terminalskills Company Values
Overview
Help founders and leaders define authentic company values — the foundation of culture. Based on the philosophy of The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia. Values are not generic two-word commandments; they state the non-obvious in non-obvious ways. Focus on culture before hiring: before you hire anyone, define what kind of company people want to work for.
Instructions
Why Values Matter
- Values tell employees how to behave every day AND in extreme situations
- They're more efficient than 1,000-page manuals — good values stick in the brain
- They attract the right people and repel the wrong ones — both are valuable
- They let you hold yourself AND your team accountable
- Values supersede you. They allow the company to scale beyond your personal involvement.
How to Create Values
Walk the user through these questions:
- What do you believe that most people don't? Values should be non-obvious and sometimes polarizing.
- How should people behave when no one is watching? Values are for the moments without a manager present.
- What would you fire someone for, even if they're performing well? That reveals your true values.
- What would you celebrate, even if it didn't directly help the bottom line? That's also a value.
- Write them as stories, not slogans. "Focus on the user" is a slogan. Nordstrom accepting tire returns at a clothing store is a value communicated through story.
Reference: Gumroad's Values
Use these as inspiration, not templates:
- Judged by the Work — What matters is the experience creators and customers have. "It should be considered a failure to receive feedback on something that could have made a creator's life better AFTER you shipped."
- Seek Superlinearities — Every day you are producing superlinear returns on your time investment. People may outgrow their role and leave to start their own company — that's great.
- Everyone is a CEO — "Think like a CEO asking for approval from their board, not like an employee asking their manager for direction."
- Dare to Be Open — Aim for complete information symmetry. Share financials, disclose salaries, make onboarding documents public.
Operationalizing Values
- Communicate them publicly — in job posts, on your website, in your onboarding
- Use them in feedback: "This aligns with our value of X" or "This doesn't reflect our value of Y"
- Revisit them regularly — values evolve as your company grows
Output Format
Help the user draft:
- 3-5 company values with descriptions and example stories
- How each value should show up in hiring decisions
- How each value should show up in day-to-day work
- Anti-patterns for each value (what it does NOT mean)
Examples
Example 1: Values for a Developer Tools Startup
User prompt: "We're a 6-person remote team building an open-source database tool. We need company values before we start hiring. We believe in transparency and shipping fast."
Expected output:
Value 1: Ship It, Then Polish It We'd rather ship something imperfect today than something perfect next month. Our users are developers — they understand iteration. But "ship fast" doesn't mean "ship broken." Every release should work; it just doesn't need every feature.
- In hiring: Ask candidates about a time they chose speed over perfection. Look for thoughtfulness about the tradeoff, not recklessness.
- In daily work: PRs should be small and frequent. If a PR sits open for 3+ days, something is wrong.
- Anti-pattern: Shipping untested code or ignoring bug reports because "we'll fix it later."
Value 2: Default to Public Code is open source. Roadmaps are public. Salaries are shared internally. If you're wondering whether to share something, share it. The only exceptions: user data and security vulnerabilities.
- In hiring: Candidates should be comfortable with public code reviews and open discussions.
- In daily work: Use public channels over DMs. Write decisions down in the open.
- Anti-pattern: Hoarding information to maintain power or influence.
Value 3: Builders Over Managers Everyone writes code, talks to users, or creates content. We don't have people whose only job is to coordinate other people. If a process requires a full-time manager, the process is wrong.
- In hiring: Every role involves hands-on building. There is no "pure management" track.
- In daily work: Meetings are rare and short. Async updates replace standups.
- Anti-pattern: Creating layers of approval or requiring sign-off from multiple people.
Example 2: Values for a Wedding Planning Service
User prompt: "I run Simply Eloped, a small wedding elopement company. We have 12 employees across 5 states. I want values that reflect our customer-first approach and adaptability."
Expected output:
Value 1: Customer-Centric (the C in CACAO) Every decision starts with: "How does this affect the couple?" We exist to make the most important day of someone's life feel effortless. That means we answer texts at 9pm if a bride is anxious. It means we rebook a photographer when weather changes.
- In hiring: Ask "Tell me about a time you went beyond what was expected for someone." Look for genuine empathy, not rehearsed answers.
- In daily work: Respond to all customer inquiries within 2 hours during business hours.
- Anti-pattern: Hiding behind policy when a customer needs flexibility.
Value 2: Adaptable (the second A in CACAO) Elopements happen on mountaintops, in city halls, and on beaches. No two are alike. We don't follow rigid playbooks — we read the room and adjust. When COVID hit, we pivoted to virtual witnesses within a week.
- In hiring: Look for people who thrive in ambiguity. Ask "What do you do when the plan falls apart?"
- In daily work: Coordinators have full authority to make on-the-spot decisions up to $500 without approval.
- Anti-pattern: Saying "that's not how we do it" without considering the specific situation.
Guidelines
- Values should be non-obvious and specific to the company — if any company could claim the same value, it's too generic
- Each value needs a story or concrete example, not just a slogan
- 3-5 values is the sweet spot; more than 5 and nobody remembers them
- Values should sometimes be polarizing — if everyone agrees, the value isn't saying anything meaningful
- For remote teams, emphasize values around communication, autonomy, and accountability
- Revisit values annually — they should evolve as the company grows
- Values are useless if not operationalized in hiring, feedback, and daily decisions