CMO, Chandar Pattabhiram.  Coupa is a cloud-based spend management platform for businesses.  Several of my colleagues from Adobe have been there from inception which is the biggest reason I have been following them.

In this interview, Chandar talked about why he joined Coupa and his formula for a winning company, E = mc2.  Acc. to Chandar an excellent company (E) is one which is in a mandatory category (m) and has a combination of a strong competitive advantage (c) and a great culture (c).

I thought Chandar's formula seemed pretty spot on as to what would make a tugboat vs. a smooth sailor.  I think the first two pieces, mandatory category and competitive advantage are easy to understand.

Mandatory Category: Hotels - everyone travels and everyone needs a place to stay when they travel. Pharmacies - everyone gets sick and will need medication.  Grocery stores, hospitals, banks, I'm sure you can think of many categories.

Sometimes, the mandatory category part is weaker.  Think companies like Groupon, AARP, Disney to name a few.  In which case, the competitive advantage part becomes even more important.  Groupon has built a phenomenal two-sided marketplace with a large customer base and an equally impressive network of small businesses.  Any new entrant has a huge barrier to entry.  AARP has built tremendous brand equity within its constituent base.  Disney, where do I start...I can't think of any other place where I felt happy spending copious amounts of money.

In other words, the 'm' and the first 'c' to me are yes / no answers for the most part.

What is hardest to determine as an outsider is culture.  Culture is so integral to a company's ability to execute on a vision.  Often times, you can have the 'm' and the first 'c' but just a complete failure to execute, move fast, ship a product.  Culture is also crucial from an ability to retain talent perspective. And, believe me, you do not want to work at a company that cannot retain talent.  So, when you are trying to figure out whether you want to join a new organization, how do you figure out the last 'c'?

In my experience, the interview process is almost spot on when it comes to painting a picture of the culture you can expect.  The speed of decision making, the professionalism of communication, the attitude of your interviewers are all telling of what you will encounter if you join the organization. Here are some things I look at:

1. Was the interview challenging?
2. Were you treated with respect?
3. Did it feel like a two-way interview?
4. Did they move fast or slow on the decisions?

Some questions I recommend asking:

1. What does success look like in 3-5 years?  Try to get a sense of whether there is a vision and strategy in place.
2. What is something unique to your company's culture? I love places where they have given this some thought and are able to articulate an answer.
3. How does the organization prioritize when resources are lean? Ideally, you are looking for some rigor in the prioritization process.
4. What is their investment in product this year? Next year? Try to get a sense of whether that seems right to you for where they are trying to go.
4. If you have thought about what is important to you in a company's culture, ask them if those values are congruent with how they do things.

I have also found reviews on Glassdoor to usually be spot on.  I cannot recommend going through those highly enough.  And, to contribute so others can benefit from your experiences.

Drop me a note if there are other things you do to sniff out the culture during the interview process.

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