Rundoo Company Culture & Values

What recent decision best reflected your values — and what changed as a result?

At Rundoo, our values are pretty simple: “Relentless,” “Unassuming,” “Now,” “Delightful,” “Open” and “Optimized.” They’re not slogans; they’re how we operate day to day.

A good recent example is when we completely reprioritized our November roadmap. We thought we were going to be focused on something else, but after talking to a bunch of customers, it was very clear that what they actually needed right now was improvements to payments and special orders. And that’s where “unassuming” really matters. We don’t pretend — we already know what’s going on in our stores. We ask questions, we listen, and we’re honest about the fact that we don’t know what we don’t know.

So, we said, “OK, this is the thing that matters; let’s just go build it” — new payments workflow, ACH and better special orders. No long debate, no extra layers, just: Listen, then fix the problem, then ship it.

And that’s basically our value system in action. Be open, be optimized toward the right thing, move fast, and make customers happy. The result was immediate: People got solutions to problems they’d been dealing with for a long time, and they were noticeably happier the same week the changes went live.

What collaboration habit keeps work moving — and how do you measure it?

The biggest thing that keeps us moving fast is that we’re extremely open. Everyone sees everything: open backlog, recorded calls and constant reviews. There’s no “hidden work” or mystery around what anyone is doing. Because we’re small, there’s also nowhere to hide. You’re either shipping or you’re not, and it’s obvious in a good way.

We also cut out anything that feels like process for the sake of process. No layers of approval, no long alignment meetings. It’s basically: Here’s the thing, then build the thing, then ship it. And when someone is blocked, they ask for help immediately instead of waiting.

How do we measure it? Pretty naturally. Work either moves, or it doesn’t. You can see pull requests, merged code and feedback from customers. Cycle time is visible without needing dashboards just to brag about dashboards. Customers using what we shipped is the metric that matters. Speed, transparency and getting real product out the door — that’s how we keep momentum.

How do you recognize impact fairly — and what’s the return on investment?

Recognition is also very open. Because everyone sees the work in real time, good work stands out. When someone is shipping a great product or taking on a big problem, the whole team knows. And they immediately get more ownership and responsibility, which is the best form of recognition.

We also have fun stuff, like the TANK hat. Yes, it’s a real hat that says “TANK.” It goes to whoever has been pushing the hardest recently. Right now, Santi has it because he’s been putting out a ton of PRs. It’s funny, but it’s also fair: The hat always goes to the person doing the most.

The ROI is simple: When people know impact is visible, they do their best work. It keeps us accountable without being political, and customers feel the results fast. Everyone rows in the same direction, everyone sees the wins, and it builds a culture where people want to keep raising the bar.