Corporate culture update

03/15/13 22:55:00    

By Michael Mealling

Pipefish is growing quickly over the next few weeks which means some of the corporate culture decisions are being made. One of the long term goals of the company is building a core platform of technology and people that can iterate quickly when opportunities come up. That requires a team of diverse viewpoints and skill sets. But as a company grows and focuses on its problem it turns inward by necessity.

Pipefish is going to try and solve this using Google's “20 percent time” policy but slightly modified. The reality is that talented people worth hiring usually have something “on the side”. Whether its a consulting gig here and there, old clients who call for support, a book deal, or speaking at conferences, anyone with talent is always hedging their bets by keeping multiple things on the back burner just in case. Pipefish is going to embrace that by assuming its there and making sure employees have the time to pay attention to those side projects (in my case its Space Georgia).

But in some cases employees have an itch to scratch that is somewhat related to the company. While I was at Masten the rule we used was an opportunity had to be “within 45 degrees of the long term vector of the company”. In those cases the company may decide to help out with its own resources.

I'm sure at some point someone will take advantage of this policy but I still think maintaining the diversity and attracting multi-talented people is worth the risk.