I gave this talk at an MIT alumni group focused on entrepreneurship. The premise was to introduce them to the unique issues startups face in developing a suitable and sustainable culture. I introduce a little framework I developed to help founders understand the key levers they can influence in creating and nurturing culture. This is an update to an earlier presentation I've given on the same topic. This version contains more of the academic underpinnings which I used to develop this framework, as well as included a case study.

1. Rishi Dean
rishi@rishidean.com
www.rishidean.com
[ Using the ‘4Ps framework’ to help you ]
MIT Sloan Entrepreneurs Breakfast Club
February 11, 2011

2.  Been
on
the
ground
floor
of
three
startups,
shaping
Founding
Team
and
growing
them
 Been
in
big
companies
and
little
ones,
and
involved
in
Employee
/
Consultant
different
capacities
with
all
Involvement
types
 Seen
the
good,
the
bad,
and
the
ugly
Advisor
/
Mentor
 Made
some
many
mistakes,
which
I’ll
share,
so
you
don’t
have
to
Timing
Past
Present
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Dean
–
www.rishidean.com
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8. Facebook
HP
LinkedIn
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Dean
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27. Coordination
/
Attachment
Selection
Control
Star
Work
Potential
Professional
Engineering
Work
Skills
Peer
/
cultural
Commitment
Love
Fit
Peer
/
cultural
Bureaucracy
Work
Skills
Formal
Autocracy
Money
Skills
Direct
*Burton,
M.
D.
(2001).
The
company
they
keep:
Founders'
models
for
organizing
new
firms
[Electronic
version].
In
C.
B.
Schoonhoven
&
E.
Romanelli
(Eds.),
The
entrepreneurship
dynamic
(pp.
13-­‐39).
Stanford:
Stanford
University
Press.
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Dean
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28. Innovation
Enhancement
Marketer
Cost
Star
✔
✔
Engineering
✔
✔
✔
✔
Commitment
✔
Bureaucracy
✔
✔
Autocracy
✔
*Burton,
M.
D.
(2001).
The
company
they
keep:
Founders'
models
for
organizing
new
firms
[Electronic
version].
In
C.
B.
Schoonhoven
&
E.
Romanelli
(Eds.),
The
entrepreneurship
dynamic
(pp.
13-­‐39).
Stanford:
Stanford
University
Press.
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Dean
–
www.rishidean.com
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32.  Pink’s
motivating
factors
for
knowledge
workers:
 Autonomy
 Mastery
 Purpose
 [+
Camraderie]
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Dean
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36.  Keeping
regular
meetings
 Celebrating
the
small
stuff
 Remote
teams
 Tough
hires
 Tougher
fires
 Personnel
issues
 Winning
a
deal
 …
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Dean
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40.  Culture
matters
a
lot,
and
just
doesn’t
happen
by
itself
 Startup
culture
is
unique
 Starting
from
zero
(it
just
doesn’t
happen)
 Driven
by
few,
shaped
by
many
 Lots
of
external
factors
 Can’t
cut
&
paste
/
cherry
pick
–
must
fit
your
situation
 Four
tools
of
culture
creation
(ensure
internal
consistency):
1. Purpose:
what
you
value
2. Patterns:
how
you
organize
key
levers
3. People:
who
you
recruit
&
retain
4. Process:
what
systems
you
build
 Hard
to
build,
easy
to
break
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Dean
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44.  E-­‐mail:
rishi@rishidean.com
 Blog:
rishidean.com
 Twitter:
@rishidean
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Dean
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