When I started North Valley Precision, we weren’t talking about org charts, department silos, or culture handbooks. We were just a handful of people grinding together to deliver great work. Everyone knew everything. Everyone wore multiple hats. We worked late, solved problems on the fly, and trusted each other to get the job done. There was an energy in those early days that you just can’t fake—raw, scrappy, and completely personal.

But here we are now, staring down the milestone of 100 employees. It’s exciting. It’s validating. It also comes with a very real challenge: how do you scale without losing what made you special in the first place?

A company doesn’t feel the same at 100 as it does at 10. That’s not a bad thing—it just means you have to be intentional. If you don’t actively protect your culture, define your values, and lead with clarity, growth will take the wheel. And culture? It’ll become whatever’s most convenient, not what you built.

The Culture You Start With Isn’t the Culture You Scale With

There’s a common trap founders fall into, and I’ve been guilty of it myself. You assume the culture you had when the company was small will automatically carry forward as you grow. But it doesn’t. That early culture was driven by proximity—everyone in one room, talking constantly, solving problems together. Culture happened by default.

As you grow, that breaks. People don’t all know each other anymore. They work in shifts. Some employees never even meet. Communication becomes layered, and decisions take longer. Suddenly, if you’re not careful, you’ve got one team doing things one way and another team doing something completely different. Not because anyone’s wrong—but because there’s no longer a shared rhythm.

At that point, culture can’t be assumed. It has to be taught, reinforced, and protected. You have to take something that used to be organic and turn it into something operational.

Define What Matters—Then Over-Communicate It

When we hit around 40 people, I realized we needed to put our values into words. Not slogans on a poster, but real principles we could hire by, lead with, and coach around. We sat down and asked: What are the non-negotiables here? What kind of people thrive at North Valley Precision, and what kind of behavior do we absolutely not tolerate?

It wasn’t about creating rules. It was about creating alignment. If you want to preserve a strong, accountable, humble culture as you scale, people have to know what that actually means. And you have to say it more often than feels necessary. Whether it’s in onboarding, team meetings, or one-on-ones, your values have to be the through-line. Otherwise, they get drowned out in the noise of growth.

Build Leaders Before You Need Them

Another big lesson I’ve learned is that your culture is only as strong as your frontline leaders. You can’t scale culture from the C-suite. It lives or dies with supervisors, team leads, and managers. If those people don’t understand and live your values, it won’t matter what’s written on the wall. Culture is what people experience day to day, not what’s in the handbook.

So we’ve been very intentional about growing our leadership bench early. We don’t just promote based on tenure or technical skill. We look for people who care, who communicate, who take ownership. And then we train them—not just on process, but on people. How to have tough conversations. How to coach with empathy. How to lead by example.

That kind of leadership doesn’t just protect culture—it multiplies it.

Stay Close, Even as You Grow

One of the hardest parts of scaling is feeling further away from your people. I don’t get to have lunch with every new hire. I can’t sit in on every shift change. But I’ve made it a personal priority to stay close to the floor—because that’s where culture lives. Not in strategy meetings. Not in spreadsheets. On the shop floor, in the break room, during those little five-minute moments between jobs.

I try to check in regularly. I ask questions. I listen more than I talk. People can smell inauthenticity a mile away, so I don’t pretend to know everything. But I want our team to feel that I’m still in this with them—that this isn’t just a job for me, it’s something we’re building together.

Process Can Support Culture—If You’re Smart About It

Here’s the thing about process: too much, and it kills innovation. Too little, and things fall apart. The trick is to build just enough structure to support culture without choking it. That means building systems that reinforce your values, not just your metrics.

We’ve implemented structured onboarding to make sure new hires don’t just learn their job, but learn our expectations. We’ve built communication loops between departments so everyone stays aligned. We’ve started using performance check-ins not just to track output, but to give feedback and build trust.

None of that happened overnight. But piece by piece, it’s helping us grow in a way that feels steady—not chaotic.

The Goal Isn’t to Stay Small—It’s to Stay True

There’s a nostalgia to the early days of a company that’s hard to shake. Sometimes I miss the simplicity of being able to make a decision and implement it in the same hour. But I wouldn’t trade the momentum we have now. We’re building something real—something that can last.

The goal isn’t to freeze time. It’s to carry forward the parts that matter. The pride in the work. The trust in the team. The high standards. The belief that every person here has a role to play in our success.

As we grow beyond 100 people, I know we’ll face new challenges. But if we keep showing up, keep listening, and keep leading with clarity and care, I believe we can scale without breaking—and maybe even come out stronger than we started.