The culture your startup needs is one of listening.

Startups and in particular tech startups can move very fast. Focusing on the day-to-day challenges is hard work; the culture of the business you are creating easily becomes an afterthought.

Retrofitting the culture you want, rather than the one you have accidentally created, is very hard to do, and rarely happens.

It is possible to create a successful business without learning to listen brilliantly, but it’s purely down to luck. Without listening, it is incredibly difficult.

Given the benefits of listening to one and all, if you make it one of the founding principles of your company, then you significantly increase the chances of success and lay the foundations for a culture that will survive your most difficult times.

Listening to each other, listening to customers, listening to anyone that has interesting and challenging ideas.

Listening begets understanding, empathy and that rarest of things: happy employees.

Successful companies with staff that get up in the morning with a skip in their step, looking forward to the day, feed into society as a whole.

Truly listening is the answer to so many problems and it’s why I created EVT.

What will your company’s culture be?