North Star in every decision we make, from hiring to investing. We will review these values every quarter along with our Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and iterate on them as our business continues to grow and evolve.
1. We’re inclusive: we embrace difference and keep a radically open mind. For example, we have used Applied, a recruitment platform that minimises bias, to hire both our Head of Portfolio and Brand Diarra Smith and Head of Ops Xun Choong. We continue to use it for our open positions.
2. We’re human: we believe you can build a highly successful business whilst being kind and decent human beings. We fully invest in getting to know the people behind the business — whether this is the Ada team, or the founders we are backing. We offer support during hard times (e.g. mental health support through Spill and emergency childcare with Bubble), and endeavour to understand and respect people’s boundaries and working styles along the way. As a team, we have worked with a coach to supercharge how we communicate based on our natural communication styles.
3. We teach & learn: we believe we are all conduits for learning, we are humble to know what we don’t know and we’re not afraid to ask, we help each other be better. This is the core reason we write our Medium posts. We also work in partnership with organisations such as Stemettes, Beyond HERizons and Future VC, speaking at events and offering internships each summer.
4. We are healthily paranoid: as a regulated business we are always evaluating risk and looking around corners. See this. We also expect everyone associated with Ada Ventures to abide by our code of conduct.
5. We’re brave: we are bold in decision making and move at pace. We aim get back to people quickly on decisions that need to be made, not getting too bogged down in detail to be paralysed by indecision.
6. We’re joyful: we have a positive attitude, love to find joy in what we do and see the gift in any situation. We celebrate the highs, and to take each low as a learning opportunity without beating ourselves up.
These are values we promote internally and actively look for in the companies we support. We firmly believe there is no trade-off between inclusive values and impressive portfolio performance.
