As many of you may already know, the culture within a startup is kind of a cool thing. I had never worked for a startup prior to PartnerUp, which is now well into its fourth year, but I quickly learned that it’s not your typical corporate America, 9 to 5 type of gig. It’s something better.

Startups, or at least good ones, have a team-like atmosphere. The level of communication is above and beyond anything I have ever seen. Team members have strong work ethics because they feel pride and ownership in what they do. Things get done, and they get done fast. I could go on and on, but what I love most about them is that they’re fun to work in.

Corporate culture, on the other hand, works at a snails pace it seems sometimes.  Employees can feel detached from their work and not feel like they contribute, causing them to loose motivation. And as far as communication is concerned, let’s just say that the throngs of people can cause it to be a bit of a three-ring circus.

Basically what I’m saying is that startup culture could totally beat up corporate culture. Throw them in a ring together and corporate culture would be down for the count in no time.

But just because businesses grow and increase their number of employees doesn’t mean that they have to succumb to corporate pressures and loose that edge. Look at a company like Google. It has yet to loose its fast-paced, risk-taking culture.

“When I was looking at the company from the outside, I said, ‘I know for a fact you can’t have a culture like Google’s with more than 20 people,’” Google Engineer Director David Glazer said in an interview with Fast Company. “Yet here was a company with a zero or two beyond that, and it was clearly making it work.”

I know that as your business grows the temptation may be to ditch your startup roots and get in sync with the corporate world, but why? Maintain that work ethic, team-like atmosphere and fast-paced attitude, because it’s what got you to where you are.

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