The Svix Values

Our values are what guides us. We use them every day, whether we're hiring, discussing ideas for new projects, or deciding on the best approach to solving a problem.

Here to Serve

Svix exists to deliver value to our customers and the wider developer community. Our customers rely on us, so we have to be reliable. This means an expert team, robust product, and top notch support. We want our customers to feel like we are the staff engineer on their own webhooks team—always available, responding promptly, extremely competent, and helpful.

Time is of the Essence

We are driven by a sense of urgency, and aim to deliver results as fast as possible. We aim to help our customers now, not in six months. This means a bias for action and a “just do it” attitude.

Simple is Genius

We strive for simplicity in everything we do, and recognize that less is more. We make our products simple to use and approachable, and our communication clear and concise. We start with simple, and only add complexity as absolutely required.

Growing Excellence

We are always looking to learn, improve, and become better at what we do. We own our work, both the successes and the failures. We give each other direct and honest feedback, we seek feedback, and receive it gracefully. We assume positive intent and ignore our ego.

Be an Owner

We are all owners of the company, the product, and the tasks we take upon ourselves. We proactively improve things that can be improve, and address issues before they become too large. We have high agency and do what's needed to achieve our goals.

How We Work

This section describes how we work at Svix, and is intended to complement and elaborate on the company values.

  • Be on time: time is of the essence, so we don't waste each other's time. This means that we are not late for meetings, we don't cancel last minute, and we let people know ahead of time if we need to reschedule or delay due to unforeseen circumstances.
  • DRY (don't repeat yourself): multiple copies of the same document will inevitably go out of sync. We therefore aim to have one source of truth rather than many incompatible copies.
  • Speak your mind: if something can be better we voice it. Giving people feedback on how they can improve or that their work can be better is the kind thing to do. Even if it's sometimes hard.
  • Assume positive intent: we assume people act for the betterment of each other, the company, and the product.
  • Clear and concise communication: “I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” We realize that communicating well takes effort, but that not taking the effort just moves the burden on the reader.
  • Document everything: “The faintest pencil is better than the sharpest memory.” We strive to document our discussions, decisions, and other important information so that we can refer to it at a later date.
  • We are not afraid of failure: “You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.” We realize that we may fail, but this doesn't stop us from trying. We iterate towards success.
  • One-way and two-way doors: some decisions are irreversible and some are. We think long and hard before making irreversible decisions, but act swiftly when decisions can later be reversed.
  • Disagree and commit: we may disagree and debate on a specific course of action, but once a decision is made we commit to it fully.
  • Perfect is the enemy of great: we share our work early, before it's "perfect". This enables us to get feedback before we waste time on potentially the wrong things, and efficiently iterate towards our goals. Oftentimes, the first 80% of a task is all that's needed. Be pragmatic.
  • Strong beliefs weakly held: we act with conviction based on our beliefs, though are quick to change our mind based on new information and data.
  • Don't get stuck in templates: we approach problems with a fresh mind, and not try to force them into incompatible templates.