Getting from A to B

By far, one of the best things about working at a startup is the creation process. Taking an idea and turning it into reality is very fulfilling. In my opinion, however, more than creating a finished product, the most exciting part about life at a startup is the journey itself. With that said, as with every other journey in life, ours needed a destination or common goal. We recently spent time fine tuning our common goal, embodied by our vision and mission.

Armed with a massive whiteboard, lots of post-it notes and limited facilitation skills, we began jotting down ideas for our vision and mission. The funny thing was that, although all of us were fully aligned from the beginning, putting our vision and mission into words was not a simple process. Our vision and mission needed to simultaneously help guide us through our short-term daily activities as well as help define our path for many years to come. After a lot of back and forth and heavy grammatical editing, we finally reached consensus:

Vision: To transform global healthcare by giving consumers the power of informed choice

Mission: Connect doctors and patients worldwide by making the doctor selection process more efficient and transparent

Why stop there? We were on a roll! After patting ourselves on the back, we decided to push ahead with our values.

Values:

Transparency & honesty: we bring you more information about your doctor than you’ll find anywhere else

Passion: every member of our team truly believes in our mission to transform global healthcare

Excellence: we hold ourselves to the highest standard to ensure you have the best possible experience

Diversity: we are a very inclusive group, and we believe that including and respecting a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences leads to collective genius

Scrappiness:  we’re a team of hard workers who will do what it takes to deliver on our mission!

Although not an easy task, I must admit that we had a lot of fun putting our vision, mission and values together. If you are about to launch a startup, or are looking to provide new direction to your existing company, I highly recommend that you take the time to put these essential building blocks together. The contagious energy that is generated as the team works together for a common goal is exhilarating.

PS. I came across the following blog post that highlights the importance of having a strong vision. Great read. http://blog.intercom.io/why-startups-need-a-strong-vision/

by Alejandro Vega