Values Reverse-Engineered from Why You Win
Don't philosophize your company values — extract them from the reasons you're actually succeeding.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 90%
A concrete method for setting company values. Rather than convening as philosophers to decide what values sound good, wait until you have early traction, then write down the five-to-ten specific reasons you are winning. Those reasons become your values — operating principles that describe real behavior rather than aspirational slogans.
Origin
Younis and co-founder Peter Ludwig's practice at Applied Intuition, offered as 'as tactical as advice I can give to founders.'
Core principles
- 01Values should be discovered from success, not invented from ideals
- 02Set them only once you have a little traction — you need real success to analyze
- 03Values are operating principles that guide behavior, not decorative mission statements
- 04Include the non-obvious, human ones (e.g. 'laugh a lot') alongside the performance ones
How to run it
- 1
Wait for early traction before writing values
Don't set values on day one. You need enough success to have something to analyze. Once you're winning a bit, you can look back and see what's driving it.
Watch out Values set as abstract philosophy before you've won anything tend to be generic and unowned.
- 2
List the 5–10 concrete reasons you are succeeding
Literally write down the specific things causing your success. For Applied these included speed ('move fast, move safe'), never disappointing the customer, technical mastery, high output, and 'laugh a lot.' The list is descriptive of what actually works, not what sounds noble.
Pro tip Include a humor/grounding value — laughter is also a low-friction channel for honest feedback ('it's not the best' lands softer than 'this sucks').
- 3
Operationalize the values into assessment and promotion
Turn each value into observable behavior and actually compensate and promote against it. At Applied, 'speed' is assessed as decisiveness; managers are evaluated on adherence. Reinforce them continuously — Younis and his co-founder discuss the values with every new team member weekly.
Pro tip Name the behavior each value maps to (speed → decisiveness) so it can be evaluated, not just quoted.
Watch out If values aren't tied to comp, promotion, and recurring conversation, they decay into wall art.
In the wild
Applied's values were reverse-engineered from why the company was winning: speed above everything ('move fast, move safe'), never disappoint the customer, technical mastery, high output matters — and 'laugh a lot,' present since the company's beginning. Managers are assessed, compensated, and promoted against them, and the founders reinforce them in weekly new-hire meetings.
→ A living culture where values function as guiding operating principles rather than abstractions.
Common mistakes
Writing values as philosophy
Deciding values by asking 'what should we believe as philosophers' produces generic, unowned statements. Extracting them from concrete reasons you're winning produces values that describe and reinforce real behavior.
Leaving values un-operationalized
Values that aren't tied to assessment, compensation, and promotion, and aren't repeated with new hires, become decorative and stop shaping behavior.
Is it for you?
Best for
A founder with early traction ready to codify culture into operating principles that actually drive behavior.
Not ideal for
A pre-traction team with no track record yet to analyze for what's driving success.
From the transcript
“You should figure out why are we being successful? Like literally write down the five to 10 things that are the reasons you are being…”
“laugh a lot. That's been our core value from at the beginning of the company's history.”
“We assess our managers on adherence to those values. Literally, we compensate and promote against those values.”
From the episode
The most successful AI company you’ve never heard of
Qasar Younis