When we started Atono, we knew culture was going to be really important. It’s perhaps our most valuable asset because it supports our people.

Our definition of culture

A culture is a way of life for a group of people - the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols they accept - without thinking about them and passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.

We decided on our values from day one to accelerate decision-making. While we can always thoughtfully revise these founding principles as we gain more experience, their main purpose is to build our culture and empower every person to make quicker, better decisions. 

Our founding principles

We created this list even before the team started working together. It's now shown to every new member who joins the company, and we periodically review them to make sure they reflect our historic actions and future perspective.

How we act

• Be curious: Embrace experimentation and failure to learn and grow 
• Be humble: Check your ego at the door
• Be brave: Disrupt the status quo, including our own
• Own it: Honor our autonomy by also accepting responsibility
• Ship it: Ship a beautiful product on time
• Compete: Respect the competition, but compete to best serve the customer

How we treat others

• Same team: Win and lose together, so serve others, ask for help, and show gratitude
• Share: Look to share, educate, assist, and mentor
• Seek diversity: Build a team that represents diverse perspectives and experiences
• Integrity: Act the same way, even when no one is watching
• Time matters: Time is precious, honor it

How we make decisions

• Best idea wins: Debate, agree, and fully support the best idea - if fail, then next
• PLG: Focus on product-led growth (customer-involved product development)
• Be genuine: Every internal and external interaction is consistent with our principles
• Equivalency: Support equivalency, not sameness
• Deliver wow: First, meet expectations, then exceed them
• Use it: Run our business on the products we build