Why Transparency Is Critical for Startups

Real culture is not about ping pong tables and beer Fridays and things like that. It's about these kind of core, kind of first principles kind of stuff. I've lived through layoffs, I've lived through company shutdowns, and one thing I've realized is that when you have the right people on board and you're transparent with them, they will cut you a lot of slack. Like, I've had people volunteer to take pay cuts because like, Dharmesh, I know we're not going to be able to meet payroll. I love this company, I love what we're doing, I'll go to 50% salary. And that happens, like people are willing to live through the pain as long as you're honest with them. The issue turns up is when you're going through dark times and this misguided notion of protecting the team from the reality that— and that's the rationalization entrepreneurs sometimes use, and it's not malintent, they're like, oh well, it's part of my job to buffer the team from this darkness that's happening over here, right? And you have to be careful with that because you don't want to just lay everything out there, kind of share this misery or something like that, it needs to be kind of greater good of the company and for that individual, it's like okay, this is something they should know, right? I know it's hard, I know it's tough, but here's what we're going through. In the long run, transparency trumps opaqueness in the long term, period. Like, and whether it's culture, whether it's what you're selling, it's marketing, it's whatever it is, people just have access to so much information now. You cannot get away with the crap you used to get away with before, and that's why companies did it, because they could. I just don't— not only do I think it's the right thing to do, I think it's the optimum thing to do.