I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately on what kind of company RateAcuity is.  But I am concluding that who we are is as important as what we are.  RateAcuity is a data company; although, I will get into that further in a future post.  The “who”, the people, who make up the heart of a data company and produce our products are a special breed.   We are different than the team members that make up most companies, and because we are the large majority of people involved in RateAcuity, we tend to also determine the culture, or personality, of RateAcuity. 

So, how do the individuals that make up the RateAcuity team differ from others?  Simply, we are data geeks.  We spend our day, every day, finding, keying, and proofing the data that is valuable to our customers.  And we enjoy it!  We like the routine in it.  We want our routine to stay the same day in and day out.  We like to know we have a plan for the day, and to know that the plan will not change.  We like consistency.  I know that sounds terrible to most people, but we thrive on it.  Just don’t throw us a curve ball – we value getting our tasks done each day!

What about the team as a whole?  We appreciate that we are a team who can support each other but we mostly work independently. But even with mostly working independently, the RateAcuity team has moved far beyond just being co-workers. RateAcuity is great at finding the type of people who thrive in our environment, so the tenure of our team is long.  In fact, RateAcuity team members have been with the company for an average of over 12 years.  When you work with someone for that long in a team environment, you move more towards feeling like family rather than co-workers. 

The final thing that binds us and makes us different from non-data geek types is our common focus on the quality of the data we produce.  We don’t want or need flashy new technology or the latest fads to keep us motivated and excited to come to work each day.  Producing the highest quality data possible is the main thing that provides us satisfaction in our work and gives us pride in the data we produce each and every day.

Anyone else out there have a unique team and/or culture that works for your specific business?  Please share!  I would like to think we are not alone!