One Question that Reveals the Truth About Your Brand

Imagine one of your employees at a party enjoying assorted cheeses and crackers.

The banter is in full swing. The standard cocktail conversations occurring around the room.

Where are you from? What part of town do you live in?

What do you do?

They’d explain they work at Your Startup, and something about what they do there.

But then, someone asks something more piercing:

What do you like about working there?

This is a simple question, but the answer is complex and extremely meaningful. It says a lot about your company, its culture, and its brand.

Would she describe the feature set of your platform or app? Say it’s the X for Y?

Would she talk about culture? The snacks and ping pong tables?

Would the response be more about enabling customers, and making a difference? Would we hear about mission and values?

Would you like what she says?

“What do you do?” is an easy one. Just like where you’re from and what part of town you live in. There are few shades of grey there. You’re from Mayberry or you aren’t.

But “what do you like about working there?” requires thoughtful reflection on that person’s experiences with your startup.

My point is not to prescribe a specific answer. But rather to point out that the type of answer says a lot about your brand who you are as a company.

On a scale from features and benefits to values and mission, where would the answer fall? Where would you want it to?

What are you doing, as founder, to set the context for truthful (and positive) answers?