As companies grow, they often cling to the phrase “hire for culture fit.” But what does that really mean when your team scales from 10 to 100—or 1,000?
Anthropologists know that “culture” isn’t static. It’s a living, breathing system of behaviors, rituals, and shared values that shift as communities grow. The same is true for startups. What worked when your team was huddled around one whiteboard may not scale across departments, geographies, or time zones. And that’s not a failure of culture—it’s evolution.
Culture Isn’t a Monolith
In anthropology, subcultures naturally emerge within any society. A product team in a hyper-growth startup will likely have different daily rituals, communication styles, and decision-making frameworks than the go-to-market team. That’s not dysfunction—that’s adaptation.
When hiring, this means we shouldn’t aim to clone personalities or working styles across every team. Instead, we should:
- Hire for alignment on values (e.g., ownership, curiosity, resilience)
- Respect and even design for the formation of distinct team cultures
- Allow for cultural innovation, especially from new hires who bring perspectives that challenge the status quo
From “Culture Fit” to “Culture Add”
The language we use around hiring needs to evolve. “Culture fit” implies assimilation, while “culture add” encourages enrichment. Anthropology teaches us that resilient societies are those that integrate new ideas, not just preserve old ones.
Ask yourself:
- What values are truly non-negotiable across the company?
- Where is there room for fresh thinking, new rituals, and different modes of working?
- How can we design onboarding and team structures that foster cultural growth rather than uniformity?
Practical Tips for Hiring in a Scaling Culture
1. Use consistent values, not personality templates. Make sure your core values are reflected in your interviews and assessments—but leave space for diverse expressions of those values.
2. Involve cross-functional stakeholders. A well-rounded panel helps prevent cultural echo chambers.
3. Encourage interviewers to ask, “What will this person add to our culture?” rather than “Will they fit in?”
4. Continuously re-evaluate your rituals. Weekly standups, Slack habits, decision-making processes—these should evolve as your company does.
Culture Is a Garden, Not a Blueprint
Culture isn’t something you set once—it’s something you tend. As your team grows, you’re not just scaling a product; you’re scaling a society. That requires intention, openness to change, and an understanding that strong cultures are those that adapt without losing their roots.
Let’s move beyond fitting people into a mold. Let’s build companies that grow because their culture does.
