What Adding Too Many Cultures To A Company Does - Vasilios Syrakis

A former Atlassian employee of 8 years shares observations on how rapid hiring growth (from 3,000 to 11-12,000 employees) transforms company culture. Using a bacterial culture analogy, he argues that when a company doubles or triples in size quickly, it inevitably absorbs the cultures of incoming employees rather than assimilating them into the existing culture. The key ratio he identifies: roughly 10 existing employees per new hire keeps culture manageable, but aggressive hiring sprees dilute and replace the original culture.