Company Type

Six culture types for the company variant

*For details, please refer to the book

Sustainers

Sustainers launch and run companies to sustain their lifestyles.

Providers's goal is to generate enough output to satisfy their material needs (and possibly those of employees).

Networkers's goal is to build social platforms for themselves (and possibly for employees).

Structure seekers need routines in life.

Autonomy seekers simply seek employment situations that do not require them to work for other people.

Amassers

An amasser fits the typical profile of a profit maximizing capitalist. The goal is to maximize wealth to the best of one’s ability, following the idea that more is always better.

Patriarchs/matriarchs aim to maximize wealth for their families, ideally to secure long-term security.

Patrons aim to maximize wealth for their associates (employees).

Face seekers

Face seekers attempt to gain social status and reputation by building and running successful companies. The success of the companies is not important per se; it is how society views the entrepreneurs once they succeed.

Dignity seekers want to avoid being pitied by others, for example, by becoming financially independent and providing for their families.

Respect seekers want to live up to societal expectations for their social class by being successful.

Superiority seekers want to achieve higher status than their peers.

Athletes

Athletes include people who run companies to satisfy their needs to compete against others and/or themselves, and excel.

Bar raisers are the typical athletes who want to constantly improve their performance compared to some metrics.

Adventurers use their firms to try new and risky things in life, and derive great pleasure in taking great risks and doing things few people or firms do.

Self- validators run firms to demonstrate their skills and abilities in certain dimensions. This type is characterized by its fierce competitive nature and risk taking attitudes. Practitioners do not take money seriously and simply use it as a metric to interpret outcomes.

Artists

Artists are those who view a firm as a way to create something wonderful.

Purists are more interested in developing something beautiful in their own eyes and enjoy the creative process; they do not really care about what others think, beyond ensuring the company’s survival.

Visionaries are interested in developing something wonderful for their customers. Although profit is secondary to them, visionaries do not consider their work a success unless their target segment reacts to their products/services enthusiastically.

Solvers

Solvers are those who see business as a way to solve problems of deep personal concern.

Direct solvers view solving problems as the challenge and raison d’être for their businesses. For example, an entrepreneur might start and run a company to find a cure for a disease that has personal meaning to him or her.

Indirect solvers create and run businesses to contribute to solving bigger problems. Businesses might enable indirect solvers to develop technical knowhow, acquire financial strength, and develop large networks of people to eventually solve large problems.