The startup I co-founded is about six months old, and our first hire starts on Monday. Core values and our mission have been something my co founder and I have discussed very regularly, and probably comes up in one way or another every week.

We have yet to formally write it down, but if you asked me to talk about our core values I could. Part of the reason why I haven’t pushed for us to write it down is that I want it to be an open dialog with our early hires, and make sure it’s not just reflective of my cofounder and myself. I’m confident our early team members will contribute diverse thought that will result in a much better expression of what we seek to be and achieve.

As for fluffy core values and mission statements- I think what you’re describing is the symptom of when a company defines what they “want” their core value and mission to be, as opposed to what they actually are. I think what makes it fluffy is when employees look at it and sorta have to squint to believe the content. At the end of the day, it’s the actions of the people that are the true defining fact of the mission and values. That’s not to say that mission statements can’t be aspirational, but they need to be grounded in reality.

If I may, what prompted you to ask the question?