Culture Compatibility Index

Time Allocation for Strategic Work

How much time do individual contributors spend on strategic vs. tactical tasks?

1: Less than 10% of time is spent on strategic work. · 5: Over 50% of time is spent on strategic tasks.

Founder Decision-Making Involvement

What is the founder's involvement in strategic and operational decision-making?

1: Founder is involved in nearly all strategic and operational decisions, including day-to-day matters. · 5: Founder is primarily focused on vision-setting and delegates both strategic and operational decisions to leadership teams.

Decision-making Speed

How quickly are decisions made across the organization?

1: Decisions often take weeks or require multiple layers of approval. · 5: Decisions are made quickly, with a high level of empowerment and minimal approval layers.

Layers of Approval for Decisions

How many layers or teams are involved in making decisions?

1: Decisions require approval from multiple layers (5+ levels or teams). · 5: Decisions are often made within teams with minimal external approval required.

Leadership Style

How would you describe the leadership style in the company?

1: Primarily directive leadership style. · 5: Fully participatory and empowering.

Management Oversight

How often do managers review day-to-day work?

1: Daily review of tasks by management. · 5: Hands-off approach, reviews happen when necessary.

People management philosophy

What kind of people management capability do you have in place?

1: People managers are primarily ICs, handling management tasks like 1:1s and holiday approvals as secondary “side-of-desk” responsibilities. · 5: People managers are fully focused on leadership and team development, with minimal IC responsibilities.

People Management Span Of Control

What is the median span of control?

1: Managers typically oversee more than 10 direct reports. · 5: Managers oversee fewer than 3 direct reports.

Budgeting for Projects

How are project budgets allocated and controlled?

1: Budgeting is centralised with little team autonomy. · 5: Teams fully control project budgets.

Risk Appetite

What is the approach to financial risk in decision-making?

1: Risk-averse approach to financial decisions. · 5: Risk-taking and experimentation are frequent.

Campaign Execution

How are marketing campaigns executed and managed?

1: Campaigns are centrally controlled with long approval processes. · 5: Teams execute campaigns independently and iteratively.

Sales Led vs Product Led

Is the company's go-to-market strategy more sales-led or product-led?

1: Fully sales-led, with minimal product-led growth. · 5: Fully product-led, with minimal reliance on sales teams.

Sales Approach

How would you describe your company's sales approach (e.g., outbound, inbound, hybrid)?

1: Primarily outbound, with little focus on inbound efforts. · 5: Predominantly inbound, with minimal outbound reliance.

Product-Market Fit

How mature is your product-market fit?

1: Product-market fit is still being tested. · 5: Product-market fit is well-established and scalable.

Customer Segmentation

How clearly are your target customer segments defined?

1: Target customers are loosely defined, with significant overlap across segments. · 5: Customer segments are well-defined, specific, and consistently applied.

Sales Enablement

How effective is your sales enablement program (training, tools, resources)?

1: Little or no formal sales enablement program in place. · 5: Comprehensive, highly effective sales enablement program supporting all sales roles.

Pricing Strategy

How developed and aligned is your pricing strategy with your GTM approach?

1: Pricing strategy is inconsistent and needs development. · 5: Pricing strategy is highly optimized, aligned with GTM, and flexible based on customer needs.

Sales<>Marketing Alignment

How well-aligned are your marketing and sales teams on GTM efforts?

1: Marketing and sales operate in silos, with little alignment. · 5: Marketing and sales are fully aligned, with seamless collaboration on GTM initiatives.

Lead Generation

How effective is your lead generation process?

1: Lead generation is inconsistent and largely reliant on ad hoc efforts. · 5: Lead generation is highly effective, with a systematic and scalable approach.

Channel Strategy Maturity

How developed is your channel strategy (e.g., partnerships, third-party sales)?

1: No formal channel strategy in place. · 5: Fully developed, scalable channel strategy with high engagement and revenue contribution.

Market Positioning

How clear and differentiated is your market positioning relative to competitors?

1: Market positioning is unclear and not well-differentiated. · 5: Strong, unique market positioning with clear competitive differentiation.

Customer Retention Strategy

How effective is your strategy for retaining customers and preventing churn?

1: No formal retention strategy, and customer churn is high. · 5: Customer retention strategy is highly effective, with strong proactive measures to reduce churn.

GTM Agility

How adaptable is your GTM strategy to changes in market conditions or customer needs?

1: GTM strategy is rigid and slow to adapt to changes. · 5: Highly adaptable GTM strategy, quickly responds to market changes and customer needs.

Brand Consistency

How consistent are the values and messaging across different teams and departments?

1: Significant variation in brand messaging across teams. · 5: Fully consistent messaging and values alignment.

Product Release Cadence

How frequently are new product features or updates released?

1: Product releases occur quarterly or less frequently. · 5: Continuous deployment of product updates and features.

Issue Response Time

How quickly are operational issues or bugs resolved?

1: Resolution takes over 72 hours. · 5: Immediate response, typically resolved in a few hours.

Accountability and Ownership

How is accountability for outcomes distributed in the company?

1: Accountability is typically on individuals. · 5: Teams are fully accountable for outcomes.

Reinforcing and outlawing behaviours/core values

How are behaviours reinforced?

1: Little emphasis is placed on reinforcing positive behaviours or addressing behaviours that conflict with values. Behaviour management is ad hoc and reactive. · 5: Core values are deeply embedded. Positive behaviours are frequently celebrated, and behaviours conflicting with values are quickly addressed with clear consequences.

Encouraging Cognitive Diversity

How does the company value and encourage diversity in thought, perspectives, and problem-solving approaches?

1: Little emphasis on diversity of thought. · 5: Diversity of thought is central to company culture and operations.

Speed of Hiring

How quickly are new hires made when there is a staffing need?

1: Hiring process takes over 3 months. · 5: Hiring is completed within 30 days.

Firing for Cultural Fit

How often are employees fired due to a misalignment with the company's values or culture?

1: Rarely, employees are only fired for performance reasons. This could indicate strong cultural alignment or tolerance for high performers who don't fit culturally ("brilliant jerks"). · 5: Cultural fit is central to termination decisions. Employees who don't align with values are consistently let go, regardless of performance.

Change Implementation

How quickly are new tools or processes adopted across the organization?

1: New changes take over 6 months to implement. · 5: New processes or tools are adopted within a month.

Goal Clarity

How clearly are individual, team, and company-wide goals defined and communicated?

1: Goals are broad and unclear. · 5: Goals are specific, measurable, and clearly communicated at every level.

Goal Communication Frequency

How frequently are goals communicated or reinforced across the company?

1: Goals are communicated quarterly or less. · 5: Goals are communicated weekly or more frequently.

Conflict Resolution Process

How are conflicts typically resolved within the company?

1: Conflicts are escalated and take time to resolve. · 5: Conflicts are resolved swiftly within teams, often without formal escalation.

Sync vs. Async Balance

What is the balance between synchronous (meetings) and asynchronous (Slack, email) communication in daily work?

1: Communication is primarily synchronous. · 5: Communication is largely asynchronous, with minimal meetings.

Leadership Communication Style

How do leaders communicate across the company (e.g., tone, frequency, approach)?

1: Leadership communication is rare, top-down, and formal. · 5: Leadership communicates frequently, transparently, and in an engaging, informal style.

Leadership Transparency

How transparent is leadership communication?

1: Leadership communication is often opaque, with little information shared. · 5: Leadership is highly transparent, sharing all relevant information openly with employees.

Communication Cascades

How is information cascaded down through the organization?

1: Communication is highly structured and cascades slowly through multiple layers. · 5: Information flows freely across the organization, with minimal layers and direct leadership engagement.

Inter-Team Communication Style

How do teams communicate with each other?

1: Teams operate in silos, with minimal communication across functions. · 5: Teams communicate seamlessly, with open, continuous collaboration across all functions.

Response Expectations

How quickly are responses expected in tools like Slack or email?

1: Immediate response (within an hour). · 5: More than 24 hours for thoughtful, async responses is acceptable.

Feedback Mechanisms

What mechanisms are in place for feedback (peer reviews, one-on-ones, 360-degree feedback)?

1: Few or no formal feedback processes. Feedback is informal, and mechanisms like 1:1s, reviews, or town halls are rare. · 5: Comprehensive feedback system: frequent 1:1s, peer feedback, town halls, semi-annual or more frequent reviews, with additional tools like surveys.

Feedback Frequency

How often is individual feedback exchanged (formal reviews, peer feedback, 1:1 meetings)?

1: Formal feedback is rare, mostly annual reviews. · 5: Feedback is continuous and part of everyday interactions.

Knowledge Documentation

How well-documented are processes, tools, and key decisions?

1: Little to no documentation. · 5: Comprehensive documentation that is well-maintained and accessible.

Knowledge Sharing Frequency

How frequently is knowledge shared between teams and departments?

1: Knowledge is shared reactively, as needed. · 5: Knowledge sharing is frequent and deeply embedded in the culture.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

How often do cross-functional teams work together?

1: Siloed, minimal collaboration across functions. · 5: Cross-functional teams are highly integrated.

Job Architecture

How are roles, levels, and reporting structures defined and aligned?

1: Job roles, levels, and reporting structures are loosely defined, with significant overlaps or gaps in responsibilities and unclear lines of accountability. · 5: Job architecture is fully standardised, with clear roles, levels, and reporting lines that are consistently applied and aligned across the entire organisation, ensuring minimal role overlap or ambiguity.

Career Framework

How clearly are career paths and progression opportunities defined?

1: No formal career frameworks in place; career progression is informal and unclear. · 5: Comprehensive career frameworks are in place and actively used, with transparent progression paths and development plans for all roles.

Performance Incentives

How are performance outcomes rewarded (bonuses, equity, recognition)?

1: Rewards and incentives are rarely used. · 5: Consistent, structured incentive systems for rewarding performance.

Promotions and progression

How are promotions and progression decisions made?

1: Promotions are ad hoc, with no formal process. · 5: Promotions follow a structured, transparent process tied to both performance and career progression goals.

Compensation Philosophy

What is the company's compensation philosophy?

1: Compensation is below the market average, with little focus on competitive pay. · 5: Compensation philosophy is highly competitive, with salaries at or above the 90th percentile and a focus on equity and long-term incentives.

Pay Rise

How are pay raises determined and implemented?

1: Pay raises are rare and inconsistent, with no formal structure. · 5: Pay raises are systematic, regularly scheduled, and based on both performance and market benchmarks.

Success Celebration Frequency

How often are successes (small or large) celebrated?

1: Rarely celebrated. · 5: Successes are consistently celebrated, both large and small wins.

Risk-Taking and Experimentation

How open is the company to experimentation and taking risks in product development or new initiatives?

1: Limited experimentation and risk-taking. · 5: High level of experimentation, with significant risk-taking encouraged.

Tool Compatibility

How compatible are the tools and platforms used across both companies?

1: Tools and systems are largely incompatible. · 5: Tools and systems are fully aligned across companies.

Change Acceptance

How ready are employees for organizational changes (new tools, processes)?

1: Resistance to change is common. · 5: Employees quickly and actively adopt new tools or processes.

Compliance Integration

How quickly can legal and compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR, security) be integrated into day-to-day workflows?

1: Compliance integration (e.g., GDPR, security standards) is slow and fragmented, with significant gaps. · 5: Compliance is fully embedded into daily workflows, with seamless adherence to all regulations.

Customer Communication Cadence

How frequently do teams interact with customers?

1: Rare or minimal customer interaction. · 5: Customer interaction is embedded in daily workflows.

Crisis Response Process

How are operational or team crises handled on a day-to-day basis?

1: Crisis response is slow and reactive. · 5: Crises are resolved swiftly with preemptive action.

Cross-Team Collaboration

How integrated are cross-functional teams and cross-company collaboration post-merger?

1: Collaboration is minimal and siloed. · 5: Seamless collaboration between companies and teams.

Willingness to Adapt

How open is the company to adapting to new cultural norms or operational changes?

1: Resistance to cultural change is common. · 5: Highly adaptable, with active efforts to integrate new cultures and processes.

Vision Alignment

How aligned are leadership teams on long-term goals and strategic vision post-merger?

1: Leadership has significant differences in strategic vision. · 5: Fully aligned on long-term goals and vision.

Process Control and Delegation

How are processes controlled and delegated?

1: Processes are rigid and centrally controlled, with little delegation. · 5: Processes are fully decentralised, with teams empowered to control and adapt them.

Removing Redundant Processes

How quickly are broken or redundant processes fixed or removed?

1: Broken or redundant processes are rarely addressed and take months to fix. · 5: Broken or redundant processes are quickly identified and fixed within hours or days.