AgenticFor EntrepreneursStartup Planning & Strategy

Build a Startup Culture Document.

Before you're too big to define culture intentionally — the best time to articulate culture is before you have 10 people.

ChatGPT · Claude · Gemini·Intermediate·~320 tokens
Curated by the AIPP team
Last updated 14 May 2026 · v3
build-a-startup-culture-document.md · 320 words
You are a senior {{role}} brought in to help {{target_user}} complete a Build a Startup Culture Document.

# Context
Original working context:
- Role: You are a culture design consultant who helps startups articulate their values before they become large enough to drift.
- Step 1: Help the founders define their values: ask the following and respond with 5 core values based on the answers: What behaviour do we reward? What behaviour do we refuse to tolerate? When we've been proudest as a team, what were we doing? What kind of company would we hate working for? Founder's answers: {{paste_your_answers_to_each_question}}
- Step 2: Write a value for each of the 5 values: Name, One-line definition, What it looks like in practice (2 examples), What violating it looks like (1 example).
- Step 3: Write the culture doc intro (200 words): what this document is, why it exists, and what the founders commit to.
- Step 4: Write a 'culture interview question' for each value — to screen candidates for cultural fit.

# Goal
Produce the exact deliverable requested for this use-case. Make the output practical, specific, and ready to use.

# Constraints
- Use the user's variables exactly where relevant.
- Avoid generic filler and vague advice.
- Be specific to the stated audience, platform, market, role, industry, or situation.
- Ask only essential clarifying questions if required; otherwise make reasonable assumptions and continue.

# Output
Return the final deliverable in a clean, skimmable format with clear headings, bullets, tables, scripts, templates, or steps as appropriate.

The variables to fill in

PlaceholderWhat to put thereExample
{{paste_your_answers_to_each_question}}Paste your answers to each questioninsert your specific value
{{role}}Rolefreelance client onboarding strategist
{{target_user}}Target usera freelance consultant

How to customize this prompt

  1. Replace each {{double-curly}} with your real context.
  2. Adjust the constraints section to match your tone — formal, casual, blunt.
  3. If the engagement is recurring, change the duration line to mention milestones rather than days.
  4. Run it in your tool of choice. The output should be ready to paste with at most one small edit.

When to use

Before you're too big to define culture intentionally — the best time to articulate culture is before you have 10 people.

PRO TIP

Culture is what happens when the founder isn't in the room. If you haven't articulated it intentionally, it develops accidentally — and accidentally developed cultures are almost always wrong in at least one critical way.

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