In January 2006 Skype had a company meeting in Pärnu, Estonia. And our CEO Niklas Zennström talked about the values that make Skype what it is. There were about 300 Skype employees then, twice as much as the year before, discussing our plans for 2006 and having fun. We even made movies about our values. Skype was still very much a startup.

In 2007 Skype is more than three years old. In Internet time, it means we've matured and reached adulthood. And we realized that we barely fit in our old brand design or old values. It's kind of like growing out of your old clothes. And when we convened in Pärnu again this winter, we barely fit in the same hall with our almost 500 employees. When we emerged, we did so with a new visual and brand identity and reviewed and rephrased values. Here's what we're about today:

User-focused and humble

We work to delight the user with a simple, easy-to-use experience. Our products just work. We have seen that if we delight the user, everything else, including revenue, will follow. Tens of millions of people have chosen Skype for their daily communications. To us, this is an opportunity, privilege and responsibility. We welcome and consider all feedback to improve our products. We want to make sure that if anyone spots us wearing a Skype t-shirt, they will want to personally thank us for something good we have done for them.

Yet we understand that past achievements are not an auto-topup ticket to future success, we have to continuously earn the trust and respect of our colleagues and users. We remain humble and alert to everything that happens around us. If we should get stuck in bragging about our past, others will come and snatch the future from us.

Disruptive and fun

Skype is successful because it does new things that hadn't been done or imagined before, or does old things in a much better way. Changing the world requires bold moves. We are always set to challenge the status quo, be it in the general market or our own products.

We work hard, but we also play hard. Being big, successful and visible is no excuse for a company to become boring and drowned in bureaucracy. Sure, we owe it to our investors and community to keep our financials straight and business behavior sober. But Skype is fun, from the ambiance of our cool offices to the extremely cool people working with us. The ones we love to meet both in the office and outside, would it be at a sports event or in the sauna with a beer. It's great to celebrate our achievements once in a while.

Fast and decisive

We think and act fast. We measure our speed by time-to-market: we realize that we haven't accomplished anything until it gets in the hands of users and delivers them value in some way. We need to be pragmatic, as sometimes "perfect" is the enemy of "good enough". We can be fast by making decisions and sticking to them. It is very important that we respect each other to be competent to make decisions. If a responsible person decides something, it is clearly declared to and acknowledged by the whole team involved and is not argued about any more. We revisit our own decisions and improve by killing or redoing non-working projects or systems to remain focused.

Respectful and honest

We respect ourselves, our users, paying customers, competitors, partners and colleagues. We keep our word and honour our commitments. At Skype, we have half a thousand bright people from more than fourty nationalities, with different backgrounds and native languages; young men and women in the beginning of their careers, and already seasoned gurus; people with kids and family and renegade airport warriors. We realize that everyone has a different view and we use these as an opportunity to learn and improve. When giving or receiving feedback, we keep our goals in mind and maintain a professional focus. We do not get rude or personal and disguise this as "being direct and open". We never attack our colleagues, users or competitors.

Read other blog entries