9y
Thanks for the feedback. I’m really sorry that your experience at Helix did not match our intention of being the best place you have ever worked. I believe that there is always a better way, and your feedback will give us an opportunity to learn and address the places we missed in delivering a great experience for you. I value and consider all feedback and will continue to find ways to improve but I wanted to address a couple of your specific concerns here.
Our culture, particularly as we scale is one of my highest priorities. We have an incredibly collaborative culture - one that attracts individuals and quality partners who want to be part of a mission to help people discover their DNA and use that knowledge to improve their everyday lives. We have many ideas, and are committed to “walking-the-talk” in our interactions both externally and internally. Walking-the-talk is about who we are, the values that we endorse, and how we work and live. We have a number of initiatives going on within the single goal of launching our first product this quarter, so I can see how the discussion of this could come across to you as a change in direction. We are trying to make the priorities really clear, not only at an individual level, but at our cross-company weekly stand-up, and other everyday discussions with the team we have focussed on our quarterly goals we set as a team. We will continue to find more ways to transfer learning across the organization and help each other if the direction is not clear.
As we scale, it is not just about growing in number of team members, it’s about growing as a team. We hire only incredibly talented people who are interested in growing themselves, and will end up building a sustainable business with the team in an effort to create something remarkable. We look for people who can push the boundaries of the business, become future leaders and who can help our culture evolve. We value team members that have different backgrounds and perspectives, knowledge and ways of doing things. These differences make all the difference in our vitality, scalability and our quest for excellence.
The importance of our mission to individual consumers is potentially life-altering, but equally important is the profound impact our work can have on humanity. With this as a goal, I’ll admit that sometimes I can become too focused on the execution of those goals, spending less time than I’d like walking through the office and engaging with you and others helping to support our mission. I know this is incredibly important. Through our weekly meetings, company socials, group bike rides and activities, lunch gatherings with cross-functional teams, I’m working hard to make an effort to seek feedback and connect on a personal level with as many of our employees as possible. We are trying to maintain our fun, dynamic and caring environment as we grow. But I’m sorry that our efforts are not meeting your expectations. That said, I’m thankful that you took the time to share your opinion here so that I and others can reflect on it and think about ways we can adapt and do more to ensure you and others feel valued and appreciated.
-Robin Thurston
CEO @ Helix
