Spotlight: BRM
Spotlight: BRM
Learn about what it's like to work at BRM.
What is it really like to work at the fastest-growing companies?
We try to answer that question in the Next Play Spotlight. In particular, we try to find under-the-radar companies and highlight what makes them unique. Our hope is that documenting these sorts of behind-the-scenes details (which never make it to press releases) can help you a) discover more interesting opportunities and b) inspire you to think creatively (for your own endeavors).
Spotlight: BRM
This month’s spotlight is on BRM. Thanks to the BRM team for sharing behind-the-scenes details and supporting next play.
BRM is a tool that helps companies buy software and manage their vendors. Cuddy, the Cofounder/CEO of BRM, has been thinking about building a version of this product for over a decade. The primary inspiration came from his previous experience working at several high-growth startups (Carta, Sourcegraph, RelateIQ), where he saw a common pattern: extreme inefficiencies around the software buying/selling process. “There is this weird song and dance that buyers and sellers engage in. Each side posturing, haggling, and ultimately wasting precious time. It is accepted as the status quo. Everyone just says: “well it’s always been done this way. But we at BRM think there’s an alternative that’ll make all sides better off—and that’s what we’ve been building.”
This commitment to clear thinking is one foundational piece of what makes working at BRM unique. Here are more interesting things we learned from talking to people at BRM:
An engineer on their team says they spend at least ~80% of their time actually coding. “There are very few unnecessary distractions. We do not have some complicated project management framework. We just talk briefly in the morning, plan what we want to do, and then everyone just focuses on getting things done.” Another person on the team commented on how they have “amazingly few meetings. We think that meetings can be really dangerous—they can kill productivity and creativity, so we really make sure to only have meetings when necessary.” “We even have something called Whisper Wednesdays, where we have two dedicated focus periods with no meetings and no group Slack messages.”
In learning more, it seems like their meetings follow a barbell distribution of sorts. Either they are demo’ing something interesting (at their weekly company-wide demo hour where every person at the company demos quickly) or they are doing something fun (they have a weekly board game night and they also host an annual Oktoberfest Party complete with brats, beer, and schnitzel. They invite customers, investors, candidates, friends, and family. To ensure the festive spirit all teammates are provided with a Lederhosen or Dirndl budget.
It’s an in-person culture (5 days a week in their SF office). “We think it’s important to spend time with each other in person for many reasons. One being is that everything can happen so much more quickly. There are way less coordination costs. We see this as a competitive advantage for an early stage startup where saving minutes can actually matter.” Another benefit is the style and type of communication that comes from in person work. “Working in person reduces the need for thinking too much about your communication. The in person environment really lets you be yourself because people can see your body language and understand your tone.”
This promotes their culture of “respectful directness.” Multiple people commented on appreciating how uniquely direct teammates are with feedback. “People can just say what they think and that makes it a lot easier to get things done. People are respectful, yes, but we don’t have to worry so much about protecting our egos. We can just be real.” This realness often leads to serendipitous ideas which are near impossible to find over structured Zoom meetings.
This culture of trust helps the team move faster. It allows for light hearted fun as well. “For April fool’s day, someone spoofed an article reporting about how their beloved Cometeer coffee service was going out of business. That caused some good laughs, as the joke carried on for ~1 week.” Cuddy (their CEO) remarks, “We take our work seriously, but don’t take ourselves too seriously!”
He’s serious, though, about helping you do your best work. “We want BRM to be a place where you can be the best version of yourself—when you first start out at the company, you sit down with Cuddy, our CEO, and he works with you to figure out a personal career plan. It’s not a permanent thing, but it’s the sort of thing we try to help you think about: what would progress look like over the next 5 years? 10? And how can BRM help you with that?” BRM will also let you expense any book that helps you perform well at your job.
“I have been a part of many amazing teams,” Cuddy says. “From a championship winning Stanford football team to really fast growing companies like RelateIQ, Sourcegraph, and Carta -- in building BRM we’ve really had the opportunity to thoughtfully choose how we construct our culture. We want to take the best attributes, and traditions from the greatest organizations, and make them uniquely BRM––a culture we’ve always wished to work at.
The company has four core values: Tenacity, Aptitude, Progress, Excellence, which spells TAPE. Nearly weekly, the Golden TAPE (VHS spray painted gold, mounted on a trophy stand) is presented to a member of the team who best exhibited one of the company values, during the week. The winner gets a picture which goes in the shared company album, and gets the popular/unpopular job of choosing Wednesday’s lunch the following week.
The cofounders, and team deeply care about doing a great job at work. Like a sports team, people are committed to being the best (version of themselves, yes, and also overall company and business). The Monday team meeting starts with “Set the tone”. A member of the team chooses a story, person, and/or antidote to highlight. It is a reminder and inspiration of what it will take to build BRM into an enduring company. “BRM is building a culture where the little things matter. Those little things compound.”
The company is now growing quickly and hiring for many roles. “Things are changing rather quickly -- every month it feels like we have to play Tetris in the office with our desks as we are running out of space and adding new people.”
The interview process is very focused on problem-solving and outcomes. That means you give presentations and demos of your work, as opposed to just talking in the abstract. This applies to every role (from Operations Manager to Engineer).
If you are interested in learning more about BRM, and exploring joining Team BRM (so you perhaps can put it on TAPE), you can email: join@brm.ai.