When People Come First, Success Follows Naturally: An Inside Look at 4.9 Star Company hedgehog lab

What makes a great tech company? It’s a question that entrepreneurs and CEOs never stop asking themselves. There’s no shortage of articles, studies and courses devoted to analyzing and identifying the recipe for the perfect tech company. To software and mobile app development company hedgehog lab, though, the answer is simple: it’s all about the people who work there. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that hedgehog lab employees seem to be so over the moon — hedgehog lab boasts a rating of 4.9 out of 5, a culture and values score of 4.8 out of 5, and a full 100 percent of employees approving of the CEO, Sarat Pediredla. We recently chatted with Pediredla to learn a little bit more about why hedgehog lab employees are so crazy about their workplace, how they drive innovation in a fast-paced industry and what it means to “be the hedgehog”. An Employee-First Tech Company “If you look at the typical mission or purpose of most of the tech companies out there, they’re all technology-focused. Tesla wants to change the world. Google wants to organise the world’s information. But what they don’t refer to is the importance of people - even though they’ve got some great individuals working for them.” In contrast, when Pediredla and his cofounder Mark Forster started the company, people were always the number one focus. “When my cofounder and I started this company, we didn’t particularly think we were building mobile apps or software — our purpose was to create a place where talent could shine and flourish. We said, ‘What would happen in the creative tech economy if you got a really great bunch of creative, talented, skilled people, gave them the tools and the support necessary and just let them breathe?’” Pediredla says. “The core essence of it is about building a place where people could be empowered and have a new way to work compared with the typical corporate business world.” And their people-first approach has worked for them. From this living lab emerged a great deal of success — hedgehog lab was named Small/Medium Business of the Year for 2016 by The Newcastle Business Awards, earned Best App Startup in the App Design Awards, and were named one of the 16 companies to watch in 2016 within the North East region by The Journal newspaper. “If you build an environment where people are trusted to make mistakes, trusted to speak up, trusted to experiment and be proactive, that by itself is the very definition of an innovative environment. Here, people are empowered to do what’s right for the environment, and speak up against processes that aren’t working,” Pediredla says. “Whether it’s how we market ourselves or interact with our customers, staff, and suppliers, people feature in everything we do.” Be the Hedgehog Investing in employees isn’t hedgehog lab’s only core value, though. Another one of their guiding principles is “Be the hedgehog” — the phrase they borrowed their name from. “The name comes from a famous book by business guru Jim Collins. He says there are two types of companies: there are the hedgehogs, which focus on one core thing they’re really good at — in our case it’s building software — then there are foxes, who have lots of different strategies. The companies that truly achieve greatness always go for one core thing they’re really good at,” Pediredla says. ”We don’t want to be an integrated marketing firm. We do what we’re really good at — designing and building software.” Their other values include building apps and software people love to use, and turning customers into fans. “We have a customer-focused way of thinking, whether we’re taking a meeting or building a project. We don’t just want them to like us — we want them to love us. It’s nigh on impossible to fulfill for most companies; you might want your customers to love you, but ultimately you don’t care as long as they pay you money.” hedgehog lab, though, truly wants their customers to love them, “and in kind, we love our customers,” Pediredla adds. Transparency Through Thick and Thin It’s easy to be open and honest during the best of times, but running a company won’t always be smooth sailing. For times like those, transparency is key to hedgehog lab. "If you want to build a great culture, you have to trust your employees and they have to trust you. I’ve stood in front of the team — we have a monthly town hall meeting — and not everything is good news. Sometimes, things don’t work out. But what the team can trust is that when I walk out, I’ll tell them the truth — no spinning it through internal comms or marketing,” Pediredla admits. “But I’m blown away every time. The first thing my team says, no matter if it’s an intern or executive, they ask ‘What can we do to help?’ To empower people to say that, you have to have transparency. Otherwise, they’ll start building walls.” The result of this is a company that takes great pride in their current success, but is always looking to improve. “I have a note on my desk that says, ‘What’s the one thing I can do today that can make life better for our team?’ Whether it’s improving processes, adding benefits, taking roadblocks away, or getting more money, it’s always about how we can become better than yesterday,” Pediredla concludes. Inspired to join this cutting-edge, transparent, people-first team? Find open hedgehog lab jobs here!