ESSENTIALS MANAGEMENT Jeff Lawson It was the moment of truth. Twilio CEO and co-founder Jeff Lawson called the number that gathers all of the company’s employees onto one conference line. Then he asked for a volunteer — little did any of them know he was sitting at a table with a panel of other well- known CEOs. Minutes before, a fellow executive had complimented Lawson on Twilio’s values, but wondered if his employees knew and could name them. A volunteer spoke up and offered: “Simple, easy, and powerful.” Lawson thanked her and she asked him if she did a good job. “You did fantastically,” he said. It didn’t matter that she’d been totally wrong. The employee’s response told Lawson that his years of work on Twilio’s values still had a ways to go. She had chosen to speak to the nature of Twilio’s product, but not of its people. That moment revealed the disconnect between what values mean to different employees and the factors taken into account when expressing them. Over his career at Amazon, StubHub and Twilio, Lawson has become an outspoken teacher — and student — of company values. At First Round’s recent CEO Summit, Lawson brought granularity to company values and culture by sharing both victorious and vulnerable examples from his time at Twilio. Speciifcally, he deconstructed his efforts into three parts: articulating, living and changing company values. Any startup that has been told to be its authentic self, but has encountered more handwaving than a tactical plan will ifnd solace and guidance in Lawson’s account. 96