Why we’re backing the search for NZ’s best workplaces

Techstars, the world’s most active pre-seed investor, is famous for basing its decision making on the following criteria:

1. The team

2. The team

3. The team

4. The market opportunity

5. Traction so far

6. The idea

‍

Through its investments in 3,700 companies and counting, it’s found that there’s one thing above all that determines the success of startups: he tangata, he tangata, he tangata – it is the people, it is the people, it is the people.

In his book Creativity, Inc, Pixar’s co-founder Ed Catmull wrote: “If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they’ll screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they’ll either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better.”

So really, the most important job for founders is to build an incredible team.

The second most important job is to create an environment that brings out the very best in them.

The third most important job is to keep hold of them.

The experience founders create for their team – their employees – is crucial for all three jobs.

That’s understood by great employers, and it’s why Kiwi startups like Mike Carden’s Sonar6 and Joyous have killed it, and why Sam Gadd and Jenny Busing’s Excellent has attracted such an incredible community of global leaders who are up for an employee experience revolution.

It’s also why we’re backing the return of Best Places to Work, which officially launched last night at the EMA’s head office in Auckland. 

Those of us with a few greys will remember Best Places to Work being an institution in the 2000s. Every year, the awards recognised the companies that had created a genuinely great experience for their people. And let others learn from the best.

Two decades on, the focus on employee experience is vastly more prevalent. And the innovation happening to create better experience is everywhere.

Plus, we have evidence. It’s now clear that the quality of a company’s employee experience has an impact on that company’s commercial performance. Check out this research on HBR that proves that better employee experience leads to better customer experience, which leads to better revenue and profit outcomes. 

Albeit, we’re still in the early stages of learning how to design employee experience in a way that optimally serves both companies and the people within them.

Startups are experimenting and innovating. And many are developing world-class cultures that massively accelerate their success.

It’s time to identify the very best in employee experience innovation, and share that innovation with New Zealand’s startup community so that together we can become the best in the world at it.

We have the right to be. Our inherent value of manaakitanga (showing respect, generosity and care for others) means our national culture gives us a head start.

Best Places to Work will be a key access point for founders wanting to benchmark their company against the rest, learn from the most innovative, and attract, inspire and keep hold of the most brilliant teams.

‍

‍Caffeine is the startup media partner for Best Places to Work. To learn more about the programme and sign up for the survey, visit: bestplacestowork.nz/