Give Your Company Some Personality

Most venture capital firms advise their investee CEOs shortly after investment to start rounding out their management teams so that they can extricate themselves from the day-to-day and start thinking about the bigger picture. While hiring strong VPs and directors at the right time is necessary for any company to grow, taking this idea too far (extrication from the day-to-day) and not having the CEO or founders involved in the intimate details can deprive a company of potentially the most important thing they have to offer – personality.

Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin, recently recited a few stories and gave a few examples of extremely successful companies that are driven by the quirky, outrageous, and creative personalities of their leaders. Apple, Virgin, Zappos, and Google drip with their leaders’ personalities, and as Kelman writes, “this personality is so deeply embedded [in a company] that it can be found in its smallest fingernail clippings.”

It’s not easy though. People, even CEOs, suffer from self-consciousness, shame, and an overly-confining sense of etiquette. If you’re a startup or expansion stage CEO, your company is not the place for these. Be bold. Be audacious. Your whole company (not just your product) is your canvas. Infuse it with your ideas and values, and paint it with your personality. Make it coherent. At the least, you’ll have a lot more fun.