In the age of intelligence, an organization’s lifeblood is the ability to innovate while delivering a product that matters. But it’s vital we all know that value innovation goes so much further than just having a groundbreaking idea and executing on a plan.
Value innovation depends on bringing together purpose-driven humans, and respecting and nurturing them so their ideas and greatest talents can flourish (and be celebrated). This is followed by quantifying the value of innovation and why that matters to your customer.
Seven years after cofounding Abstrax, a pioneer in botanical flavor technology, we’re 100% invested in the concept of a future-ready team. Here, we nurture a collective disruptive mindset that embraces the unknown, is willing to make mistakes, and then pushes the boundaries of what’s possible.
Here’s what we’ve learned so far.
Move fast—and break things along the way
When we launched Abstrax, we were driven by the simple yet profound idea of “enhancing product experiences and moods through functional flavoring systems.”
What began as an exploration of terpenes (a diverse group of naturally occurring chemical aroma compounds found in plants) turned into a journey that is reshaping industries we never dreamed we’d touch, such as the beer industry.
The reason?
A constantly evolving team of experts including groundbreaking scientists, given the power to move fast and break things.
To us, this means removing red tape processes and bottlenecks that limit what’s possible. This may sound reckless, but we’ve found that within reason, it’s the only way to empower R&D teams to be curious and discover uncharted territories that align with company goals.
Become a magnet for talent
When you provide scientists and experts the freedom to explore (and make mistakes), coupled with tools and technology to push the limits of what’s possible, you become a magnet for top talent.
Word gets around! Soon you graduate from constantly seeking, to pulling in and attracting amazing talent who want to be involved in the adventure. Oftentimes it becomes easier to recruit R&D talent than good customer service.
Our early commitment terpenes’ full potential and health benefits led us to establish a unique state-of-the-art lab, where discovery and innovation isn’t just encouraged—it’s a daily practice. Our lab is a magnet for scientists and researchers, particularly those right out of college who are excited to establish themselves and break ground in an emerging field.
Our reputation for pushing boundaries attracted not just individual talent, but prestigious institutions. Universities like Western Washington University began approaching us, to collaborate on how terpenes and cannabis can potentially help children with autism and social anxiety. Then others, including UC Riverside, University of Minnesota, University of Texas at Dallas, and University of Arizona followed suit to explore collaborations leveraging our research and science.
This has led to many professor collaborations on our research to break ground on new science. These partnerships have opened the doors to even more specialized academic talent, allowing us to network and recruit PhD candidates from some of the most respected schools. There are not enough private institutional platforms that provide talented and creative scientists the opportunity to explore and develop new and exciting technologies.
Don’t underestimate cultural fit
Assembling a future-ready team isn’t just about hiring the smartest people—it’s about finding those who fit naturally into the culture.
We operate under Gino Wickman’s Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), which emphasizes defining core values, setting focused goals, and breaking down each goal into quarterly rocks and actionable steps. It’s a great framework for startups to bring their vision down to the floor and get everyone aligned. This requires every team member to live our values and contribute to our collective intelligence.
There must also be social intelligence and a willingness for team members to understand how their words and actions impact their teammates and industries we serve. Our collective organizational intelligence organically increases as we align around our core values and build interpersonal skills and social intelligence.
Innovation through smart hires and fierce collaboration
We use five key values to guide our hiring, development, and termination processes. These values ensure that everyone is aligned with our mission and is contributing to our innovative culture:
- Create raving fans: Inside and outside the company, our goal is to exceed expectations and create lasting positive impressions.
- Creativity and innovation: We are creative, innovative, and we set the pace. We focus on challenging the status quo and exploring blue oceans—untapped markets and opportunities others haven’t yet discovered.
- Teamwork: Collaboration is at the heart of innovation. We are all on this adventure together. Win or lose—we thrive on working together and leveraging each other’s strengths.
- Care: We are enthusiastic and care about what we do.
- Quality: We are focused on continuous improvement of products, systems, and services and to getting better every day, as individuals and as a team.
With hiring, we look for more than qualifications. We seek out those who fit our values and are eager to learn, willing to take risks, and passionate about making a difference.
Our preference for recruiting fresh talent is rooted in the belief that they can bring a unique energy and a fresh perspective. They’re hungry for growth and eager to prove themselves, which makes them ideal candidates for a company that’s all about pushing boundaries.
Of course, we also value experience, especially in roles that require specialized knowledge or game-changing connections.
For example, when we needed to amplify our sales efforts, we looked for talent with well-established industry relationships. Similarly, when we needed a technical sales expert and insights into beer innovation, we hired a master beer cicerone and a top innovation brewer who brought a wealth of knowledge and a unique perspective to the team. Hire the best people for the role who also fit your culture, and you will be future-proof.
Leadership is the superpower of innovation
Every leader on our team has a superpower—a unique skill or perspective.
But more importantly, every leader fits our culture. They get it, want it, and have the capacity. They share a collective passion, vision, and a commitment to banding together to execute on our goals.
This alignment makes any team world-class and enables innovation that sets it apart from the competition.
Choose the right partners
Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. Collaboration is paramount, within an organization and with external partners.
Selecting the right partners is crucial—they must be trustworthy, share your values and vision with clear roles and responsibilities, and they must be compensated fairly for their contributions with boundless upside opportunity for intrinsic value and monetary benefits.
When this, collaboration becomes not just productive, but also highly enjoyable and rewarding as everyone is aligned to a winning strategy.
Last words
Assembling a future-ready team is about more than just filling positions and expecting everyone to push themselves to their limits. It’s about creating a culture of innovation where everyone is empowered to explore, experiment, and test the limits of convention.
I’ve seen firsthand that it’s about hiring for potential, fostering collective intelligence, and leveraging both human and technological resources to maintain a disruptive mindset and stay ahead of the curve.
Most importantly, it’s about creating an organizational culture where creativity thrives, mistakes are learning opportunities, and every team member is thrilled to contribute to something bigger than themselves.
Max Koby is cofounder of Abstrax.
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