Closed doors and open secrets: how Asian startups balance transparency with cultural norms

These days, people generally seem more open to putting every microscopic detail of their lives up for show on the internet, from the food they ate the night before to the quarrel they just had with their significant other. This, despite the fact that online security continues to be far behind the curve – the recent case of hacked celebrity nude selfies says as much.

Still, some things are guarded from public eye. For example, one’s salary continues to be a taboo topic amongst the working crowd, and for good reason – such topics can cause tension in the workplace.

There’s been a lot of fussing about transparency in the startup world of late. This is largely thanks to US-based companies such as Buffer and SumAll, who have led the way into what Buffer CEO Joel Gascoigne terms as a “default to transparency”. Or, simply put, radical transparency. According to Gascoigne, this is one of the highest values at Buffer:

Within the Buffer team, we have complete compensation transparency and every team member knows each others’ salary and equity stake through stock options. We go all the way – we share whether we’re fundraising, we share when we have acquisition interest, and we share the bank balance. In fact, we share the bank balance and revenue numbers publicly.

A curious thing occurred not long after the social-sharing startup announced this on their website – job applications began to pour in by the truckloads. In just a month, they received 2,886 applications. People seemed to appreciate the candor and authenticity that the founders were trying to make into a mainstay within their fledgling company.

The case against radical transparency

While transparency has been generally accepted as a positive trait, surprisingly, not more than a handful of startups have actually applied this – at least, not to such as a ‘radical’ extent. Mark Suster, general partner at Upfront Ventures, believes that this is because one of the core responsibilities of a startup founder is to absorb the stress that comes with starting a company.

According to Suster, creating a billion-dollar startup is irrational in itself, and requires an ability to “suspend disbelief” so the rest of the team can believe in the founder’s vision:

The mind of a founder is wired differently than most people. They have a higher ability to embrace ambiguity and accept risk. They don’t fear personal failure or shame as deeply as the next person.

Faced with the brutal truth, it is likely that the average worker would choose to see the company as it is in that moment – an incredibly risky endeavor – and jump ship before it even sets sail.

In particular, Asians are typically born and bred to be risk averse. In Japan, for example, most children aspire to be high-flyers in a large corporation – a salary man or woman for life.

In this region, joining a startup in itself can be considered as a huge leap of faith. The assumption, therefore, is that Asian founders would be hesitant to reveal the insides of the company to employees who are likely to jump ship at the first sign of trouble.

The Asian stereotype is wrong

Surprisingly, this is one of those times where the stereotype turns out to be incorrect. Several founders of Asian startups that Tech in Asia reached out to reveal that they practice transparency to a large extent with their employees.

“A culture of transparency is generally great because it allows information to flow freely. When founders lead by example and talk freely about everything, employees take the cue and realize that no topics are off-limits or too politically incorrect to bring up,” says Royston Tay, founder of the recently acquired Zopim. “Removing this inhibition allows data to be put on the table, and debates to be conducted.”

Putting it all out there

Asia vs. the US