How a Small Startup Builds a Healthy Culture

Why DelightRoom Started Caring About Culture

Author: Liz — P&C Lead DelightRoom

When we first launched our alarm app service, DelightRoom was completely focused on the product. Back then, Alarmy’s name was actually "Sleep If U Can"—that’s how serious we were about making sure our users woke up. Because we were so hyper-focused on the product, we really didn't pay much attention to our company's mission, vision, or culture.

Why we focus on organizational culture

By 2017, as our user base grew and the company expanded, we evolved our product direction. We wanted to go beyond being just a utility alarm that forcefully woke users up, aiming instead to become a global "morning wellness app" that helps people all over the world start their mornings successfully.

During this transition, however, unexpected things began to happen. We went through some painful experiences: members who didn't share the same values gradually lost motivation, managing them took up too many resources, and some members ended up leaving the company. Since we were seeing good results, we thought the company and its members were growing together, but the reality was quite different. It was a huge wake-up call—we realized that to enjoy the journey and stay together for the long haul, cultural fit and shared values are absolutely critical. After taking the situation seriously and brainstorming solutions, we concluded that we needed to pour much more effort into strengthening our company vision and organizational culture.

Since then, we have solidly redefined our vision, mission, core values, and the kind of talent we seek, actively weaving them into our culture. Right from the hiring stage, we make a deliberate effort to recruit people who resonate with our mission and align well with our core values and ideal candidate profile. During the probation period, we provide extensive communication and guidance to help our new members genuinely connect with our vision and adapt to our culture. We also work hard to keep our existing members continuously aligned, communicating frequently so that no one loses sight of our shared values and direction.

As a result of these efforts, more and more members began to share the same values and look in the same direction. The organization even developed a self-correcting ability, meaning we no longer needed extensive top-down management. Our culture started to solidify, which ultimately drove growth for both the product and the organization. Drawing on these experiences, we were able to launch DelightRoom's culture deck last January, capturing our healthy and enjoyable organizational culture.

DelightRoom's culture: Growth, efficiency, autonomy, and fun

DelightRoom pours a lot of heart into its organizational culture, driven by four core values: growth, efficiency, autonomy, and fun. These core values are woven into everything we do, from our working style and benefits to all of our internal systems and culture.

To build a better product, we pursue both personal and organizational growth. Since our team is relatively small, every single person is a "specialist." For us, growth isn't just about outstanding technical skills; it also encompasses a collaborative attitude and the insights gained through work. That's why DelightRoom spares no expense in supporting growth. We firmly believe that the growth of DelightRoom members translates directly into the advancement of the company.

Our second core value is efficiency. DelightRoom provides the best equipment and the best working environment to drive great results, but time is always limited. So, we strive to cut redundant work in half and eliminate unnecessary formalities. We are constantly thinking about how to produce meaningful results within the time we have.

Third, we champion autonomy. We believe optimal performance naturally emerges from a flexible, open environment. Autonomy stems from deep mutual trust and means taking responsibility to match the freedom you are given. We take pride in the fact that our members, or "Delighters," are people who can create their own optimal environments to focus on work and take full responsibility for their output, living up to the high degree of freedom they receive.

Finally, we are fostering a culture that pursues fun. While it's impossible for every single moment of work to be purely enjoyable, we try to ensure that people feel the thrill of hitting milestones and find value in moments of growth. We believe that discovering what true enjoyment means to you is the key to self-motivation.

A great culture is ultimately built by its people

DelightRoom has been running Alarmy, the world's top alarm app, for a decade. Since we always put the product first, we are looking for talent who can grow right alongside the product. To sustain this growth, we need people who can feel the thrill of achievement during the journey to success and who value sharing the insights they've gained with other Delighters. This is precisely where individual growth connects with organizational growth.

To keep growing, you need to be able to identify the true root of a problem. When our people spot an issue, we want them to go beyond merely patching it up. We look for those who can clearly define "why" the problem needs solving, what the impact of the solution will be, and exactly how to fix it—and then execute on that plan.

On top of that, we want communication experts. In a highly autonomous environment like DelightRoom, striking the right balance between flexibility and clarity is crucial, which makes communication all the more important. We strive for candid, clear conversations built on a foundation of mutual respect. You need the ability to actively listen, express your own opinions so others can easily understand them, and even have the courage to step up and ask questions about things you're curious about. That's how we all grow together.

How we work at DelightRoom

As a goal- and performance-driven organization, DelightRoom heavily utilizes OKRs. Every quarter, we align the company's OKRs with those of our teams and individuals, brainstorming and executing the best ways to achieve top results so that everyone is moving in the same direction. We also hold quarterly workshops where we transparently share and celebrate our OKR-based achievements and plan for the next quarter. The day after the workshop is a company-wide day off, ensuring everyone can fully rest, recharge, and get ready to tackle the next quarter with enthusiasm.

Our structure revolves around two types of units: groups and squads. This setup helps us quickly discover the optimal solutions. A group is a functional team made up of people with the same expertise, while a squad operates more like a cross-functional task force formed to tackle a specific problem. By pulling specialized members from various groups into a squad, we foster diverse discussions that ultimately lead to the best possible solution.

DelightRoom has a culture focused on growth, not just evaluation. That's why we run our town halls with a "post-mortem" concept—dissecting our mistakes out in the open—which might be hard to imagine at other companies. Every week at our town hall, everyone gathers to share lessons learned, examining what went well or what totally bombed in our recent initiatives, digging into the reasons, and figuring out how to improve. This is only possible because we have the psychological safety to know that there's always something to learn from failures and mistakes, and that airing them honestly won't lead to blame, but will actually help us all grow.

Our "review culture" is similarly geared toward growth rather than evaluation. Every quarter, we hold individual 1:1 performance reviews where we frequently exchange specific, candid feedback to boost performance and support personal development. During these quarterly 1:1s, we look at individual performance against team goals, checking what’s going well and where more focus is needed, and set goals for the next quarter together so we never lose sight of our overall direction. Other reviews designed to support growth include our "Ppeumi Review" (Ppeumi being our affectionate nickname for DelightRoom) where we review our overall work life each quarter, peer reviews exchanged among teammates, leadership reviews for our leaders' growth, and P&C reviews to check in on member satisfaction.

At DelightRoom, we value and genuinely enjoy communication. Beyond the structured systems mentioned above, we actively run tailored, individual communication channels. On top of a baseline of at least one regular 1:1 with your team leader per month (not to mention countless impromptu 1:1s!), we also hold mandatory 1:1 meetings with our CEO, Jay, every two months, no matter how busy things get. These sessions cover a wide array of topics—from day-to-day work and personal life issues to career aspirations, thoughts on the company's decision-making processes, and cultural discussions—allowing us to quickly clear up any lingering questions. Members also grab tea with Liz, our People & Culture Lead, every two months at a nice cafe for a session we call "Lizzning." Before Lizzning, members do a self-check-in on their overall condition, and through deep conversations on each point, we identify concerns and work through them together.

Our plans for the future

DelightRoom is constantly thinking and experimenting with different ways to sustain our healthy, fun-seeking culture and evolve it in a direction that fits us perfectly. We've learned from experience that the driving force behind a high-performing organization is a rock-solid culture, and that culture ultimately comes from the people. That’s why we fully grasp the importance of talent density.

To increase that talent density, we will continue pouring our energy into hiring core talent who resonate closely with our values. By doing so, we believe that the journey of failing together, growing from it, and sharing in outstanding achievements will establish us as a truly "Delightful" company, just like our name suggests. Our ultimate goal is to become a healthy, enjoyable workplace where everyone wants to work, and where simply having "DelightRoom" on your resume serves as proof of your caliber. Until that day comes, we'll keep on growing with a smile!

Written by | Liz, People & Culture Group Lead at DelightRoom
Liz has extensive HR experience spanning organizational culture, hiring, performance/compensation, labor relations, and training across various industries, including franchises, IT platforms, fashion manufacturing, advertising agencies, and startups. She currently leads the People & Culture Group at DelightRoom, makers of the global morning wellness app Alarmy. She focuses on aligning member growth with company growth and is constantly exploring and testing out new ideas across people, culture, and systems to build a healthy, fun workplace.