Dumping your companies DNA

 Over at Outbrain, we are engaged in a "DNA dump" in our Israeli and New York offices.  Due to the growth of the company over the last year, we had the opportunity to hire several positions in management, biz dev, product and r&d.  It seemed that most of the new hires all started at more or less the same time.  So in addition to the usual orientation with logins, emails, documents, reports etc., we have also been transferring the company's DNA to the new crew.  In going through this process it has been interesting to summarize what the DNA of the company actually is - and in doing so has surfaced clear company values that have served us so well.  Looking a step further, it's actually a great question to ask when on an interview or evaluating a company.  If the next interviewee asks me to describe the DNA of Outbrain, I would predict that the answer would be one of the most informative I could give the prospective new recruit.  This can be quite useful in evaluating if your own DNA matches up with the company you are considering.  I am not suggesting a company hire the same kind of people, but I am suggesting that a value check can provide valuable insight before one commits.  BTW I am looking to hire a great business development executive so if anyone out there is interested shoot me an email at john(at)outbrain(dot)com.  If we set an interview, feel free to ask me about Outbrain's DNA, I promise it will be useful.