In growing companies, you’re bound to hear a tenured employee bemoan that ‘things are different’ or that ‘the culture isn’t the same.’

This is something I struggled with early in my career. I loved the days of being scrappy. Of staying up until 2:00am in the office working on a blog post. (Yes, past midnight for a blog post). Of surprising the team with a bouncy castle in the back yard of the office. Of knowing what everyone was working on. It reminded me of college.

In time, you come to realize that many of these things aren’t **healthy. You shouldn’t stay in the office til the past last call at bars. Especially to write a blog post few people will ever read. And even bouncy castles have their risks.

When I was still in early startup pirate mode, I distinctly remember a time when I saw that evolution from an outsiders perspective.

There was a fast-growing startup I’d followed for a few years. In their scrappier, earlier days, I remember going to their office and marveling at their collection of scooters to get around their warehouse of an office that much faster. Without helmets! Talk about efficiency!

When I visited a few years later, they had moved into a gleaming new headquarters. One big enough to fit the hundreds of people that had since joined.

During a tour, they proudly showed off their slide. You know, a big, plastic, playground slide. (Their inner monologue: “Hey, we’re fun. We have a slide in the lobby going from the second floor to the first!”)

My host asked if I wanted to go on the slide. Of course! Who says no to going down a slide?

Before I could, I had to sign a waiver. And then, take off my shoes. And then, agree to go down the slide feet first with my arms crossed.

This was more rigorous than any slide from my childhood.

Talk about a culture change: “We’re still fun! But, you have to sign this waiver first.”

No doubt, legal had come in and said, “We have to mitigate risk.” “We can’t have another person file a workers comp claim for getting injured on the slide.”

Those things are valid. They are also bound to make employees bemoan the changing environment. “I remember when…”)

In truth, what “fun” looks like changes. And I’d argue fun is the wrong thing to measure.

And as you grow, the priorities of your team members change (or, they become more pronounced). They don’t want to stay in the office til 2am. They want to see their family. They don’t need to know what everyone is working on. They care, but they also have plenty enough to do in their own department.

When we look at culture as you scale, it’s not about fun. Rather, it comes down to Organizational Health: ensuring that the ecosystem has the inputs and symbiosis it needs to thrive.

Think about multivitamins. We take them to ensure our bodies are getting what they need. Kids have a special formula. Adults between 30-60 years old have a type. And for seniors too. We’re all taking multivitamins at different stages of our life. But the ingredients shift over time based on what our bodies need most. And you can get even more specific multivitamins than those!

Organizational Health comes down to ensuring we have the right multivitamins for our current stage.

In the early days, that looks like bouncy castles. (You prioritize fun because the company often becomes intertwined with your identity. And it’s a slog. You need fun to keep you going).

As you scale, your focus turns instead to how can we continue do what we’re doing, but better (and for more people). How do we ensure our reliability, our continuity and relevance to our customers.