Introduction
When we founded our software company, Haplo, about 15 years ago, we set out to do things a bit differently. We created something very special. I’m writing this in the hope that others will use the ideas that make sense for them.
We had two fundamental principles which guided everything else we did. Firstly, we set out to create the best possible workplace, which was somewhere we’d be proud to work. And secondly, to have a entirely positive outcome for everyone: our colleagues, our customers, and our communities.
When we sold the company to Cayuse in early 2021, we had:
- a diverse team, representing UK society as a whole, and a 50/50 gender balance
- an effective working culture, based around collective learning and respect for everyone involved
- fast progression for early career developers
- a bias-free recruitment process that was a very reliable predictor of success
- sector leading technology, much of which was open source
- a lightweight and very effective approach to security and ISO27001 certification
And of course, it was a material success, proving our thesis that treating people well and doing things the right way would work out better for the founders as well.
This is written in the past tense, because my involvement in the day-to-day running of Haplo has come to an end. The technology and team lives on as part of Cayuse, continuing their success with the guidance of new leaders.
This document is split into topics, listed on the table of contents. It’s a work in progress, and I will be writing more over the coming weeks.