Ask a founder about their culture, and you'll often get a spiel about values on a wall. But Anjney Midha, CEO of Amp, pushes back hard on this. He argues culture isn't a set of beliefs you print on a poster; it's a set of actions you consistently take. Midha leans on a Ben Horowitz quote, rooted in Bushido philosophy: “Culture is not a set of beliefs. It's a set of actions.” This isn't just semantics. It’s the difference between a company that talks a good game and one that actually builds a lasting, resilient foundation.

Key Takeaways

  • Your company's true culture isn't found in your mission statement; it's revealed in the consistent actions you take, especially under pressure.
  • Anthropic's "luck" wasn't random; it was four years of deliberate, even paranoid, preparation, with coding as their P0 (priority zero).
  • Early hardships and forced trade-offs, like those faced by Anthropic, can sharply define a culture and create a competitive "moat."
  • Stop taking actions that contradict your stated mission and values, or your team's alignment—and your culture—will fray fast.
  • Anjney Midha champions the "Culture is Actions" Rule, highlighting its power to forge a resilient identity and competitive advantage.

The "Culture is Actions" Rule (from Bushido, cited by Ben Horowitz)

  • Culture's Nature: Culture is not a set of beliefs. It's a set of actions.
  • Sustaining Culture: If you stop taking the actions that demonstrate the mission alignment to what you've said to your team and to your the world matters to you, then your culture starts to fray.
  • Result of Consistent Action: If you figure out the system to keep that garden tended, which I think ultimately comes down to knowing yourself cuz you most naturally if you're authentic and so on, you'll naturally make trade-offs that seem effortless to you, but that reinforce your culture. And then that becomes this very hard thing for other people to catch up to.

When This Works (and When It Doesn't)

This framework is especially powerful during a company's earliest days, when navigating "difficulty, stress, crisis" forces clarity and sharply defines who you are and what you truly value. Midha points to Anthropic as a prime example. Their initial hardships and clear mission-driven actions – like prioritizing coding from day one with high efficiency – led to their significant success by forcing a P0. This rule shines when resources are scarce and stakes are high, demanding consistent execution over abstract ideals.

However, this framework can falter in larger, established organizations where inertia or diffuse accountability make it easy to pay lip service to values without corresponding actions. It also struggles when leaders actively avoid the difficult trade-offs that expose and reinforce core principles. If a company can simply buy its way out of hard choices, the "Culture is Actions" rule loses its bite, allowing a gap to form between stated beliefs and actual behavior.

What to Do With This

As a founder in your 20s or 30s, you're constantly making choices that define your startup. Instead of just writing down values, apply the "Culture is Actions" Rule this week. First, identify one key value you say your company holds – perhaps "customer-first" or "ruthless execution." Then, audit your actions. What tangible, observable thing did you or your team do yesterday that either reinforced or contradicted that value? If you preach "customer-first" but consistently delay bug fixes for new features, your team sees the action, not the belief. Identify one action you can take tomorrow that unequivocally demonstrates your stated value, even if it's a difficult trade-off, like pausing a new feature release to fully resolve a critical customer complaint. That single, consistent action will do more to build your culture than any slide deck.