Culture is one of the most overused terms in business.
It appears on websites, in job descriptions, on office walls and in onboarding presentations. But when a company starts scaling, culture is no longer what you write, it’s what people live and embody daily.
We sat down with Ed, Co-Founder of Acquisit, to unpack what culture actually means, how it’s shaped, and how it evolves as a company grows from a small founding team into a multi-office company.
Beyond a buzzword
“Culture is a term that gets thrown around,” Ed said. “It’s actually very difficult to define it.”
Instead of defining culture directly, he suggested approaching it from a different angle.
“One way to define culture is by the negative,” he explained. “For example, you could say the culture is not toxic, not political, not corrupt.”
It’s not necessarily the perfect way to define it, but it helps establish boundaries.
At Acquisit, one of those boundaries is clear, for example: no politics. “I would not like to work in a politics-infested company,” Ed said. “It means you’re not focused on delivering value, you’re focused on serving yourself.”
In a growth company, especially one expanding by more than 30% year over year, opportunity reduces the need for internal competition. Growth creates room, and room removes politics.
Culture is how others describe you
Ed offered another perspective on culture: how people describe you from the outside.
“If someone is looking at you from the outside and trying to describe how they interact with Acquisit as a client or as a partner, that description would be the culture.”
They might say:
“They’re smart.”
“They’re data-driven.”
“They’re engaged.”
“They look like they’re having fun.”
“You guys are different.”
That perception is the culture. It reflects how the company was built, not as a traditional media agency, but as a response to inefficiency, lack of transparency, and the misuse of data in today’s marketing world.
Culture, in that sense, is not an internal slogan. It’s an external experience.
Who owns the culture?
At the start, culture is personal. “When we started, culture was very linked to our personalities,” Ed said.
He and Tim, Acquisit’s Co-Founder, built the company they wanted to work in:
- High intensity.
- Curious.
- Transparent.
- Non-political.
- Focused on growth.
Think of it like a group of friends, he explained. Every small group has its own dynamic. At five people, culture is almost an extension of their personalities.
But what happens at 25? 30? 80?
“At a certain scale, culture becomes led by multiple clusters of people.” It’s no longer pushed by the founders alone. It’s carried by teams, managers, and new joiners. Each adding their own fingerprint.
That’s normal. Culture is not static, rather, it evolves over time. As long as recruitment filters for alignment, culture remains strong, even as it changes shape.
Culture is not perks
Free breakfasts, Ping pong tables, and team lunches are just perks.
“They are not culture,” Ed said. Culture is how teams interact, how openly things are discussed, how mistakes are handled, and how initiatives are encouraged.
In Beirut’s office, for example, new team-led traditions began forming organically, initiatives similar to what existed in Dubai years earlier. That’s culture taking shape and a life on its own.
Values vs. Culture
The border between culture and values isn’t always clearly defined.
“You can explain values multiple times,” Ed said. “Culture is less tangible.”Values are articulated. Culture is lived. “If you tell people the culture is curiosity, fine, how do you apply it? You apply it through values.”
You explain the values. You act upon them. That action creates culture. The words alone are meaningless if behavior does not reinforce them.
Measuring culture through behavior
One important point Ed emphasized: culture must be tangible.
If transparency is a value, it should be measurable. If curiosity is a value, it should be observable. “How many times did someone make a mistake and not say it?” he asked.
In a company built on data and accountability, behavior is visible. Culture is not defined by what is written. It is defined by repeated actions. As Ed agreed: “It’s not writing on the wall. It’s the actions.”
Culture must evolve
As companies grow, new people bring new influences.
“The culture of a company should evolve,” Ed said. “As long as it keeps the same path.”
New joiners should adapt to the existing culture but they should also bring something positive from their own experience and integrate it.
That healthy tension keeps culture alive. Because culture, like growth, is not static. It is shaped daily by actions, decisions, and behavior.
Culture is the operating system
In the end, culture is not an initiative. It’s the operating system of the company. It defines how:
- People respond to pressure.
- Leaders react to mistakes.
- Teams communicate.
- Ownership is rewarded.
At Acquisit, culture started with personality. It scaled through alignment and it continues through action. As Ed summarized it through experience rather than definition: It’s not what you say you are. It’s how people describe you when you’re not in the room.
