Mission, Vision, Values Workshop
Your Company's Design Principles
Core Principle: MVV = design principles for decisions. Prevents future "architecture debates" about people and culture.
Why MVV Matters
Engineers Skip This:
"Culture comes later. Let's just build."
Reality:
Culture doesn't come later. It's already here—just bad.
MVV = Design Principles
Platform had:
- Self-service?
- Zero-trust?
- Immutable infrastructure?
Startup needs:
- Mission: Why exist?
- Vision: Success in 5 years?
- Values: How decide?
Benefit: MVV prevents 3-hour debates about things you should've decided day one.
The 3 Core Questions
1. Mission: Why Do We Exist?
Not: "What we build"
Is: "Why the world needs this"
Template:
We exist to [VERB] [WHO] so they can [OUTCOME]
Examples:
❌ Bad (too vague):
- "Make the world better with technology"
- "Empower developers"
- "Build great products"
✅ Good (specific):
- Stripe: "Increase the GDP of the internet"
- Airbnb: "Create a world where anyone can belong anywhere"
- Tesla: "Accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy"
Your turn:
We exist to ________________________________
so that ____________________________________
Test: Can you explain this to your grandmother? If no, simplify.
2. Vision: What Does Success Look Like in 5 Years?
Not: "We'll have raised Series B"
Is: "Here's the world we've created"
Template:
In 5 years, [WHO] will [BEHAVIOR] because [IMPACT]
Examples:
❌ Bad (internally focused):
- "We'll have 100 employees"
- "We'll be profitable"
- "We'll have raised $50M"
✅ Good (externally focused):
- Superhuman: "Every person who handles email as a critical part of their job will use Superhuman"
- Notion: "Every team will organize their work in Notion"
- Figma: "Every designer will design in the browser, not desktop apps"
Your turn:
In 5 years, _______________________________
will __________________________________
because ___________________________________
Test: Is this inspiring? Would you work 5 years for this?
3. Values: How Do We Decide?
Not: "Be nice" or "Work hard"
Is: "When faced with X, we choose Y"
Template:
[VALUE NAME]: [1-sentence definition]
In practice: [Specific behavior example]
Framework: 3-5 values maximum (more = meaningless)
Examples:
Value: Bias to Action
- Definition: Move fast and iterate rather than perfect planning
- In practice: Ship a v0.1 this week vs. perfect v1 next month
- Trade-off: Accept more bugs in exchange for faster learning
Value: Transparency by Default
- Definition: Share information unless there's a reason not to
- In practice: Slack channels are public, metrics visible to all
- Trade-off: Some discomfort in exchange for trust and alignment
Value: Customer Obsession
- Definition: Talk to customers weekly, build for their needs
- In practice: Engineers join customer calls, support rotation
- Trade-off: Sometimes build "boring" features customers want vs. "cool" tech
Your Values Workshop (2 Hours)
Setup
- Who: Founders + first 3 employees (if any)
- Where: Whiteboard or Miro/Figma
- When: Week 1 (before you hire)
Part 1: Brainstorm (30 min)
Prompt: "What matters to us? How do we want to work?"
Write everything on sticky notes:
- Fast shipping
- Work-life balance
- Technical excellence
- Customer first
- Transparent communication
- Ownership/autonomy
- Data-driven decisions
- Diversity & inclusion
Goal: 20-30 ideas
Part 2: Cluster (15 min)
Group similar ideas:
- "Move fast", "Ship weekly", "Bias to action" → Speed
- "Customer calls", "User research", "Build for them" → Customer-centric
- "Public Slack", "Share metrics", "Open feedback" → Transparency
Goal: 5-7 clusters
Part 3: Prioritize (15 min)
Forced ranking: What matters MOST?
Test: If you could only pick 3, which 3?
Goal: 3-5 core values
Part 4: Define (45 min)
For each value:
1. Name it: 1-2 words
2. Define it: 1 sentence
3. Specific behavior: "In practice, this means..."
4. Trade-off: "We accept [downside] in exchange for [upside]"
Goal: Usable values, not platitudes
Part 5: Stress Test (15 min)
Scenario planning:
Scenario 1: Customer wants feature X, but it'll slow us down. What do we do?
- If "Speed" value → Politely decline, stay focused
- If "Customer obsession" → Build it, ship it
Scenario 2: Engineer wants to rewrite core system for "better architecture." What do we do?
- If "Technical excellence" value → Consider it seriously
- If "Bias to action" value → No rewrites, iterate forward
Goal: Values should resolve debates
Common Value Categories
Execution
- Bias to action: Move fast, iterate
- Ownership: You break it, you fix it
- Simplicity: Choose boring technology
- Excellence: Sweat the details
Customers
- Customer obsession: Build for their needs
- Transparency: Honest about trade-offs
- Reliability: Uptime matters
- Support-driven: Everyone does support
Team
- Transparency: Information sharing by default
- Candor: Direct, kind feedback
- Diversity: Inclusive hiring and culture
- Growth: Learn and level up
Innovation
- Experimentation: Try new things
- Data-driven: Measure everything
- Long-term: Optimize for 10 years
- Ambitious: Go big or go home
Pick 3-5. More = meaningless.
Writing Your Values Doc
Template
# [Company Name] Mission, Vision, Values
## Mission: Why We Exist
[1-2 sentences]
## Vision: Where We're Going
[2-3 sentences describing 5-year future]
## Values: How We Decide
### 1. [Value Name]
**What it means:** [1 sentence]
**In practice:**
- [Specific behavior 1]
- [Specific behavior 2]
- [Specific behavior 3]
**Trade-off:** We accept [downside] for [upside]
**Example:** [Real story of this value in action]
### 2. [Value Name]
[Repeat structure]
[Continue for 3-5 values]
How to Use MVV Daily
Hiring
Question: "Does this candidate align with our values?"
Test: Ask behavioral questions about each value:
- "Tell me about a time you shipped something imperfect to learn faster" (Bias to action)
- "Tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager" (Candor)
Decision: Hire for values fit + skill, not just skill
Performance Reviews
Framework: Evaluate on values + outcomes
Example:
Engineer X:
- Technical output: Strong (shipped 3 features)
- Customer obsession: Weak (hasn't joined a customer call)
- Transparency: Strong (shares progress weekly)
Action: Keep, but coach on customer value
Conflict Resolution
When two people disagree:
"Let's look at our values. Which value matters more here?"
Example:
- Engineer wants to refactor (Technical excellence)
- PM wants to ship new feature (Bias to action)
- Resolution: Check roadmap. If feature is critical, ship first. If tech debt is blocking, refactor first.
MVV removes ego from debates.
Real-World Examples
Stripe Values
1. Users first: Align with users' success
2. Move with urgency: Fast decisions and execution
3. Think rigorously: High-quality decisions with evidence
4. Trust and amplify: Default to trust, empower others
5. Optimism: Believe we can solve hard problems
Why it works: Specific, opinionated, guides decisions
GitLab Values (CREDIT)
1. Collaboration: Work together, transparently
2. Results: Outcomes over activity
3. Efficiency: Boring solutions, write things down
4. Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging: Everyone can contribute
5. Iteration: Smallest viable change
6. Transparency: Public by default
Why it works: Memorable acronym, detailed handbook
Coinbase Values
1. Clear communication: Transparent, direct, written
2. Efficient execution: Move fast, bias to action
3. Acting with integrity: Do the right thing
4. Continuous learning: Growth mindset
5. Customer focus: Build for users
Why it works: Balanced between execution and culture
Anti-Patterns (What NOT to Do)
❌ Meaningless Platitudes
- "Integrity"
- "Excellence"
- "Innovation"
- "Teamwork"
Problem: Every company says this. Meaningless.
Fix: Be specific. "Integrity" → "Transparent by default"
❌ Too Many Values
- 10+ values = no one remembers them
Fix: 3-5 values maximum
❌ Values ≠ Reality
- "Work-life balance" (but everyone works 80-hour weeks)
- "Customer first" (but no one talks to customers)
Problem: Destroys trust
Fix: Only write values you actually live
❌ Static Doc That's Never Used
- Write once, forget forever
Fix: Reference in every hiring decision, every conflict, every review
MVV Evolution
When to Update
- Major pivot: Business model changes
- New funding round: Scaling to next stage
- Team grows 10x: Culture drifts
- Founder exit: Leadership change
Frequency: Review annually, update as needed
How to Update
1. Survey team: What's working? What's not?
2. Identify drift: Where have we strayed?
3. Workshop (again): 2-hour refresh
4. Communicate changes: Why we updated
Key: Evolution is fine. Abandonment is not.
2-Hour Workshop Agenda
Materials Needed
- [ ] Whiteboard or Miro/Figma
- [ ] Sticky notes (digital or physical)
- [ ] Founders + first employees
- [ ] 2 uninterrupted hours
Agenda
0:00-0:10 - Context: Why MVV matters
0:10-0:40 - Brainstorm: All ideas
0:40-0:55 - Cluster: Group similar ideas
0:55-1:10 - Prioritize: Pick 3-5 values
1:10-1:55 - Define: Write each value
1:55-2:00 - Commit: We'll live by these
Output
- [ ] Mission statement (1-2 sentences)
- [ ] Vision statement (2-3 sentences)
- [ ] 3-5 values (name, definition, behavior, trade-off)
Resources
- Click by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
- Sprint by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
- Good to Great by Jim Collins: Core values framework
- Powerful by Patty McCord: Netflix culture deck
- GitLab Handbook: Open-source values in practice (handbook.gitlab.com)
Download all 12 templates: sanscourier.ai/qconsf-2025
*From the QCon SF 2025 talk: "From Staff Platform Engineer to a16z Founder: What I Wish I'd Known" by Gonzalo (Glo) Maldonado*