From Start-up to Scale-upDenis Kaminskiy, co-Founder & CEO

Cambridge Network 29th November 2016

•Founded July 2009, in Cambridge•104 staff members•Average growth ~ 100% p.a. • Innovation: 30% of revenue spent on software R&D

WHO ARE WE?

WHAT DO WE DO?

Lots of cool software for essential Public Services e.g:

• Built Environment (Planning, Building Control)• Licensing • Education • Social Care, Health• Waste, Public Health

Plus: consulting, managed services, Amazon Web Services, Salesforce.com

HOW ARE WE DOING?

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We aggressively disrupt existing, stale

competition

Successful because of our culture

Shared values & attitudes

How to do what I don’t know

Who do I want to be

How do we make money

When things go wrong?

Why what we do matters

Our personality

Our memory

Relationships colleagues &

customers

CULTURE

CULTURE DETERMINES “WHO” THE COMPANY ARE

• Defines who we are = the “inner voice”

• Answers in times of crisis, stress, confusion or rapid growth

• The only way for a manager to really trust an employee

CULTURE IS A LEVER FOR BUSINESS

• It can help or stop growth and

CREATIVITY / INNOVATION

• Helps understand how a “Big Decision” will work out

• The only thing (along with cash) that separates success from failure

What we believe

We HAVE to use our judgement

We are blame-free.

(But we’ll ask you to learn)

We are creative, ingenuous,

tenacious, curious

Diversity is our strength

Flexibility & Quality are not opposites

The public sector is special

We are

cost-effective

We are honest

(we don’t lie)

Being of one culture, DOES NOT mean we are the same

We encourage “different” and “strange”

Have a STRENGTH, don’t try to be “well rounded”

Be yourself, have a unique perspective

We are working to make Arcus great

place to work

FriendsFacilities

Social eventsPerksTrust

• It’s like being on holiday

• You are eating through your savings (no money is being made)

• It’s all “you vs. the world”

• 100% commitment, 100% trust

FOUNDING THE COMPANY IS AMAZING

• You go “all in” everyday, and everyone is one family (everyone has been hired by a founder)

• Spirit of rebellion, feeling of changing the world – No “Status Quo”

• We wanted to build a business that we would LOVE to work in

• But Payroll has to be paid now

BEING A LARGER START-UP IS GREAT !

• 60% of people are new (joined <18 months ago)

• New professions join, with new skills and ideas

• Repeatability & quality matter to clients, so routine creeps in

• Have to invest in retaining the best bit of “Start-up” Culture, but allow it to grow up too

BEING A SCALE-UP IS HARDER

• We hire for culture fit first & foremost

• We follow our culture at every level and decision (it has to “feel” right)

• Communication tools help – and become carriers of culture, we use:#slack, we have topic based “guilds” (with GMs), as well as “all hands”

• Founders / Directors sit with everyone – not in a separate office

SCALING CULTURE IS TOUGH

Not sure it will work,but our culture tells me it

will…