Get All Access for $5/mo

4 Ways to Keep a Small Company Culture as Your Business Grows How to keep a startup culture as your business becomes more successful.

By Stuart MacDonald

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Most startups are looking to grow. But once success hits, how can you scale your company without shedding the shared values and culture that helped make you successful in the first place?

FreshBooks, a cloud accounting company based in Toronto, started in 2003 as a handful of people in a small office. Today, more than 5 million people have used FreshBooks to manage their books and we now have more than 90 employees.

As we've moved beyond our initial startup stages, here are four ways that we strive to keep our small business values as we continue to grow:

1. Keep a small-business owner's perspective. When we were a really small business, it was easy to empathize with the pains felt by our small business customers -- be it paperwork keeping them from the work they love, to struggling to grow their own businesses. As we grow, it's critical that we continue to see things from the small business owner's perspective.

Empathy is important in more than just customer support. From marketers to product design and quality assurance, we want our employees to all be able to step inside the small business owner's shoes and then focus on how to make their lives easier.

Related: How to Build an Ethical Business Culture

2. Build a foundation of shared beliefs. Every business has its own culture, whether you define one or not. It doesn't mean that all of your employees must think exactly the same way as management does. But by creating a set of shared beliefs, everyone has a framework for how to set priorities, make decisions, treat customers, and treat each other.

To keep your company's core beliefs fresh in everyone's mind, consider writing them down somewhere highly visable. For example, online retailer, Zappos, has the 10 core values of the company written on every staff member's nametag. Whether you do this or not, the actions of your company's leaders will always speak louder than any words in the corporate manual.

Related: 5 Tips and Tools to Create a Company Culture When You Run a Virtual Business

3. Create open channels of communication. When your company is small everyone wears multiple hats and experiences the business from multiple dimensions. As a company grows, communication can become a labyrinth and employees get pigeonholed into one or two roles.

At FreshBooks, we've taken a unique approach to keep the small company dynamic. Everyone (executive management included) rotates through customer support. A customer might get the CEO one day or a developer the next day. We take this unorthodox approach because we want everyone at the company to stay close to the customers.

4. Develop company culture outside business hours. If a company expects employees to love its customers, the company must love its employees. We include a lot activities outside of the office -- in fact, fun is one of our values. For example, one weekend every year, the entire company and their families take a group vacation.

Related: 3 Teambuilding Exercises Tailored to Unique Business Challenges

Stuart MacDonald is chief marketing and revenue officer at FreshBooks, a cloud accounting specialist for business owners, with over 5 million users worldwide.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Living

These Are the 'Wealthiest and Safest' Places to Retire in the U.S. None of Them Are in Florida — and 2 States Swept the List.

More than 338,000 U.S. residents retired to a new home in 2023 — a 44% increase year over year.

Growing a Business

Why Business Growth Plateaus — and 4 Proven Tips for Quickly Overcoming It

Is your business stuck in a frustrating plateau, with growth stalled and no clear path forward? Discover the surprising reasons why most companies hit this wall — and the game-changing strategies you need to break through and start scaling again!

Business News

Prime Bank: Empowering Growth as Kenya's Premier Banking Partner

Established in 1992, Prime Bank is one of Kenya's leading banks and a trusted partner for individuals, businesses, and communities across the country. With a nationwide network of 24 branches, Prime Bank offers clients a comprehensive suite of banking products and services tailored to meet their specific needs. The bank is also present in several regional markets, including Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Leadership

How Entrepreneurs Can Create a More Inclusive Office Space

When you want your office to feel more inclusive, remember to consider the roles of design and layout.

Leadership

10 Ways My Leadership Has Changed in 10 Years

Reflecting on the ways my approach to leadership has transformed over the past decade and the key lessons I've learned along the way.

Starting a Business

He Started a Business That Surpassed $100 Million in Under 3 Years: 'Consistent Revenue Right Out of the Gate'

Ryan Close, founder and CEO of Bartesian, had run a few small businesses on the side — but none of them excited him as much as the idea for a home cocktail machine.