I once read a case about Tom Siebel that said that he required that every Siebel office in every city contain the same blue carpet and beige walls. Employees were required to dress formally for work every day. This was at the height of the dot-com "I wear shorts to work and play ping-pong all day" office culture. When people asked him why he was so strict while everybody else was allowed to have fun, he said something like "Employees come to work to make money. They can play on their own time." I read that and thought "this guy is fucking awesome." I think if culture is too lax, work suffers. A lot of people thought Siebel was a dick, but he and a lot of his employees came out very very rich while most of those dot-com's went bankrupt and their relaxed employees ended up looking for work.

That's why when I see people bragging about places like the Googleplex or Zynga's offices with awesome meals and pods to nap in, I think that their priorities are somewhat out of whack. All that said, everybody is different. Some people love their jobs and don't mind intertwining work and play. To each his own.

Ultimately it depends about who works for you. Some people need a well defined framework to perform well, and for those people the "Siebel approach" makes perfect sense.

On the other hand, some people absolutely hate rules and conventions that seem silly to them, and need to be free from artificial constraints to perform at their maximum (that includes playing foosball after spending hours fixing a complex algorithm). This is likely the kind of person that works at Google.

One category of people isn't inherently "better" than the other— it's just different. I have friends who went to some of the top businesses schools in the world and perform very well in renowned firms, but they'd be completely lost and unproductive if they had a Google environment. On the other hand, I have brilliant CS friends from undergrad who would be extremely frustrated and unproductive if they had to show up to work in a "formal attire" at 9am and had to follow strict rules and hierarchy.

As an employer, know the kind of people you employ. As an employee, know who you are and how you perform best.

At Ridejoy, we believe that work is a major part of a person's life and it should be fulfilling and enriching. We believe that create a workplace where people feel respected and cared for is one where people will do their best work.

We have a big goal - making rideshare a ubiquitous and convenient form of transportation for people everywhere - and we aren't looking for worker drones who will follow every rule and wear the company uniform. We're looking for people who believe in our mission and are inspired to come to work toward it.

If I run a company and I expect my employees to come to work and take what they are doing seriously, would I encourage them to drift in and out of the office as they please, take naps if they don't feel up to the task at hand, and wear tshirts and cargo shorts into the office? It is true that if I enact strict policies, people will flee the culture shock to the comfort zones of startups with laid back young employees where they can have nerf gun fights and drink beer on the job. But the fact is that those people are like a disease that spreads and I don't want them in my company anyway. I want the people who are coming in to kick ass and make us successful. There is a symbiotic relationship involved here- people who embrace that culture are going to come and be immensely successful and contribute. People who do not would not have done a good job because they would always be half-assing their work because they don't take it seriously. I'm not sure if the reverse is true for the laid-back work environments, however.

However, I would nevertheless run screaming from the corporate environment you mention. Unless I were desperate, I would not tolerate some "boss" deciding what is the most effective way to accomplish my work. I would be hired for my judgement and directed productivity; if I happened to judge that a nap was the best next step to succeeding in my tasks, then I know better than this busybody manager.

"Meals provided to improve general morale or goodwill, or to attract prospective employees, are not provided for a substantial noncompensatory reason and are taxable. Reg.1. 119-1(a)(2)"

But beyond the personal appeal, the negatively-charged comments really surprise me. People make the same argument against being very close with the people they live with--they're not looking to be best buddies with their roommates. And that's their prerogative and a totally valid choice! But plenty of people do choose to be really friendly with their housemates, and it works well for them.

By the same token, how can we definitively say that Ridejoy's strong culture is bad? Maybe it wouldn't work for you, but I'm sure you can imagine people who would get a lot out of it. After all, the 9-5 with people whose relationship with you is purely professional is something of an historical aberration. So why get huffy about something individuals are choosing to do because they believe it creates a better work environment?

Instead, let a thousand flowers bloom and try to figure out if there's anything you can learn from all of them, both the successes and the failures.

Instead, this set up has evolved naturally out of our team's preferences. Our point with this post isn't to say this is ONE TRUE WAY to do things, but to share our way of doing things and encourage some dialog around building a startup's culture.

You have not lived with a typical family, especially not one comprised of night owls.

Our little story of AdMob is this:

There's this Teriyaki take out place at downtown San Mateo. We affectionately call it the "Cornerteri" since it locate at the corner of 4th and San Mateo Dr. Ask any x-AdMob about Cornerteri and they'll know about this place... That's how you build a company culture.

If your employees are a bunch of single college-aged people who are already friends with one another, by all means eat together, play together, sleep together, do whatever else you want to do together.

If your employees have their own families and social circles outside of work to care about, let them leave at 5:01.

As usual, the important thing is to adapt to the needs of your people. When some of your employees get married, have kids, etc., you'll have to adapt accordingly. Problems arise when you refuse to adapt and try to impose the same culture on everyone. As long as you remember not to do that, I don't see any issues here.

We will always be thinking about how to cater to the needs of the company and the team as we grow and evolve.

Our startup is more likely to go to the range after meetings or with customers, and hit up a steakhouse or sushi bar. Or maybe order a grass fed wagyu cow or berkshire pig and consume 10-15 pounds a week each :)

It's nice that the startup ecosystem supports diversity.

Based on the comments, I was expecting the blog to describe how Ridejoy is morphing itself into a communist slow food cult. After reading the much more benign article, I want to offer a counterpoint.

The team at Ridejoy is in a unique position where the kind of shared meals Camille is describing feels like the right course for them. They're obviously all extremely impassioned and open-minded. All young. Should they do anything else besides what seems to work for them in their current circumstances? Or what seems to feel like the right direction to take things while creating their culture?

I say go for it. Take the risk. Break the mold and make the experiment. If it doesn't scale later on, worry about it then. If somebody falls in love and wants to dine with their sweetheart more often than not, BFD. Ridejoy hardly seems like a fascist bureaucracy in the making that would be unable to cope with such emergent circumstances. "Happiness Manager" would be a frightful title in a larger organization (admittedly it sounds a bit like something out of Orwell or Edward Bellamy), but in a this case it pays to remember that Camille's previous title was "Office Hero". There's a lot more playfulness in this group of folks than some commenters here may realize.

Further, there is no bloody way the straight-jacketed corporate culture described in some of the commentary here could ever make a product like Ridejoy's work. If you want to scale, sure, go ahead and codify your blue carpets and ties. Fill your branch offices with clones and drones.

But if you want to originate, especially something that is not only technologically but socially challenging, put down your copy of "Dress for Success" and let the spirit of non-conformity and play into the workplace. Conformity in environment and clothing only begets conformity in the mind. Playfulness in spirit does not equal slacking off in productivity, but it can often mean leaps in inspiration.

Fundamentally, Ridejoy is in the business of promoting sharing, trust, and community. It makes perfect sense that they make the experience of sharing a pillar of their company culture. Immersing themselves in that ethos, being able to feel-out and experience all of its facets, benefits, and pitfalls can only be an advantage to this kind of 'collaborative consumption' startup.

That said, a caveat:

I'd beware that so many shared meals might not appeal to more introverted folks. (And maybe that's partially why this article struck such a nerve.) The Ridejoy team has some powerfully extroverted personalities, but the culture needs to be founded in such a way that it appeals to all types. This is especially important as the team grows into "18% gratuity added" territory, as introverted folks are going to feel the need for more social space and shelter in proportion to the number of people. People may want to opt out of the convivium, and that needs to be understood, respected, and above all not belittled or derided. Hell, celebrate it by sharing a toast with the folks about to go home. Seriously.

Also, I would suggest that meals are served at a consistent and fairly early dinner time. This will allow people with outside evening commitments to plan. And for folks heading home, how much more enjoyable is a commute on a nourished stomach, and how much more productive one's evening??

DISCLOSURE: I don't know any of the folks at Ridejoy, I haven't yet used their service, and I'm over 30. But as someone with a frightfully high metabolism and frequent eating schedule, a healthily food-centric company culture sounds unbelievably awesome. Even if it means finally socializing that ole inner rugged individualist.

LOL no. I have a family. I don't need a second one. I also have friends. I don't need a second set of friends either. Pay your employees fairly and treat them to a weekly team lunch at a good restaurant.

Also fancy dinners when something really awesome gets accomplished.

This is what 99% of people want - people with their own lives and tastes and preferences and schedules and social obligations.

Also, the implication of a Happiness Manager is that you're working to satisfy their happiness requirements. This is so misguided it's not even funny.

We've found our company morale increasing after implementing group dinners and while we can't directly prove a boost in productivity, we believe there is a link. We thought we'd share what we're learning with HN.

Not sure where you got your "99% of people want" stat but if it's true, then I guess we're looking for that 1%

People change. People's lives changes. People who fit into your narrow little culture now will grow out of it in a few years time. But they are still your "friends", they are still valuable employees, maybe even more than before. What are you going to do then, fire everyone who grows out of your cozy little "family" culture because they have a live of their own?

It's either that, or start a cult. Or of course, grow up and run a real company instead.

The 1% you're looking for isn't just a minority, it's just fraction of those people's lives. Real human beings are more complicated than that.

So what happens when you need to have a serious talk with someone for screwing up and everyone's in a terrible mood afterwards? Do you expect them to also join you at dinner? Or is their punishment that they have to pretend to be happy for the happiness manager? Or is their punishment that they don't get to join you, banished to a microwave meal at home while everyone else sings and dances and eats grass fed sustainably raised mutton raised in a westward-sloping Polyface-esque agrarian paradise just north of Petaluma, served on a bed of organic microgreens and wilted white kale and drinks low sulfide wine from the Willamette Valley with just a hint of raspberries on the nose and a dry finish with notes of oak and lavender?

Or does the 1% you're looking for also not ever make mistakes, and gets along perfectly all the time, just like a real family?

The thing about these kinds of blog posts is that they are thinly disguised recruiting / marketing efforts and inexperienced people take them as some sort of gospel - nobody ever talks about the time when the team is at each others' throats because someone (or everyone) fucked something critical up and lost $50k and 2 months of work, or petty workplace politics or sexual / drinking / druggie relationships or any of that - which always creep into this sort of hippy dippy communal meals big extended family type stuff and really just adds more trouble than it's really worth.

I've worked exclusively at startups since 1999 and let me tell you, this shit happens. It all happens, all the time. People throw words at each other. People cuss and get into disagreements, people fuck up, people are very serious about very serious things, especially when TONS of money is involved. Like MILLIONS of dollars of owner and investor money.

What this is - is corporate bullshit dressed up as culture, and it's fucking flabbergasting to me that it's making its way into startups!!!

Eating together facilitates communication and understanding with a group, which makes it more likely that conflicts will be resolved in a productive manner. Again, this is what works for us and yes, we hope to attract people who find this kind of culture compelling. Appreciate your taking the time to discuss these topics with us.

Maybe you just don't work well with that?

Try missing 20 in a row, because you'd much rather eat with your friends or SO. What happens? The happiness manager comes and pays you a visit is what happens.

Like it or not, a workplace is a community. And the norms of communities will differ. There's no need to shit on places that work differently than you're used to.

Just don't work at those kinds of places.

What's more, it doesn't make any sense to assume that your views are the same as "99%" of people without any evidence.

I don't see the point of your rant; your sarcasm seems to be cutting in two directions at once. Obviously real families do have strife and deal with it. When the 16 year old wrecks the family car, everyone still has to sit down at the same table. When the twins get into a fistfight they're still expected to go to school together. None of that means that they shouldn't be trying to act like a family when things don't suck.

So yeah, when the boss has to cuss someone out it sucks for everyone. That doesn't mean you can't sit down to lunch together.

In families, mom and dad are probably fucking on a regular basis. They also fight over trivialities and cheat on each other. The kids are CHILDREN who make mistakes, and have fewer legal rights than the adults. The parent(s) fund the whole thing by working for someone else, the children are basically leeches that do not contribute to the profits of the family. They all live together and sleep next to each other and spend enough time with each other to hate each other sometimes. They fight over limited resources and the ultimate goal of a successful family is to eventually disband socially.

They spend all day separated from each other, and come together at night to spend money and time on things together.

Does this sound like any sort of company you'd want to work at?

As a company grows larger people are not going to be cooking for each other and the boss isn't going to spend $1k a day on lunch and dinner.