Discuss: How transparent should startup culture be?

Culture

Culture is the soul of a company, it’s the characteristic that defines how the entity acts and portrays itself both internally and externally. However, when it comes to transparency within culture, different startups take a different approach and the differences vary in how being transparent is baked into the company culture.

Founder and CEO of Roomfilla, Stuart Lansdale explains that “transparency as a startup can be created in a multitude of ways and the benefits are far reaching.” Former Tech in Asia editor, Daniel Tay tells us that “while transparency has been generally accepted as a positive trait, surprisingly, not more than a handful of startups have actually applied this.”

Two extreme examples

Here is a fictitious example of two companies with different levels of transparency within their corporate culture, ceteris paribus.

Company A

This company prides itself on being transparent, so much so that they reveal financial statistics and strategies to the public. They are open to sharing information about their salary and equity options and numbers within the team. They aren’t afraid to share and disclose information to anyone who asks and information on the workings of the company can be easily found.

Company B

This company on the other hand, is on the opposite end transparency spectrum. With fear of competitors using financial information against them, they keep numbers and figures a closely guarded secret, not disclosing a single funding round either to throw off rivals that try to size them up. Internally, information within the organisation is on a “need-to-know” basis. And not much information about the company can be found. Everything you hear or read, can at most be dismissed as a rumor.

Let’s Discuss

• At your company, what is the culture like?
• What do you think is better, company A or B’s transparency culture? Why?
• Would having a balance in transparency work? Or would that make employees confused?
• What do you think startup culture is and should be like?