The Perpetual Startup

Let’s find out…

You might expect a startup culture to be something that exists only fleetingly during the early years of an organisation’s history.  If you dig into the various definitions of this phenomenon however, you can see that it can be maintained with a bit of care and attention (and a lot of hard work of course).

Forbes provides a great definition of the seven traits that define a Startup Culture, in that they:

1. Establish a clear purpose
2. Recognise values, not just achievements
3. Foster a safe and enabling work environment
4. Focus on learning and growth
5. Emphasise innovation
6. Embrace failures as a part of the journey
7. Cultivate an atmosphere of trust

Nothing in that definition states that it can only last a short while.  It also allows me to articulate how we, after more than 20 years, are maintaining a Perpetual Startup Culture.

There is a catch however.  If we’d ‘simply’ done the things above, and then just maintained a constant state, then the actual feeling of a startup would have long ago dissipated.  Instead, we’ve constantly evolved in terms of our what we do, how we do it, and, most importantly, the people who have helped us on our journey.

When we first introduce ourselves to prospective clients, we describe our evolution, and how we now refer to ourselves as ‘String 3.0’.  Now in its fourth year, this latest evolution more closely aligns us to Forbes seven traits than ever before.

In simple terms, the first one is easy.  We have a clear purpose that we all work to.  It’s to become a top 10 Microsoft Partner in the UK.  Not one of the top 10 by size however, for now we want to be recognised by Microsoft as being in the top 10 for annual growth, and more importantly, as what Microsoft refer to as a ‘Pure Play Microsoft Partner’; a partner that is able to deliver the full range of Microsoft solutions including Microsoft 365, Azure, Power Platform, Dynamics, and AI.  It’s something we’re already doing, and we’re all immensely proud of what we’ve achieved.  Our customers are pretty happy about it too, as they’re the ones benefiting from our expertise.

The other six of Forbes traits are comprehensively covered by our A-Player Traits.  If you’ve not seen them, I’ve placed them below.  They’re a set of guiding principles that we recruit on, and develop our team on.  They provide an environment where constant innovation is key, where self-development is paramount, and where helping colleagues and customers is at the centre of their daily work lives.  They’re pretty cool, and definitely worth a look.

The above is why we operate as a Perpetual Startup.  Our colleagues benefit from an environment that puts their futures first, and our clients benefit from our constant desire to ensure that they are secure, and are benefiting from the stream of innovations that are available to them from our principle partner, Microsoft.

We love technology here at String.  We really love the technologies that Microsoft make available to us to use to help our customers, and we constantly await the latest new technology to arrive as it’s all about the future for us, not the past. Our AI Practice is the latest example of our future focus.  It builds on previous experience building our highly successful Power Platform and Dynamics Business Central practices.

If you love technology too, and would like to hear more about how we are using literally hundreds of different Microsoft technologies to transform our customers’ businesses, why not give us a shout.