Start with “why?”

When you create a company you have to ask yourself a lot of questions. One of the first is “why”. Why build a business? What is the purpose?

To answer this question, we could simply focus on making money, or on the services we want to provide to our customers such as helping our clients build world-class intranets, portals and knowledge management systems – but that answers the question “What you do” not “why you do it”?

I believe the answer comes down to what you value.

Values are the bones of a company. Your values are the stories you tell yourself about why we exist. Why we do what we do. Why we are different. And if your values are true – they become the culture of your team and the guide rails for how you operate and make decisions. 

When you strip away a company’s fancy marketing and look at the people and culture inside – what you see are the values. How do they treat their customers and each other? How do they make hard choices? When times are good, values keep you humble and focused. But it’s when times are tough, and difficult choices must be made, that is when values matter the most.  

As of day one, these are the things we value. They may change, they may sound cheesy, but as you work with us you will learn how important they are. These are not just words, but the reason we exist.

Love

We want our people to love the products we design and build. We want our employees to love their jobs. When you love something, you are willing to sacrifice for it, to give up your time, energy, and resources to comfort and defend it. Passion may fade – but love endures and overcomes. If we can not fall in love with a client, a problem, a solution, a design we don’t work with them. We can’t. Life is too short.

Truth

There is something to be learned in every success and every failure. There is a root cause for the behaviors we see. It’s never enough to build something that works. You need to understand why it works if you want to replicate that success.

Beauty

Beauty is a tool a designer can use to indicate value. We all enjoy surrounding our selves with beauty. When something is beautiful but false, it inspires hate. When it is beautiful but true, it inspires love. We value beauty for its ability to lead people to truth and value and ultimately to love. 

Courage

Nothing is ever accomplished without taking a risk. Follow your gut. Believe in your abilities. Dream big and do it. One way or another, this day will end, and your life will end. Will you be proud of what you did? We hope so.

Fun

A developer gets a rush of endorphins every time their code does what its meant to do. A designer feels the same rush when uncover a new truth or solution that gets them closer to understanding the problem. Work should be fun or else you’re doing it wrong. 

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