3 lessons learned from working on a fast-growing team

Most of my career has been spent on the client side, in large corporate cultures. It was a bit of a culture shock when I started at UserTesting three and a half years ago.

My first few months were spent working from home before our Atlanta office opened. Then, in March of 2016, I joined a small group of 11 other employees to open our first office in my home city. Our group immediately hit it off and we became close-knit and had a fantastic time together.

Now, we’re on our way to hiring employee number 100 in Atlanta! This growth has taught me so much about what it means to be part of a team. It makes me feel true ownership for our company and contributes to many of my reasons for continuing my career at UserTesting.

Here are a few things I’ve learned as I’ve watched our team grow and evolve:

1. Nobody just has one job

When you work in an office with just 12 people, the environment is a lot like that of a startup and everyone ends up helping each other get things done. At one point or another, everyone plays the role of the receptionist, IT (well, you may try to be IT, it’s a bit challenging), event planner, or a multitude of other roles. You learn to rely on each other, help each other out, and you build strong bonds.

Although we now have IT in Atlanta (yay!), and many of these other roles, the foundation of service towards one another that we laid during the early days, continues to show through in the kindness and willingness to help out from all those in the office.

2. You don’t have to sacrifice culture for growth

Many fast-growing companies lament the loss of culture after experiencing rapid growth. Thankfully, UserTesting culture is valued by all and year after year, as the company continues to grow, company leaders and individual contributors alike help keep our culture alive and well—and growing.

Whether it’s in our Atlanta, San Francisco, Mountain View, or remote locations, our company core values; putting customers first, owning results, being kind, getting better, and keeping it simple, keep us humble and focused on what matters most.

It also doesn’t hurt that employees love to work here. UserTesting is a certified Great Place to Work and earned a spot on the Best Workplaces in the Bay Area for 2019 and 2019 Top Workplaces contest by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

3. Change can be challenging—but also fun and rewarding

Change isn’t always easy, especially within a fast-growing company. New faces, new teams, new customers, new policies—there’s a lot of new things to adjust to quickly. But despite what some may call “growing pains” learning to adapt and grow in the face of those challenges can be rewarding—and fun.

We cheer each other on and push ourselves to constantly improve with aggressive goals and transparent communication about our progress. We find ways to nurture the individuality of our teams through meet-ups and clubs, give back to our communities, and even help nonprofits benefit from the power of human insight through our OneWorld program.

At the end of every day, UserTesting employees across the country sign off for the evening knowing that the company that cares so much about its customers cares just as much about them—and it makes us better as a result.