{"id":318,"date":"2018-08-30T00:05:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T00:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/321-growth-academy-2023.local\/tractionconf-takeaways-we-went-to-a-growth-conference-and-heard-heaps-about-culture\/"},"modified":"2023-11-06T23:55:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T23:55:26","slug":"tractionconf-takeaways-we-went-to-a-growth-conference-and-heard-heaps-about-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/321growthacademy.com\/tractionconf-takeaways-we-went-to-a-growth-conference-and-heard-heaps-about-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"#TractionConf takeaways: we went to a growth conference and heard heaps about\u2026 culture!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Last week 321 Growth Academy geared up and went west to Vancouver to take in #TractionConf<\/a>, a growth conference whose 2018 theme was (fittingly) Scaling Up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over a jam-packed day featuring a myriad of supercharged speakers from Box to Intercom to FreshBooks to Bumble (thankfully, a diverse lineup with nary a \u201cmanel\u201d in sight!) we expected to hear stories, insights and ideas about growth hacking, lead gen and raising capital.  We did and they definitely delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What pleasantly surprised us? An overriding theme of #TractionConf was all about People, specifically the role that people and culture play in starting and scaling companies.  After too long of being an afterthought, People has (happily!) come to the forefront of how Founders, Investors and Leaders think about growing successfully.  So what are some of the highlights? Read on for a recap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Culture for Startups: Start Early, Stand Out and Keep It Real<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We were happy to see the advice to Founders to start thinking about culture at an early stage, to make sure your culture is authentic and unique and to make sure your culture in action aligns with your culture as you articulate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sameer Dholakia, CEO of SendGrid noted that early stage startups aren\u2019t investing enough in culture early enough in their company lifecycles.  He noted (we hear you!) that<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building startups is hard and suggests that companies create core values at the start and cultivate them as you grow.  He shared the core values at SendGrid, called 4H<\/p>\n\n\n\n