After talking with several technology startups in town I realized that some of our core strategies, which I believed most others would employ, are in fact fairly unusual. Of course, each company has their own strategy and approach, and it’s important to experiment. Here are a few items we do that aren’t as common:
- Spend 1/3 of our sales time making cold calls
- Provide a LCD scoreboard in our lobby with our quarterly goals including financial info
- Require that all potential employees write a two page essay as part of the process (five short answer questions)
- Conduct Quarterly Check-ins where we answer four quick questions about ourselves (what did you do, what are you going to do, how can you improve, and how are you following the values)
I’m sure there are additional unique items we do on a regular basis but this is a good start. My recommendation is to continually try new initiatives, keep the ones that are working, and throw out the ones that are stale.
What else? What are some core strategies you employ that are unique?
David Cummings on Startups 
Hi David:
I’ve enjoyed the last few posts on the work environment of startups. It sounds like you’ve been reflecting on something that I think is extremely powerful: employee engagement. If your competitors aren’t focusing on it, then I believe it can be a strong competitive advantage.
I was just accepted to ATDC this week and I’m building technology to help companies improve employee engagement. I’d love to discuss your strategies (how you capture and display goal info, for example) and get your feedback on our approach.
Shoot me a note if you’d like to chat.
Thanks,
Aaron
Thanks Aaron. I’d be happy to talk more. Please send me a tweet or email.