This week’s podcast from Inside Intercom features an interview with Elad Gil whose work and investments have connected him with “hyper growth” companies like Google, Twitter and Coinbase. Now he’s written a book collecting his thoughts and some interviews he did with others involved in high growth SaaS companies. As usual the podcast was well paced and interesting, covering a lot of topics including how regular employees react to frequent reorgs; but what stuck out to me today was the discussion about company culture.

Gil’s thoughts on how culture evolves, how to transplant it when opening new offices, and how to make sure it’s about more than “everyone who works here is funny” were compelling. Three particular things stood out to me:

1. Realize that if your company doubles in size in a short period of time it is essentially a new company and will have a different culture.
2. Focus on the 2-3 core ideals you want to characterize your culture rather than trying to maintain every aspect of the culture you started with as a small firm.
3. One bad hire can ruin culture so it’s always better to wait to find the right person no matter how urgent it feels to get more people.

So if you’re interested in software and product companies, you like thinking about growth and culture, or you just want something fun to listen to for 30 minutes, I’d recommend the latest episode of the Inside Intercom podcast.