The Startup Way: How Modern Companies Use Entrepreneurial Management to Transform Culture and Drive Long-Term Growth

by Eric Ries

WordPress—the open-source blog platform that powers more than 27 percent of websites—is structured overall in an open, non-hierarchical way. More than 500 people work for the company all around the world, and none of them do so in quite the same way. “I want to create an environment where people have autonomy and purpose,” explains co-founder Matt Mullenweg. “Part of that is saying you’re not going to tell someone how to do their job. It’s all about the output.” The same ethos applies to the way WordPress manages accountability and incentives. “We try not to do anything by decree,” says Mullenweg. “People can change drastically when they join a team, or a team can change when someone joins.” Many of the company’s leads rotate in and out over time, but that doesn’t involve any kind of change in compensation. Mullenweg wants people to feel totally comfortable transitioning out of the lead role if it isn’t a position they’re enjoying or particularly suited to. “In many corporate structures, you end up moving up in a company by managing more people. I don’t want someone to feel like in order to grow in their career they need to become a manager. And conversely, I don’t want them to feel bad for letting it go.”10