I came back to the office on a Monday after a long stretch of travel, and the team had a lot to celebrate. But I was wondering why everyone was so quiet.
Winning, and acting like we were losing
We had successfully implemented an upsell with an existing client. New partners had signed their first customers. We had closed a new customer of our own. All before 3pm on a Monday.
Someone shared their good news. A few people without headphones on said "great" or "cool." Then everyone went straight back to work.
I remember looking around and thinking: we have all this momentum. Why is the energy so low? Why are we acting like we're losing?
The truth is, nobody was unhappy. We have a team full of ambitious, motivated people, and that is exactly why we had stopped celebrating. There was always another customer to serve, another product to ship, another problem to solve, and another hurdle waiting right behind the one we had just cleared.
Earlier in the company, when we had less going on, a big win might mean dinner, drinks, high fives, or the whole team stopping for a few minutes to enjoy it. Now we're doing better than ever, and everyone is so busy building that we barely acknowledge it.
That felt backwards. A culture of winning can't only be about chasing the next win. It also has to be about remembering today's wins, recognizing the people responsible for them, and making sure the whole team sees the progress happening around them.
So we started three new traditions.
1. The Win Wall
We designated a wall in the office, bought an old-school typewriter, and stocked it with nice stationery. Whenever someone has a win, they get to clack it out and stick it on the wall. No win is too big or too small.
2. Record Wins
These are for the major moments, when someone does something exceptional and "breaks a record" for the company. They get $20 to walk over to one of the seemingly endless vinyl shops in Brooklyn and buy a record of their choice. They sign it, write the win on it, and hang it on the wall.
We bought a record player too, so we can listen to them and remember what each one represents. A Sinatra record was our first.
3. The Customer Love Wall
Whenever a customer sends us a message that reminds us why the work matters, we frame it. Over time, that wall will become a physical record of the people we've helped and the impact the team has made.
Why it matters most when it's hard
These traditions are small, but I want them to last as we scale.
There will always be more work, another target, another fire, and another ambitious goal. There will also be hard periods when progress feels slower and the wins are harder to see. That's when remembering them matters most.
A culture of winning isn't just about winning. It's about making sure everyone recognizes when it happens: not only their own wins, but the wins across the company. The best teams stay hungry and remember that they are already winners.
