Values We Live By
Values We Live By
Values We Live By
Values We
Live By
Think of the values as our
Ten Commandments— even though
there are only six
We wrote these things down when the company was just a few people in a stuffy conference room in Toronto, and they inform everything we do.
Are you dying to know what they are?
The client, the client, the client
Our first clients were our parents, sisters, friends. We may be bigger now, but we still feel the same way about our clients. We don’t take their trust for granted, we go the extra mile to earn it. And we always remember what it feels like to be on the other end of the phone or email.
How we do it
We think about how every decision we make will impact our clients. We use our products ourselves and recommend them to people who can benefit from them.
Question to ask yourself
What if I were the client?
Keep It Simple
Financial services are needlessly complex. We exist to remove friction and confusion because that empowers our clients. As we grow, simplicity is harder, and that makes it more important.
How we do it
We build simple products because they’re more accessible. The way we communicate with each other and our clients is simple, so everyone can understand. We build simple software because it allows us to be efficient and scale.
Question to ask yourself
How could this be simpler?
Simplify
Simplify
Simplify
Ship It,
then improve it
If we wait to get it perfect, we’re going to miss our moment. If we’re satisfied with the way it is, we’ll never be great. That’s the tension that makes great products fast. It’s what we do.
How we do it
We work with urgency because speed differentiates us from our competitors. We value experimentation and iteration over the perfect solution. We make (reversible) decisions quickly. ShipIt is just the beginning. We’re constantly looking for ways to get better.
Question to ask yourself
Why haven’t you shipped yet? And how can it be better?
#shipit
Check out version 1.0 of Wealthsimple. It will win no beauty prizes. But it was launched, and it was launched quickly, and people started using it, which told us what we needed to know to make it better and prettier and
better and prettier and better and...
Take Care Of
Each Other
We’re trying to do great things, and really fast. If we don’t do it in a supportive environment it will suck to work here. So try to be selfless with our team. That means transparency is our default, kindness is our baseline, taking on the work of others is part of our job.
How we do it
We’re on the same side. We win and lose together. We offer help before we’re asked. We help each other get better with direct, candid and constructive feedback.
Question to ask yourself
How can I help?
This is a ticket party. Sometimes when we’re really busy, everyone will get together over beers and pizza to help the Client Success Team stay caught up on customer emails. It’s actually pretty fun.
Demand diversity, create inclusion
Diversity and inclusion make better products. Better decisions. A better place to work for everyone. But it doesn’t happen by itself. We should always be asking ourselves what actions we can take to be more diverse and inclusive.
How we do it
We constantly iterate on our culture, our practices, and our product to make them more inclusive. We seek out opportunities to collaborate with people of diverse perspectives, backgrounds and cultures. We recognize that we have biases, work to grow past them, and educate ourselves about how to build empathy and accountability.
Question to ask yourself
Is the way we’re making this decision inclusive? Does this process leave anyone out?
THE FIRST STEP IS HOLDING OURSELVES ACCOUNTABLE
Debate, then commit
We debate because we recognize diverse perspectives make better decisions. Not only is it ok to challenge each other’s thinking, it’s obligatory. And that debate should always be respectful, thoughtful, direct, and timely.
But when we reach a decision, the debate ends. And we come together and commit 100% to making it succeed.
How we do it
We are informed decision-makers who gather data, foster debate, and proactively farm for dissent. We make sure to gather opinions from a variety of perspectives, backgrounds and roles. We avoid decision by committee because that would slow us down. Once a decision is made, we get behind it completely.
Question to ask yourself
What am I not saying? Who am I not hearing from?