+1 Esp. at most early/midscale startups, the culture of work is pretty much defined by a small subset of folks who lay down the "rules of the land" and it's ve

+1 Esp. at most early/midscale startups, the culture of work is pretty much defined by a small subset of folks who lay down the "rules of the land" and it's very much possible for people to be part of that subset. However, the systems at play don't always make it straightforward to do so. Weirdly enough, this is probably why: 1 - Many early stage employees feel disillusioned as the company grows because they go from being part of a flat structure to being part of a mid-low level informal/formal hierarchy, esp. as more external folks are brought in and the style of work revolves more and more around the ideas they bring (It's very hard to avoid this, esp. if you are in a junior role) 2 - Companies can seem entirely different with changes in far fewer roles than you'd expect. A few high profile exits can lead to a snowball effect, but in a few quarters the company usually tends to recover, albeit with a style of work that the older folks would find alien, but the newer folks adopt quite readily. A great example of this is Basecamp. Yes, Basecamp today is very different to the company it was a year ago culturally, but I'm wholly unsure if that is good, bad or just the nature of the game.