Karina Hayat on Why Culture is the Key to Building an Enduring Company

Culture is often an afterthought in many organizations, especially startups where product development, customer acquisition, and revenue growth take precedence. Yet, a company’s culture is not just a byproduct of its people—it is the foundational framework that influences every decision, from hiring to strategic pivots. Companies that prioritize culture early on tend to scale more effectively, attract and retain better talent, and create environments where people are aligned in both purpose and execution.

This article presents a strategic perspective on how companies can intentionally build and sustain a culture that not only fosters growth but also reinforces the organization’s long-term objectives.

1. Culture as a Competitive Advantage

Culture is often discussed in abstract terms, but its real impact is tangible. Companies with strong cultures demonstrate higher employee engagement, lower turnover, and better decision-making frameworks. More importantly, a well-defined culture acts as a filtering mechanism—helping the right people self-select into the organization while discouraging those who may not align.

For instance, transparency as a core value is not just a theoretical concept at HubSpot. Every year, the company publishes its historical recurring revenue numbers for internal and external stakeholders. This reinforces accountability and signals that transparency is not a buzzword—it is an institutionalized practice.

Organizations that recognize culture as a competitive advantage embed it into every facet of operations. It is not a marketing tagline or a list of values on a corporate website—it is a system that guides behavior and decision-making across all levels.

2. The Illusion of Culture as an Afterthought

Many entrepreneurs assume that culture is either irrelevant or something that will naturally evolve. There are three common misconceptions in this regard:

• “Culture? We don’t need one. We’re too busy disrupting an industry.”
• “Culture? We’ve got it covered—we offer free snacks and open office spaces.”
• “Culture? It can’t be engineered. It’s just a natural byproduct of leadership.”

These assumptions are flawed. While some companies may stumble into a strong culture organically, the reality is that most organizations without cultural intent default to inconsistency and chaos.

Great companies—Google, Netflix, Amazon—did not leave culture to chance. They codified it, reinforced it, and scaled it deliberately.

Ignoring culture doesn’t mean it won’t exist; it simply means the default culture may not be the one you want.

3. Culture as an Efficiency Driver: The Power of Standardization

One of the most overlooked benefits of a strong culture is decision-making efficiency. Without a well-established cultural framework, every decision becomes a debate. Employees must constantly evaluate choices based on their personal interpretation of what the company values.

Instead of relying on configuration—where each individual makes decisions independently—companies should adopt convention, where cultural norms serve as a shared decision-making model.

For example, Amazon’s leadership principles provide a consistent lens through which employees evaluate trade-offs. This eliminates ambiguity and ensures that decisions align with long-term organizational values rather than short-term convenience.

By defining cultural standards, companies enable their teams to act with autonomy and speed while maintaining alignment.

4. The Culture-Recruiting Connection

Recruiting is not just about filling roles—it’s about building a team that aligns with the company’s vision and execution strategy. A strong culture acts as a natural attractor for the right talent while repelling those who may not be a fit.

The mistake many organizations make is assuming that compensation and benefits are enough to attract top talent. In reality, highly skilled professionals prioritize environments where they feel aligned with the mission, values, and operating principles.

HubSpot’s approach to recruiting is culture-first. They don’t just hire based on skill sets—they prioritize culture fit as a critical factor. This is not about creating homogeneity but rather about ensuring that new hires align with the company’s foundational values.

A compelling culture reduces recruitment friction, enhances retention, and ensures that employees self-select into the organization for the right reasons.

5. The High Cost of Culture Debt

Companies often discuss technical debt—the shortcuts taken during product development that will need to be addressed later. The same principle applies to culture.

Culture debt arises when organizations make hiring, policy, or leadership decisions that are misaligned with their core values. This can include:

• Hiring someone with the right skills but a poor cultural fit.
• Allowing behaviors that contradict stated company values to persist.
• Scaling rapidly without reinforcing cultural principles.

Unlike technical debt, which can sometimes be forgiven (e.g., scrapping a feature), culture debt compounds over time and is much harder to undo. Toxic hires, misaligned incentives, and unclear leadership expectations can erode culture at a systemic level.

The consequences of culture debt are often invisible in the short term but manifest in the form of high attrition, poor morale, and loss of strategic clarity. Addressing culture debt requires intentional correction, sometimes at the cost of difficult decisions.

6. Designing the Right Culture for Your Organization

There is no universal formula for the “right” culture. The key is to design a culture that is deliberate, unique, and sustainable.

Organizations should avoid blindly imitating what’s trendy. Some companies thrive with a highly structured, process-driven culture (e.g., Amazon), while others succeed with autonomy and decentralized decision-making (e.g., Valve).

What matters is:

• Defining what makes your culture distinct.
• Ensuring leadership embodies and reinforces cultural values.
• Making culture explicit through documentation, policies, and behaviours.

When culture is not just a set of ideas but a well-integrated system, it has staying power.

7. Culture Evolves, but It Shouldn’t Drift

Culture is not static. It evolves as companies grow, markets shift, and leadership transitions occur. However, the core essence of culture should remain intact.

Companies that fail to reinforce cultural foundations often experience culture drift—a gradual deviation from original principles, leading to fragmentation and inconsistency.

Netflix, for instance, has maintained its commitment to a high-performance culture despite scaling globally. This is because they continually reinforce expectations through transparent policies and leadership alignment.

To prevent culture drift, organizations must:

• Reiterate cultural principles in key decisions.
• Ensure leadership consistently models the culture.
• Evolve processes while preserving core values.

Culture should adapt, but it should never be diluted.

8. Culture as a Long-Term Investment

Building and maintaining a strong culture is not a short-term initiative—it is an ongoing strategic investment.

Companies that treat culture as a foundational asset rather than an afterthought consistently outperform their competitors in:

• Employee engagement and productivity.
• Talent acquisition and retention.
• Decision-making speed and clarity.

Culture is not a luxury—it is a necessity. It determines whether an organization will scale effectively, navigate challenges, and create an environment where the best people thrive.

The reality is, every company will have a culture, whether intentional or not. The question is: Will it be the one you designed—or the one you allowed to emerge by default?

Final Thoughts

Companies don’t need a culture deck—they need cultural discipline. The organizations that win in the long run are those that invest in culture with the same level of rigor as they do in product development, market expansion, and financial strategy. Culture is not an HR function. It is a strategic imperative—one that, when designed and nurtured intentionally, becomes the most enduring competitive advantage any company can build.

How is your company shaping its culture for long-term success?