It was early 2011.
A friend had told me about a new social tool.
She worked with a few startups and had her ear on the pulse of social.
I signed up with her suggested tool, briefly chatted with the founder on Skype, and kept an eye on it.
And then, with unstoppable momentum, I watched this tool experience growth.
This small startup, at the time, was named Buffer.
At the time of this writing, Buffer is at $400,000+ in monthly recurring revenue with around 30,000 paying customers with less than 30 employees.
Oh, and they refunded $22,792 in cancelations this past month.
Oh, and the COO makes $161,000 a year.
Oh, and the team knows how many hours others on the team sleep.
How do I know this?
Well, Buffer has 10 public values. One of them is “Default to Transparency.”
Several other startups have taken a hint from Buffer and have experimented with transparency, too. Other startups include GrooveHQ, WP Curve, Baremetrics, ghost, and Mattermark.
One podcast, called the “StartUp Podcast,” is a completely transparent behind-the-scenes journey of a growing startup, led by CEO Alex Blumberg. They raised $200,000 in 2 hours from their podcast subscribers (among other accomplishments).
Why does startup transparency often result in growth?
Joel Gascoigne, the CEO of Buffer, has often said that transparency breeds trust.
I agree with that. Transparency breeds trust internally and externally. I’ve lately been wondering, why is transparency so attractive?
Buffer has contributed much of its resulting growth to its belief of transparency.
Why has it helped with momentum for the startup?
Startups are an interesting breed that have always fascinated me.
Sure, a startup needs to solve a problem.
Sure, a startup needs to execute better.
A startup also needs to execute differently.
Why? The human experience (HX) is constantly evolving.
The way we connect, communicate, and captivate one another, is changing as expectations change.
Sure, at the most basic level, a startup needs to communicate the problem it’s solving.
But how remarkable can it be? How well can it captivate?
Transparency is sort of captivating, isn't it?
Startups are the birthplace of innovative ideas and remarkable ways of execution.
Transparency brings about new value in startups and businesses alike.
But I must ask, again, why is transparency attractive?
I vividly recall a keynote Eric Schmidt gave in 2010. He expressed that technology helps people become more transparent. With eyes and ears everywhere, and messages being able to be shared immediately, the Internet helps hold humanity accountable.
Look at social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and the like. It has enabled a type of transparency. I don’t think I need to speak to the attention it has received. The question is, are we embracing the realness in transparency? It’s easy to throw a fancy word like "transparency" around, but are we accepting and respecting truth in the midst of transparency?
I’ve written before, leaders can lead with trust or they can lead with fear.
Leaders aside, let’s just talk about humans.
At the end of the day, we either lead lives with trust or fear.
Many live with fear, conscious or not, so the idea of transparency is scary.
The trick is to accept that transparency does not open you up to pain unless you allow it to.
Ghandi said it best, “Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
Wait, wait, let’s back up... what is transparency?
Here are a few definitions from dictionary.com...
1. having the property of transmitting rays of light through its substance so that bodies situated beyond or behind can be distinctly seen.
2. so sheer as to permit light to pass through
And, for a few synonyms, we have...
1. candid
2. sincere
3. easily seen
4. open
To be clear, transparency is not about bragging or being selfish or being an egomaniac or being a narcissist. It’s about sharing.
To default to transparency is to respond transparently when someone asks a question. It doesn’t mean to openly pour out your heart to every person you encounter (at least, in the context of this article).
Are we sharing what is real?
Lack of self-acceptance and denial from what is real, without any man-made “good” or “bad” labels, limits true transparency.
When we share, we create opportunity for connection with others. This is attractive.
Now we know that transparency can help startups and we know what it means.
As I’ve written before, the startup context needs to be respected.
Transparency helps create momentum for startups.
How?
Many startups have momentum, wins, and losses. Transparency helps the world see all of it.
It gives people something to talk about and to watch unfold.
When we see behind the scenes of how something grows or evolves, we appreciate it differently. Does "backstage access" make you feel special?
Access.
It’s a real life book unfolding. Chapter by chapter.
Some are afraid of defaulting to transparency and exposing themselves.
Why?
Well, let’s call it what it is: vulnerability.
As defined by Brené Brown, vulnerability is emotional exposure, risk, and uncertainty.
Often, when we think of vulnerability, we think about it as a weakness.
However, when we see someone embracing vulnerability, or transparency, we see it as courage.
Isn’t courage attractive?
After all, the context of a startup is about vulnerability.
Think about it...
Does a startup involve emotional exposure? Yes, it’s a roller coaster, and transparent startup CEOs share it.
Does a startup involve exposure? Yes, part of building a startup requires a founder exposing an idea. That can be scary (if you allow it to be).
Does a startup involve uncertainty? You bet.
Where am I going with this?
Transparency is vulnerability.
Oh, guess what? Brené Brown also says that vulnerability is the foundation of change, creativity, and innovation.
(Did I mention her TED talk is one of the top 5 most watched TED talks of all time with over 17 million views? How's that for an indicator...)
Think about it...
We cannot have change, creativity, and innovation without vulnerability.
Vulnerability is when we allow ourselves to be affected and when we connect those experiences to create.
Startups are redefining new ways of doing business to thrive in the evolving landscape that we live in.
Above, I defined transparency so that we are clear on what it is. If the Internet is making our humanity more transparent, then we are faced with 2 decisions: do we fear it, or do we embrace it?
If we fear it, we live in fear, and we are limited by that fear.
If we embrace it, then we embody courage, and we become powerful.
Courage is the ability to do what frightens us. (Again, if you allow yourself to be frightened)
When I say powerful, I’m not talking about what is powerful in the traditional sense (often, with a negative connotation).
When I say transparency is powerful, I say it is powerful because it is truth.
What is true cannot be fought because it is truth.
Remember, transparency permits light to transmit through, per the description above.
That is truth.
That is what is real.
That is raw.
Exposing ourselves and embracing ourselves is attractive. It is truth.
When we fear transparency, we fear exposure because we fear what is real. This results in the lack of acceptance. Lacking acceptance limits perspective.
Remember, what is real is neither good nor bad, it simply is.
Also, I get it: fear is instinctual. We all have it. It takes effort to transcend.
Have fear, but do not let fear have you.
I say again: why is transparency attractive?
I believe that the human experience (HX) is about connection.
Transparency connects us to the real nature that we all possess.
It's natural law.
Transparency reframes honesty and honesty is attractive.
Transparency has the potential to create momentum because it cultivates connection.
Transparency is the checks and balances against humanity. Whether or not someone is watching, the simple mental understanding of exposure alone can keep someone honest.
A great boxer steps into the punch.
In mountain biking, I have to trust in the momentum of the bike and embrace it.
When we lead life with fear, what we really fear is disconnection. Disconnection from our tribe used to result in not getting food to eat. It’s a survival instinct. The foundation of transparency is trust and it calls us to greater connection.
Some might say, “but what if I expose too much?” The healthy individual will accept the truth and our erred human nature. It will be ok. It is human.
The human experience (HX) works if we choose to believe in it.
Remember that transparent startup I mentioned in the intro?
Buffer was hacked on October 26th, 2013. They had thousands of spam posts go out through Facebook and Twitter (on customer accounts!). They did as they do with everything: they defaulted to transparency. They explained what was happening, why it happened, and they explained as much as they could.
And guess what?
They had almost a record number of signups.
Why?
Their transparency resulted in positive press. By sharing what was real, they helped others understand exactly what was happening.
Transparency is a muscle. The more you practice it, the better you become at it.
Not to mention, since humans are wired for connection, transparency helps internal culture connect to a greater purpose.
Isn’t that what we want, to feel connected to our tribe? Transparency creates that feeling.
But wait, there’s more...
What happens when you take a flashlight into the forest at night? It helps you see.
What happens when you have something difficult happen in your life and you decide to share it? It’s liberating to share difficult truths with close friends. It reduces stress. I like to preface why I’m sharing something before I share it so my intent and reason is clear.
When defaulting to transparency, Buffer’s culture is liberating everyone on its team because it is helping them share the truth. This reality helps people to accept what is true and it helps to deal with reality.
This is healthy. The prerequisite is trust.
This is more than startups experimenting with culture.
This is more than finding the next competitive advantage.
This is about laying the foundation for change, creativity, and innovation.
The foundational trust instilled by this culture is shared through employees and customers alike.
Transparency creates momentum because it connects us to our truest sense of self.
This is legacy.
Do you value transparency and remarkable insights like this? Learn about our introspective experience.
