The Ayogo Manifesto

A company builds two things: its products and its culture. We are on a mission to build products that change the way people think about and act on their health care, and a culture that will empower the people who are part of it to achieve greatness.

We believe that by doing this, Ayogo will create value for society, for the individuals who come into contact with the company, and for shareholders who created it. While it may be obvious, it’s worth saying aloud: there’s nobody but us to take responsibility, individu-ally and collectively, for making it happen.

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

– Antoine de Saint-Exupery

As the quote above from de Saint-Exupery puts quite poetically, the organization we’re building is not just a collection of jobs, roles, and processes to be bought and sold. Our company has a mission, in three parts:

Societal

Have a substantial, positive impact in the world by improving the physical and financial health of patients, and the health care systems that serve them

Cultural

Attract and recruit crazy talented, fundamentally empathic, and deeply passionate people that believe in the mission, put those people in a position to do their bestwork, and as an organization become increasingly good at amplifying that work, making the whole greater than the sum

Financial

Create value and a financial return on investment for our shareholders (many of whom are also employees)

What is the role of Profit in all of this?

Glad you asked!

Profit is the byproduct of a successful business. It is what allows a company to grow, increasing its impact on society, creating value for its shareholders, and building opportunities for its people. Profit is not an end in itself, but a necessary condition for us to reach many of our goals. Aren’t technology startups all about IPOs and creating wealth for shareholders? Another good question. As a corporation, Ayogo has shareholders, many of whom have invested in the company with the expectation that as Ayogo creates products and services that are of value, the company itself becomes more valuable. Also, the company has many employees who hold stock options in the company, with the expectation that those stock options will one day yield a financial reward. As we are successful in our mission, one byproduct of that success is that we give ourselves the flexibility to realize the financial value we create in a variety of ways for our shareholders, including a merger or acquisition or IPO.

Do your best work. Change the world. Laugh every day.

What this means

Here are some questions we can each ask ourselves:

Am I doing my best work?

Is there something I need in order to do my best work that I don’t have? A tool, a workflow change, a role that needs to be filled on my team, a piece of information, anything?

Is the organization around me making my best work even better? Is there something that could be added or changed to amplify my best work?

Is there something I can do to help somebody else do their best work?

What’s working for me right now? Let’s acknowledge these things, so we can a) preserve and improve them, and b) celebrate them.

What does it mean to work at Ayogo?

Do your best work, express your exceptional talent in an environment that values achievement and gives you the teammates, tools and support to produce at the highest level.

Change the world, by creating products and services that are innovative, effective, and meaningful.

Laugh everyday; do your work in an environment that is passionate, engaging, collaborative, and fun.

What qualities do we value?

Passion: energy and drive that keeps you moving, and inspires those around you.

Empathy: the ability to put yourself in the shoes of others; kindness; compassion.

Diligence: a strong desire for excellence; habitual professionalism.

Positivity: a solution-oriented mindset; an innate ability to raise spirits.

Talent: natural ability that blooms into mastery.

Curiosity: thirst for knowledge, and to always be advancing by asking questions.

Leadership: setting a proactive and positive example through action.

Collectivity: acting to ensure the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.