Product culture is fundamental to startup success. Here’s how to build yours

Building a cohesive, engaged, agile product culture for your startup is core to navigating the bumpy road ahead. For starters, founders and product managers must begin developing their growth mindset from the outset. They need to focus on the customer and constantly validate their product while managing the development roadmap toward their larger vision. Finally, as they look beyond their MVP, they need to refine and develop the product to keep in touch with market trends and customer feedback.

Essentially a product culture is a set of beliefs, values, and practices — the what, why, and how — that lead to creating and delivering a high-quality product. Startups that prioritise it have a higher potential to develop great products by constantly seeking customer feedback, and ensuring that their product meets the market’s needs. A strong product culture is crucial for startups as they compete with established companies with deeper pockets and more resources.  The strategy also offers startups a competitive advantage — responding to shifting consumer trends quickly.

There are several successful startups that are known for having a strong product culture. Here are some examples:

1. Slack: Focus on simplicity and ease of use is at the core of their product — as well as its commitment to listening to customer feedback and iterating on its product accordingly.

2. Atlassian: The company focuses on collaboration, experimentation, and innovation.

3. Spotify: Data-driven decision-making, experimentation, and continuous improvement are central to the company’s product culture.

These companies have all been successful in part because of their strong product culture, which has allowed them to develop products that meet the needs of their users and stay ahead of the competition. 

Let’s explore how you too can begin to create a robust product culture for your world-changing project.

Start with a growth mindset

A growth mindset is essential for building a strong startup product culture, sometimes called the term ‘MVP mindset’ (from The Lean Startup by Eric Ries). The key principles include focusing on the CVP (Core Value Proposition), embracing experimentation, iterating quickly, prioritising efficiency, failing fast, and learning from those experiences. 

By extension, a startup product culture that promotes this mindset allows teams to take risks and try new things without the fear of failure. Failure is not seen as a setback but as an opportunity to learn and grow.

A growth mindset also fosters a culture of collaboration and teamwork. When everyone on the team is focused on learning and improvement, they are more likely to work together to achieve their goals. This encourages people to share their knowledge and expertise with others, which leads to better problem-solving and innovation.

Janine Allis — Founder of Boost Juice said ‘I never felt better or worse than anyone else in the room. I told myself, I’ve got a lot to learn. The person in front of me can teach me. I’m sure that everyone I have a meeting with can teach me something.’

Janine suggests that adopting a growth mindset early on is key to starting up (off) on the right foot. Specifically, she implies, that by treating people equally, sharing ideas, and learning from each other, a team can truly achieve collaborative success. And the results speak for themselves, with over 500 stores and 7,000 employees globally, from her part-ownership in the parent company of Boost — Retail Zoo. 

The value of a strong product startup culture

Scott Farquhar, the co-founder of Atlassian, once said, “We believe that the best products come from teams that are empowered, collaborative, and driven to make things better.”

Scott infers that a strong product startup culture is incredibly valuable for enticing talent, boosting innovation, improving customer satisfaction, increasing agility, and building profitability. Plus, a product culture goes beyond the founder and product teams, as it flows onto the broader business and inspires the collective. Hence, it’s equally important to engage and align everyone in the business to the larger vision, as you gain traction and start generating revenue.

Key benefits of a strong startup product culture

1. Attracting and retaining top talent: A strong product startup culture can be a powerful magnet for attracting and retaining talented employees. When people feel that they are part of a supportive, collaborative, and innovative culture, they are more likely to want to stay with the company long-term and contribute their best work.

2. Increased innovation and creativity: Encouraging experimentation, risk-taking, and innovation allows teams to feel empowered to take risks and try new things — and they are more likely to come up with creative and innovative solutions to problems.

3. Improved product quality and customer satisfaction: When everyone on the team is focused on quality and customer satisfaction, the end result is often a superior product that meets the needs of customers.

4. Greater agility and flexibility: Startups need to be agile and adaptable to succeed. A strong product startup culture encourages teams to be nimble and responsive to changes in the market or customer needs.

5. Increased revenue and growth: Ultimately, a strong product startup culture can lead to increased revenue and growth. By attracting and retaining top talent, fostering innovation and creativity, improving product quality and customer satisfaction, and being agile and flexible, startups are better positioned to succeed in the marketplace.

“Building a product is not a one-time event; it is a continuous process of experimentation and iteration,” says Eric Ries in his book The Lean Startup.

Eric sums it up nicely, emphasising the need to foster a culture that values experimentation, customer feedback, and continuous improvement. Moving to evolve the offer, and continue to meet the growing needs of their customers is crucial for founders and product managers as they work beyond the initial iteration of their product.

Tips to help create product culture

1. Set a clear vision and mission: A clear vision and mission can help align the team and provide a sense of purpose, and can help everyone understand their roles and why experimentation, customer feedback, and continuous improvement are paramount.

2. Emphasise the importance of learning: Make sure everyone on the team understands that learning is a key part of the startup process. Encourage people to ask questions, seek out new information, and learn from their mistakes.

3. Focus on the customer: Building a product culture starts with focusing on the customer’s needs. By creating a customer-centric approach, startups can better understand their target audience and develop products that meet their needs.

4. Hire the right team: The foundation of any startup it is essential to hire the right people who are passionate about the product and the customer. People who share the company’s values can contribute to the larger vision and will have the necessary skills to develop great products.

5. Empower the team: Empowering the team to make decisions and take ownership of their work is essential for building a product culture. By giving them autonomy, they can be more innovative and creative in their approach to solving problems.

6. Encourage feedback: Encouraging feedback is essential for building a product culture. By seeking feedback from customers and the team, startups can identify areas of improvement and iterate on their products to make them even better.

7. Celebrate success: By recognising the team’s accomplishments and celebrating milestones, startups can create a positive work environment that fosters productivity.

By following these tips, startup founders and product managers can create a culture that supports purpose, transparency, continuous improvement, and empowerment.

Startups are no doubt a popular choice for entrepreneurs looking to create innovative solutions to real-world problems. While creating a startup comes with its own unique set of challenges, building a strong product culture is at the forefront of the road to success. Therefore, by continuing to foster a mindset and culture that values experimentation, customer feedback, and ongoing iteration, you can establish a productive and connected environment that tips the chances of success in your favor.