“Culture is the product we build for ourselves.”
When HubSpot’s CTO and Cofounder set his sights on defining an intentional culture for the company, he built more than a slide deck. He built a product. | Team Letter | February 23, 2026
Happy Monday, Alpaca!
As you may know, we’re working right now on the Alpaca School Culture Report, a deep dive into the state of school culture, according to the leaders and educators experiencing and building culture today.
As part of that work this weekend, I revisited my favorite learning on culture — the HubSpot Culture Code.
I love learning about how great companies build their cultures. A few years ago, I heard Dharmesh Shah, cofounder of HubSpot, talk about the hundreds of hours he has spent on an internal project — and product — called the HubSpot Culture Code.
Why would HubSpot’s Chief Technology Officer put such a huge focus on company culture, something usually owned by People Operations or “HR?” Because it’s that important, and Dharmesh makes a point of spending his time on the most important work of the company.
The result — The HubSpot Culture Code — is not just a manifesto or handbook — it’s a product, built for HubSpot’s employees. They’ve published the entire thing online, they’ve revised it 41 times (seriously!), and it’s worth reading once a year.
They call it the “operating system powering Hubspot” and I love that concept — that culture is the operating system that powers our organizations and teams.
Here are my favorite takeaways:
“We’re building two products: one for our customers, and one for our employees. Culture is the product we build for ourselves.” YES, and this is true for schools, too. What is the culture product that teachers and principals are building for themselves? This has my brain going!
“Culture exists whether it’s intentional or not.” Every company has a culture. Whether you’re intentional about designing the one you love is up to you.
SFTC: “Solve for the Customer.” I love that the first tenet of an internal culture document is all about a relentless focus on the customer.
Courage over comfort. Boldness over hesitation. Simply put, and a clear directive — HubSpot does such a service to its employees by being so clear with expectations of how to approach problem solving.
“It’s not an open door policy. It’s a no door policy.” The idea that every employee has access to every other; that “debates should be won by better insights, not bigger job titles;” and that “transparency ≠ democracy” hits all the things employees desire in transparency, while addressing all of the things that create concern for company leaders.
Use Good Judgment. This three word policy replaces most policies in the company. If you’re wondering where I get my opinions about having a lot of “policies,” it’s here.
Customer > Company > Individual: HubSpot calls this the “cheat sheet on good judgment.” Don’t solve for your personal interests over that of the team, and when in doubt, solve for the best interests of the customer. If you remember one thing from the Culture Code, make it this.
“Humility isn’t about thinking less of yourself. It’s about thinking of yourself less.” That’s the best definition of humility that I’ve heard.
“We like learn-it-alls, not know-it-alls.” Stealing this.
Free Books Program. “Request a book, it magically shows up in your inbox. No expense reports required.” What better way to encourage learning than that. Again, now you know where I got this practice!
Overall, one of my favorite things about this product is its simplicity: it’s an openly published slide deck, with a total of 58 slides, many of which have fewer than 10 words on the slide. That’s intentional too — because nobody has time for a 100 page manifesto, and if they did have time to read it, they wouldn’t remember it.
And culture is only as strong as the choices and values you remember and repeat.
Need a fun challenge this week? Spend a little time thinking about what values or choices YOU would put in a Culture Code product for Alpaca. If you do, let me know so we can grab a coffee so you can tell me about it!