Borrow from Mark Zuckerberg’s culture

Contained within Facebook’s prospectus is a letter from Mark Zuckerberg to shareholders that sets out the kind of culture and organisation he has tried to create. I think it should be required reading for every entrepreneur.

The letter explains that Facebook believes it is on a social mission rather than a business one, and sets out the five core company values Zuckerberg has tried to build. They include:

• Focus on impact
• Move fast
• Be bold
• Be open
• Build social value

I want to focus on the first one, focus on impact. It’s essentially about getting your priorities straight.

“If we want to have the biggest impact, the best way to do this is to make sure we always focus on solving the most important problems,” Zuckerberg writes.

“It sounds simple, but we think most companies do this poorly and waste a lot of time. We expect everyone at Facebook to be good at finding the biggest problems to work on.”

Do your staff work on your biggest problems first, or do they get bogged down in the small stuff?

You might not be building a global giant like Facebook, but remember this company is only seven years old and its growth lessons must be followed.