the trustyou culture book

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The

TRUSTYOU CULTURE

BOOK in the words of

the team that creates it

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TrustYou And Its Culture: A Word From The Founders

When founding a company, there are many things to consider, from finding the right people to developing awesome products to marketing and selling them to over-‐delivering on the customers’ expectations with incredible customer service and more. The common vein, the lifeblood, of a company is its culture. With the right people and common beliefs in place, a company can accomplish anything. This is why we have made it a point to focus on company culture; it allows us to seed the company for success. So what is TrustYou’s company culture? We’ve thought about 10 pillars that are core to our culture, which are outlined in more detail in the coming pages:

1. Trust 2. Making Customers Happy 3. Pushing To The Limit 4. Getting Things Done 5. Let’s Test It And See What Works 6. Make Sure It Scales 7. Team, Team, Team 8. Work Hard, Play Hard 9. Family Comes First Always 10. You

But don't take only our word for it. We’ve asked everyone on our team to define what the TrustYou culture means to them personally. You will find those uncensored responses in this book. Happy reading! Ben & Jake

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The 10 Pillars of TrustYou’s Culture

Trust At TrustYou, we trust in the individuals' skills, intelligence and integrity of all our team members to make the right decisions. Making Customers Happy Creating value for our customers is ultimately why we are here. At TrustYou we want to make sure our customers get the best possible experience when interacting with us and our products. We aim to under-‐promise and over-‐deliver. Pushing To The Limit TrustYou's company hymn is the song "Pushing to the Limit" by Girogio Moroder. For us it means: to always be the best at what we do, to be at the forefront of technology innovation, to be pushing the limits of what is possible or considered standard in engineering, sales&marketing and customer service. Getting Things Done TrustYou is all about getting things done. Anyone can have great ideas, plans and talk sweet but in the end all that matters is to make it happen, to execute on your plan, to getting things done. Let's Test It And See What Works Whenever we come up with great new ideas we move fast to test them out and see if they work. Measurable facts speak louder than thoughts and opinions. Make Sure It Scales As a fast growing organization, we always make sure that whatever we design, develop and create anew will scale. This is not limited to IT infrastructure but for every single process we have from product development to sales and marketing to customer service.

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Team, Team, Team TrustYou consists of a super-‐diverse and colorful team from all kinds of different educational and professional backgrounds. We are proud to have more than 25 different nationalities and operate around the globe. TrustYou unites one team to work together on one single mission: to positively influence travelers' decisions. Work Hard, Play Hard At TrustYou we work hard but we also play hard. From our weekly Friday afternoon beer hangout, regular team events and get-‐aways to the annual company-‐wide Munich Oktoberfest party in September we make sure we always have a lot of fun. Family Comes First Always TrustYou is like a family. However everybody has their own families at home as well. We make sure that family comes first always as we believe that you have to be happy at home to thrive at work. You You as an individual make a difference at TrustYou. It doesn't matter what position you are in or what role you have. If you have a great idea or want to contribute something or simply change the way certain things are because you have found a better way that benefits us as an organization: You can do it.

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The culture in TrustYou is like a family culture. I enjoy working here because of our international environment, with so many people from different cultures and an international outlook. Since I have grown up myself travelling for the most part of my life, working in a travel company which gives you so many opportunities is something not many people can say for themselves. The senior members of the company take great care in hiring a real team instead of individuals which makes for a great friendly, even family like environment. Your boss is more like a mentor who listens to your input and guides you through the difficult parts. You have many opportunities to see the world, meet great people and expand your network, and travelling with your bosses is not awkward at all, more a way of getting to know each other and learn more. (and have a drink on the beach sometimes). The team is great. I have developed many personal friendships within the company, and we work as tightly as possible. I also like the caring aspect, whenever someone has a birthday, a new family member or is hired, everybody is very welcoming and gives you a virtual high five from all over the world. Also, if there are any suggestions on improvements, they are listened to and, if possible, implemented. To sum it up, at TrustYou we work very hard, but we also know how to play (on Fridays and on Oktoberfest) . I am always happy to come by the HQ, and hope to see a few faces when I am back in January.

Carolin Brunner, Sales

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TrustYou’s Culture In A Series of Haikus

The Team A hard-‐working bunch

We are more than just colleagues We're friends, family

What Powers Us At The Office We fuel our brains

With coffee, fruit and candy Recharge with kicker

Our Attitude and Dress Code Our attitude, style?

We walk with TrustYou swagger In t-‐shirts and jeans

Late Nights Still at the office

Fiercely working all night long Fixing bugs and 'presos'

Fridays, 5PM It’s now beer o’clock

Clink clink, Prost in the office Made it through the week

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Cut The Poetry: Here’s The Real Deal on TrustYou Culture Beyond all else, the TrustYou team is passionate. Passionate about our work; our friendships; our Kicker table; our office sweets; our international atmosphere (we hail from 24 different nations); our general ‘geekiness’; our Friday beer o’clock. We work relentlessly, and we take our work very seriously. It is during these long hours in the office that we have bonded and become friends. We genuinely appreciate each other’s company. While we take our work seriously, we never take ourselves too seriously. Our business attire consists of t-‐shirts and jeans, we make jokes in the office, and we are never one to say no to a party.

-‐-‐ Margaret Ady, Marketing

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It's the people at TrustYou that make all the difference because you are encouraged to actively participate in our company's mission. This includes sharing ideas and opinions. An innovative and creative environment empowers us to try out things that might not always work perfectly right away but help us to learn the most and stay ahead of the game. By giving feedback you become a hands-‐on contributer taking over responsibility. Company activities and play encourage interaction between teams.

-‐-‐ Henning Kropp, Devlopment TrustYou has succeeded in a few years to develop and influence travelers decisions. I have seen a part and a side of the hotel industry that I have never been abel to see before.Trustyou sets the standard for online reputation management with solutions. With the help of reviews and our work here, the world of hotel industry can become much better. It is a great work and not only I love the job and the work here but also I am enjoying being a part of TrustYou’s family.

-‐-‐ Anonymous Organizational culture is unique for every organisation. A commonly used definition of organisational culture is „a set of shared values and norms that characterise a particular organisation”. At TrustYou everyday brings a different challenge and invaluable knowledge. I feel that I am working with professionals, and that I can learn from each of them. Everyone is supportive and always willing to provide their help. TrustYou culture means friendship, support and teamwork. One notable difference between TrustYou and other companies is that in this team each person is motivated and encouraged. The people at this company are a pleasure to work with, they are friendly, communicative, caring, helpful. It is a joy coming to work each day, I feel like I am part of a family, not a company and I know that I couldn't have found a better place to work. In my opinion, this makes us the best!

-‐-‐ Anonymous

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The TrustYou Way Do you enjoy working in a small and flexible team? Is quick decision-‐making and a hands-‐on mentality your thing? Can you think two steps ahead and feel comfortable with a flat hierarchy where you learn from each other? If this is you and and if you enjoy wearing more than one hat and can put entrepreneurial spirit into your work, then congrats. You found the place to be. You will work with small business and multi-‐billion companies. Our clients stretch around the globe from the US to Europe and Asia. That’s us, that’s TrustYou. We are a group of highly talented people working in an exiting startup. We are shaping the way data will influence travel decisions around the world in the the future.

Sebastian Grundner-‐Culemann, Sales

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When I went for my first interview and saw the “TrustYou” logo, my first instinct was: “Oh, that's really optimistic... I should trust myself. I should trust my knowledge, my education, my work experience and, well, all that made me who I am today.” And when I talked to Adela and Lisi “TrustYou” became “TrustThem”: trust them to find my CV interesting and proper for the job they are offering, trust them to teach me the basics, trust them to give me the opportunity to work in an exciting new place. Then I started to know my colleagues and, despite of the age difference ( I am 27 and they were 21-‐23), we managed to find common interests, similarities in our points of view and it was very refreshing to learn from someone younger than me and then wanting to be just as good as them, or even better. So , my trust in them became new friendships, became the opportunity to learn new things, helping us to understand each other and work as a real team. Also, working with a young team implies the word “fun”. We all share (except the Dev. Team), the same office, which means we can communicate very easy with each other and sometimes work is really fun, especially when we start telling jokes, creating a very cozy environment. Working with the AdminTool, gave me acces to the meaning of TrustYou regarding their offer, reputation and clients, seen on the internet. When I first saw TripAdvisor in our database, and then other names like Kayak, I started thinking this was bigger than I imagined. I started to trust them (you) more, started to be more curious, wanting to know more, being motivated to do better at my job, if that was the way of knowing my employer. So, “Trust” and “You”, for me, became the main words in improving my skills, having more confidence in what I do and learning new things. Like “I know that checking lots of sources, surfing and comparing big amounts of information on the internet could sometimes be exhausting, but the amount and the quality of my work do count.

-‐-‐ Diana Tomos, Customer Service

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Organizational culture is unique for every organisation. A commonly used definition of organisational culture is „a set of shared values and norms that characterise a particular organisation”. At TrustYou everyday brings a different challenge and invaluable knowledge. I feel that I am working with professionals, and that I can learn from each of them. Everyone is supportive and always willing to provide their help. TrustYou culture means friendship, support and teamwork. One notable difference between TrustYou and other companies is that in this team each person is motivated and encouraged. The people at this company are a pleasure to work with, they are friendly, communicative, caring, helpful. It is a joy coming to work each day, I feel like I am part of a family, not a company and I know that I couldn't have found a better place to work. In my opinion, this makes us the best!

-‐-‐ Anonymous

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Having worked within a large multinational company, it is impossible for me not to notice that TrustYou has not reached yet that level of artificial corporate environment and I hope it stays the same even if it is still in a developing stage. I appreciate its' transparency, its' sticking to promises and the easy information/communication flow. In what concerns the information part, although in a slightly different context, I feel at times that some of us do not have a well-‐defined picture of all the processes and departments that make the business work, a business that I find quite complex. It would definitely be time and money consuming, but maybe after the company has grown enough, it would not be such a bad idea to have the chance of taking part to cross trainings. This would definitely motivate and make associates more aware of the vision and working mechanisms of TrustYou.

-‐-‐ Sanda Sirca, Customer Service TrustYou culture to me: Intra-‐preneurial -‐ you can create your own path if you execute on your own ideas Global -‐ so many people from so many different countries and walks of life makes for a rich atmoshere Accountable -‐ we all have the same goal in mind and know everyone is doing what they can to reach that goal

-‐-‐ Ellis Connolly, Sales

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I would like to start with what/the things I personally appreciate at TrustYou. The first reason is related to the management style adopted, a democratic style, in which we are all involved in different ways, in the realization of goals and strategies (so as to reach our goals and build new strategies). The second reason is related to the way in which the decision process is approached. Everyone's opinion is listened to, creating thus a feeling of belonging to everything that happens in the company. Also, the work climate is pleasant. In my opinion the culture of TrustYou is represented by a mix consisting of: Customer satisfaction (hotels, restaurants); Travelers satisfaction achieved without any compromise (all reviews are taken into account and analyzed); Researching new market opportunities (extension to restaurants and tourist attractions); Maintaining a high quality of offered services.

-‐-‐ Ana-‐Maria Csete, Customer Service

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TrustYou's culture is reacting fast to market opportunities and changes to stay on top of the competition. Flexibility is key and we apply this at every level; we choose the best technologies and people to get the job done right.

-‐-‐ Anonymous I will honestly tell you that the past 11 months have passed on fast forward, but in a good way. You know, time passes quick when you are having a good time. In this short “ My opinion” collection of words, I will try to leave aside unnatural language and be as natural as I can. When I started working for TrustYou, I did not know what to expect...so, I got up early, made myself a coffee and tried to not be nervous about how will be the first day working for TrustYou... You can imagine, the hard coffee didn't helped me that morning, it just made me more agitated. My first contact with my new colleagues and the sweet candies located near the coffee machine lighten my day. It was, and I am not joking, a stress free environment. I remember a question that popped-‐up in my mind: Is this for real? 11 months without 2 days have passed since my first day, and there have been good days, bad days, cold days and warm days, like everywhere, but it made me understand that TrustYou values hard work, quality work and nevertheless values people that can combine the “hard with the quality work” ,the creativity with collaboration and the sense of humor with all the up mentioned qualities. I strongly believe that TrustYou will expand fast by keeping this policy among employees, because customers will see and fell the “intelligent work” that TrustYou is delivering."

-‐-‐ Andrei Crisan, Customer Service

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TY culture for me is:

• Work always in a team and learn and coach each other. • Family goes first, because if you have a right family-‐

working balance, you get better results. • As a team member you are responsible for your actions. • Communication is fast and decision made straight

forward. • We act as a team for success and failures. • We learn and improve ourselves on a daily basis.

-‐-‐ Kristof Römer, Sales

When thinking about TrustYou , the first thought that comes in mind is 'a young company dreaming big'. And then you take a look at the numbers and say : "Hey, they are going to be big!" When working at TrustYou, you start dreaming with them. Teams and colleagues are good, but friends and colleagues are better. TrustYou is about working with friends, while telling jokes and competing to be number one. Multicultural and competitive, the best word for this company, in my opinion, is adapt. While within, you have to adapt to the ever changing tasks and, while on the market, we all have to adapt to the different customers. Because change is growth, in this case. It is about a handful of quality people who, despite the laws of statistics, create quantity. It's... quality quantity. It's about taking it personally, because at the end of the day, it is your own work and your name at the end of the line in the Google document. Giving it your best, because that is the way up :) Trust You is about being open minded and about daring to dream big.

-‐-‐ Hadasa Briciu, Customer Service

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Benjamin Jost -‐ CEO and co-‐founder asked everybody to talk about what TrustYou means for us, and this is the same as when on an interview job they ask you about yourself. Not easy to define, but wikipedia might helped me : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_culture: Based on Robert A. Cooke, Phd, Professor of Philosophy who defines Organizations in 3 different cultures, and found 'Constructive cultures' as the most appropriated for TY philosophy where people are encouraged to be in communication with their co-‐workers, and work as teams, rather than only as individuals. In positions where people do a complex job, rather than something simple like a mechanic one, this sort of culture is an efficient one. 1. Achievement: completing a task successfully, typically by effort,

courage, or skill (pursue a standard of excellence) (explore alternatives before acting) -‐ Based on the need to attain high-‐quality results on challenging projects, the belief that outcomes are linked to one's effort rather than chance and the tendency to personally set challenging yet realistic goals. People high in this style think ahead and plan, explore alternatives before acting and learn from their mistakes.

2. Self-‐actualizing: realization or fulfillment of one's talents and potentialities -‐ considered as a drive or need present in everyone (think in unique and independent ways) (do even simple tasks well) -‐ Based on needs for personal growth, self-‐fulfillment and the realisation of one's potential. People with this style demonstrate a strong desire to learn and experience things, creative yet realistic thinking and a balanced concern for people and tasks.

3. Humanistic-‐encouraging: help others to grow and develop (resolve conflicts constructively) -‐ Reflects an interest in the growth and development of people, a high positive regard for them and sensitivity to their needs. People high in this style devote energy to coaching and counselling others, are thoughtful and considerate and provide people with support and encouragement.

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Affiliative: treat people as more valuable than things (cooperate with others) -‐ Reflects an interest in developing and sustaining pleasant relationships. People high in this style share their thoughts and feelings, are friendly and cooperative and make others feel a part of things.

-‐-‐ Jordi Franquesa Gabarró, Sales

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I always had problem defining and understanding the meaning of the word “culture”. Should the word culture be defined by the diversity of ideas, the diversity of people? Or should it be defined by the reverse of all these social characteristics... homogeneity? One idea... similar people... Trust You? No way! Happily, after almost one year working for Trust You, I think that “our” culture would be definitely defined by the diversity of the people whom make the things work. Being able to interact (...and party) with most of my colleagues from all over the world, I felt how diverse and different we are... and that's wonderful. I love working in a company in which I have the feeling, that my work is appreciated. Compared with other companies… Trust You has a human face… ...ma' saalam!

-‐-‐ Cornel Crisan, Customer Service My first real experience with TrustYou was in Munich during the Oktoberfest festival. How can I ever forget the energy that I felt in the Munich office during that period of time. I was deeply surprised to find there something more than a team. I found there a bunch of people who are doing something extraordinary: they are spreading and consolidating Trust among each other. In my opinion, management plays a significant role in this particular climate. It's a wonderful feeling to look up to your manager and see in his personality a trustworthy person. TrustYou for me is: honesty, dedication, innovation, quality and teamwork. I would call this the “Soul of Trust”.

-‐-‐ Ioan Pop, Customer Service

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TrustYou – What does this mean to me in terms of company culture? After working for TrustYou for more than two years I can describe the culture as very international and with a very strong sense of community. You can still sense the spirit of a startup every day, this is reflected, for example, in very flat hierarchies, and everybody can openly discuss their ideas with management and colleagues. Linked to the fact that the company is constantly growing and developing into new verticals, working here comes with many different challenging responsibilities. Generally all employees are empowered to make decisions on their own in order to keep clients happy and further develop our provided services. TrustYou has successfully managed to spread a great spirit of community among all team members. It often does not feel like working with colleagues to accomplish a specific task, but rather spending time with friends and figuring out solutions for a common issue together. I consider this atmosphere as a very strong positive part, making work much more fun. Talking about this, I certainly have to mention beer o’clock on Fridays where we all get a bottle of beer to start the weekend. Summing up the atmosphere at TrustYou in three words I would say – Dynamic, International, Fun.

-‐-‐ Elisabeth Neulinger, Customer Service

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Working with highly motivated and skilled people in a fast-‐paced environment is very exciting. The products are high quality and outperforming the market competition. Support and team communication is outstanding and creates a "home away from home" feeling. Its a job and company you want to work for even on a dark, misty Monday morning…

-‐-‐ Michael Marchand, Sales For me, the Trust You culture is actually really new since I've been part of this company for just a little while now. In fact, it's the first company that offered me an interesting job which I took gratefully because of many reasons. I can't say my thoughts of the firm are based on years of experience or a lot time and work invested into it, but TrustYou made me realize that you don't need all of that to understand how easy and well you can meet great people, have a good time at your workplace and also learn a lot during the process. I am currently also a student and the company seemed to understand this very well as they offered me a flexible program so I can keep up with my studies as well. This was one of the reasons I decided to join them and I have been real pleased with the time spent here so far. Also everybody is so nice here, there is always a smile on everybody's face. Having a nice community at work is one of the most important things for me personally. All in all, what I wanted to say was that I am sure that being part of the TrustYou culture, or maybe even being part of building it will be a great road filled with excitement, challenges and new opportunities to learn and evolve at every step!

-‐-‐Andrei Brumaru, Devlopment

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In my opinion TrustYou culture is working with friends to improve our customers experience and satisfaction. Being part of a great international and multicultural team that’s allocated all over the world. Staying together during good and bad times like a big family would do. Helping each other, sometimes also with problems that are not totally work related for example at our beer time on friday evening. Having fun in solving difficult problems with not so usual ways. Making nice trips with the team to different countries to learn new things and also to get in touch with TrustYou members from our offices in other countries.

-‐-‐ Anonymous

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Success at TrustYou depends on the people! Everybody working hard to have a better performance than they had the day before is key to win in today's competitive travel industry. At the beginning of my mission at TrustYou, the company had the image of an exciting startup with promising products for the travel business. A great opportunity for me since comming from a travel industry giant I was always passionate about the idea of being part of the growing success of a market leader from an incipient phase. Soon after that the time arrived to make steps forward and make business with the big players. The focus was on TrustYou and how will we change our image into a company that is well known in the industry offering reliable data infrastructure to an impressive number of partners. TrustYou then did something I was waiting for, we delivered, and not only we delivered but we created a completely revolutionized product capable of adapting to the rapidly changing market. Results of this strategic decision were almost immediate with TrustYou release for auto dealers and restaurants, conquering new markets and creating new partnerships with major travel industry players. The story goes on with the certitude of the experience I learned while being part of Trustyou: "Yes, we can do it, because this is what we do!"

-‐-‐ Cristian Constantinescu, Development

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TrustYou culture means to me acceptance of different opinions, ways of thinking and support of individuals initiatives. One is encouraged to think out of the box rather than sticking to existing procedures and rules. It is a melting pot of cultures, languages and attitudes where the young and dynamic spirit comes together in an open, interactive and flexible way. TrustYou culture also means a very intense, fast pace working place where customer and service orientation are not only being taught but where these values are also being lived.

-‐-‐ Desirée Fried, Team Assistant From a developer perspective, we are a company where we work basically without any geographical limits in an innovation and flexibility friendly environment. We don’t have any special dress code, as long as you dont talk to customers. The office is open and a friendly place, with an open kitchen as a meeting place, kicker room as a party place and the main meeting room with teleconference equipment as a place where "no borders" dream comes true. Also, we work hard and we party hard, but there is no way to describe it -‐ it needs to be experienced although some photos could help here :-‐) Keywords: open, flexible, international

-‐-‐ Jacek Mech, Development

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The culture of TrustYou is extremely unique. Having a team from different regions, cultures and backgrounds creates a breeding ground for innovation. TrustYou has revolutionized the review aggregation space and has become an industry respected brand. The TrustYou brand is associated with a company that is constantly looking towards the future ultimately delivering market pertinent solutions. If there were a few words that describes our culture effectively, they would be: Diversity, Knowledge, Passion and Vision.

-‐-‐ Alan Young, Marketing and Strategic Partnerships A company culture sums up the behaviour of the people being part of it. For me, TrustYou is my first job. In the nearly one month I have been working, I have learned that here at TrustYou, the communication is one of the most important factors that influences the quality of the solutions provided. I have also learned that some of the key values which are being cherished by TrustYou are the ability to listen, going hand in hand with power of communication and nonetheless the ability to understand the client, the colleague or the concept related to our working field. The symbols can also tell alot about the culture of a company. Both "Trust" and "You" are two strong words which imply confidence and professionalism, not only for clients, but more so for its employees. What I like the most about TrustYou, especially from what I have seen here at Cluj, is the connection between colleagues, because it is a pleasure to work in a friendly enviroment.

-‐-‐ Catalin Onutu, Development

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When I think about the TrustYou culture, the keywords that cross my mind are:

1. Multinational: I like the colorful mix of peoples’ backgrounds that work at TrustYou. Everyday I learn something new about another culture, even if it is just in-‐depth reasons why one should be a fan of FC Barcelona and definitely not of Real Madrid C.F.

2. Open-‐Minded: I think such an attitude comes along with the multiple nationalities that work at TrustYou, which is great!

3. Young: Most of us are quite young and therewith share similar interests also outside the workplace.

4. Easy Going: Beer o’clock and hanging out together afterwards, playing Fifa or Kicker after lunch. Nothing more need be said!

5. Productive: We get things done. That’s what we stand for and what we are proud of!

-‐-‐ Florian Hartl, Development

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I joined TrustYou because I had the feeling that it is a great working place.

• Family and health come first • International enviroment and open-‐minded • Flat hierarchies and short decision ways • Young, dynamic team which is highly motivated • People can make a difference • Work hard, party hard

To sum up: TrustYou cares about people

-‐-‐ Anonymous Let me describe TrustYou’s company culture by using quotes (some slightly adapted) of people that impacted our today through their continuous struggle to create and achieve something new: We have days where everything seems impossible until it’s done 1. But then we are convinced that whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve 2. We love what we do, that’s the only way to do great work 3. We work hard and are easily satisfied with the very best 4. We know that talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships 5. We are hungry, we are foolish 6. The question is not who is going to let us, it’s who is going to stop us 7. 1 Nelson Mandela, 2 Napoleon Hill, 3 Steve Jobs, 4 Winston Churchill, 5 Michael Jordan, 6 Steve Jobs, 7 Ayn Rand

-‐-‐ Eva-‐Maria Bleifuss, Key Account Management

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To me the TrustYou culture is centred around an international, multicultural environment. TrustYou has created a culturally diverse workplace bringing together people from across the globe marrying skills, competencies and differences to create a high performing team. The company promotes an inclusive environment with minimal hierarchy enabling individuals to share and develop from the experience of others. While the company strives for excellence it never loses sight of taking care of its greatest assets 'people' and thus promotes a work hard, play hard environment, sounds cliché but in this case its true. The strategic objectives of the company are inspiring, giving the employees a sense of pride in what we do while creating a great place to work!

-‐-‐ Marc-‐Rhys Davies, Project Management It is so exciting to see TrustYou grow over the years. When I started at the early age of TrustYou in 2009, it was so exciting to see the movements and the improvements step by step. It is so humbling to look around and see something grow way bigger than you could have imagined at the beginning. The best part about working for TrustYou is that I receive and enjoy Trust in my whole proceess as a salesmanager. We are growing and more interesting people starting at TrustYou from all over the World. TrustYou´s culture breeds an environment of collaboration, input, creation, success, and innovation. We have something unique and special and I am thankful to be part of it.

-‐-‐ Yvonne Pajonkowski, Sales

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The 1st thing that I came to love about TrustYou was the mixture of cultures. I hear people talk in Spanish around me, German, Chinese, Slovenian and so on. How exciting is that? There’s a lot of diversity in our office but that was never an issue when it came to reaching out to each other; and that’s one of the many things that make this team that much more special: we stick together. The 2nd thing that I’d like to mention is that we’re allowed here to grow. We’re encouraged to do so. Learning, experimenting and playing with ideas is a must here. It never gets boring. It might get overwhelming at times, but never boring, and never random or inconsequential. For me, that's a pretty great thing.

-‐-‐ Anonymous

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I think the most amazing thing, which attracted me to join the team, is to have the chance to witness how post-‐modernism comes into reality and influences the society in a positive way. Before, our whole society relied on media and evaluation institutions (e.g. IMF, Standard & Poor's, your school teacher), which pass judgements on every individual and put everyone to his “right” place. However on the other hand, in order to pass the right judgement, the rules we use should also reflect the social reality, and therefore need to be rechecked and updated from time to time, especially when big social changes happen. The evaluation institutions, which are not sensitive enough (or I would rather say always unable to be), have from this perspective potential risks of misjudging, which will cause disorder and catastrophic consequences, like how Standard & Poor's behaved during the economic crisis. The social media platforms, on which each user is allowed to express his own impression without considering any preset rule, have not only the ability to reflect reality, they actually ARE the reality, ambiguous, colorful and full of emotions. Gathering information on them can help to get the big image of oneself, much more clearly and directly than any “professional” analysis. Judgements based on them will never fail. Therefore by using social media platforms, we can partially or even entirely get rid of evaluation institutions, and give the right of judegment back to people, with respect to all differences between different human beings and different cultures. This is, as far as I can see, the most significant and valuable character of TrustYou -‐ post-‐modernism. Everyday when I sit before my laptop, dealing with all the weirdnesses of reviewers all over the world, together with a rock/post-‐rock album and a cup of Earl Grey, I would think, everyone including myself is weird in a way, and that feels great.

-‐-‐ Zhe Zhang, Computational Linguistic

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Although I am working only a couple of hours a week for TrustYou, I really like the company culture. Working for TrustYou means for me being part of a multicultural family where everyone is pulling in the same direction. All colleagues are open for new ideas and solutions giving the opportunity to meaningfully contribute to the company’s success and everybody recognizes and values each other’s work. Munich office offers an open and relaxed working atmosphere favouring collaboration. Many nice team activities, such as Friday Beer, BBQ and Oktoberfest visits, make the TrustYou culture perfect.

-‐-‐ Katharina Franko, Customer Service Our company's culture can be briefly outlined just by reading the tagline, which summarizes very well the features at their best, in only four words. In my point of view, the TrustYou target is to permanently update this standard, while upgrading it, by providing peerless services, in a impeccable way. In order to maintain this approach on reaching our goals, the course of the employees work needs to be responsible, undisturbed, and they all need to operate just like a symbiotic organism. On a more personal note, the TrustYou personality is much more than that. It's when people from different corners of the world get together as a family, when you grab a beer in the kitchen with your colleagues after a day of work during which you leaned tons of new things or when the whole office gathers for lunch in a holiday atmosphere. It's my first job so I can't compare it to other companies but I know for sure that TrustYou had the greatest impact in my life so far. I never expected to find such an open-‐minded environment where I can grow so fast.

-‐-‐ Anonymous

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The first thing that comes to mind when I think of the culture at TrustYou is good energy. Good energy permeates across the company and is almost tangible. It can be felt when something great or a particular goal is accomplished or simply when everyone comes together to have a good time. This I believe is attributed to the work hard and play hard sense of things around the office. Everyone who comes to TrustYou is dedicated to their work and at the end of the day accomplishments mean everyone can get together and be proud of what we have achieved. TrustYou is not just another startup firm which tries to make tangible perks to create a “startup culture”, the perks of working here are discovered through working relationships built and the events that spring up due to a successful working relationship. If you simply come to work and keep to yourself without interacting with everyone else, it is likely that you would not be successful here, however if you interact with everyone, build connections and trust the people here, it becomes one of the best working environments you can ask for. The way the people are at TrustYou, even introverts end up opening up and integrating into the TrustYou family. I like the culture at TrustYou because the interactions here make it a pleasant working environment. It doesn’t feel like just work but rather it goes beyond that. People and resources are easily available and everyone is happy to help out. There are days where the stress levels fly through the roof – like during the Accor rollout in 2012 – however after the crazy times always comes happy times. It truly is a great place to be.

-‐-‐ Mobolaji Joseph, Customer Service

36

What is TrustYou’s company culture? To me, it’s about flat hierarchies and clear responsibilities. Everybody knows what their fields of responsibilities are, what they have to do and it really feels like a team effort to get something done here. If I have a question, I can always approach any of my colleagues who are often busy but always try to help where they can. The TrustYou culture stresses a sense of “we”, and makes sure all members of the team know where we’re headed and what is going on in the company. This differs a lot from my previous work experience, and I rather enjoy working here.

-‐-‐ Kiran Wallner, Customer Service

37

At TrustYou, from the moment you walk in through the door, you’re treated like an integral part of the team and are expected to roll your sleeves up and get your hands dirty. Your job description may change from one day to the next, as you may be asked to help out with a bit of everything that needs to get done. That will make you knowledgeable about a lot of different areas. I absolutely love how geographically disperse teams accommodate the inevitable variety of time zones, working hours, habits and schedules to meet the deadlines.

-‐-‐ Sonia Fabre, Development At TrusYou, we are all a bunch of friends. Work feels relaxing, and very rarely stressful. People are always up for a good time and open to answering questions if you have any. The things you experience day in and day out are as varied as the people, who come from a wide range of cultural backgrounds and from all over the world. We even regularly spend time with each other outside of work, whether it be company organized events or just enjoying a drink in bar. Also, we have a thing called beer’o’clock fridays. Can’t get better than that.

-‐-‐ Anonymous

38

Speaking for all the Italian team, I can say that TrustYou for us has been a challenge. Working with STR Global’s numbers every day, I had no idea that there could exist a “system” like TrustYou; I hoped but did not know. I am new in the hotels’ world, I have been working in RES for 2 years, even if I come from the tourism area, generally meant, as airports’. In these months we have grown up and acquired a different way of looking at the hoteliers’ world. TrustYou is a company projected into the future, farseeing and serious, meaning that all of us are putting a great effort in doing what we do. Everyone puts his own abilities at the service of the company, showing the best we can offer. We are maybe having difficulties in spreading the market all over as some competitor do (it seems they have a quite good marketing/advertising plan) but the loyalty and the high quality always pay back. This is something that I have learnt through the years and different companies. I am sure that we will succeed, a lot of projects are already planned, we just need some time to get known in Italy and I am optimistic about it. Moreover, there is a good cooperation of everyone, such as the Customer Care assistance, which I really appreciate: the guys are always kind and fast and never tired of giving explanations. The Sales Team is really engaged and always giving good tips: this helps a lot spreading out the culture of TY, firstly to all the people who work for it, and consequently into the market. And it seems working!

-‐-‐ Vera Roselli, Sales

39

TrustYou continues to change the travel industry in an excitingly fast paced environment. Our very unique company culture welcomes all employees to share their feedback and suggestions to improve our products and processes, while at the same time providing opportunities to lead a new project and see your vision come to fruition; being a younger company, every employee’s ideas and efforts make an incredible impact. There’s also certainly never a dull moment within the company because each and every day can be, and usually is, very different from the previous. This helps keep everyday very interesting instead of monotonous by doing the same thing over and over again. One of the things I love most about the TrustYou culture is that everyone truly seems to care a lot about their work and what they do. There is a true sense of pride in what we continue to accomplish as a team and as a company. I’ve seen many people at previous companies treat their job as something they “had” to do in order to get by. These people only looked at their day-‐to-‐day tasks and never cared about the longevity or future of the overall company. At TrustYou, everyone actually seems to “want” to continuously contribute hard work and new thoughts and ideas to be a market leader in the travel industry. Being a part of a culture like this is so exciting because the growth potential is almost limitless. Lastly, many companies say this about their culture, but not many companies actually live up to it: “Work Hard, Play Hard.” The fact that TrustYou lives up to this makes the environment that much more fun to work in. As long as everyone is working hard and the overall company is performing well – employees share a beer in the Munich office on Fridays and the entire company celebrates their hard work once a year together during Oktoberfest. During my previous work experiences, employees were awarded a Lucite with their name engraved on it for working as hard as they could, not a ticket to Oktoberfest. : )

-‐-‐ Rob Castellucci, Key Account Management

40

TrustYou is a place where smart, ambitious people do amazing things. We are not only participating in, but shaping the digital revolution of the travel market. From the beginning, our vision has preceded that of our competitors by years. Just by sitting down and "figuring it out", we have built solutions that are significantly improving travel experiences around the globe. Many millions of people consume our data and recommendations each month, so we have reason to be confident. TrustYou is a company of engineering excellence. The standards to join and stay on our team are high. TrustYou employs and shapes experts in the fields of visualization, natural language processing, big data, and machine learning. Our engineers ship high-‐quality, scalable code, and they do it fast. We make use of new technologies, but also realize the value of established ways of doing things. Our architectures are service-‐oriented; beautiful interfaces and re-‐usability are important. TrustYou is a team. Tasks are divided according to our abilities, but we strive and cooperate for the same goal. Responsibility is appreciated by our employees, and not "pushed to the next guy". Knowledge is shared, hierarchies are flat. Open discussion of ideas and opposing viewpoints is encouraged, office politics discouraged. Our processes are customer-‐oriented: Service and engineering work together to maximize value and stability of our products. And after all the hard work is done, we always enjoy to have a cold beer together!

-‐-‐ Steffen Wenz, Development

41

A lot of people have asked themselves what makes TrustYou that popular. The answer is comprised only of a few words: opening, dynamism, elite, professionalism, care and a lot of fun. We process online reputation through every single sense we have. You understand that this is not such an easy task. So what makes us that special? Well, we are all the time listening to each other and give everyone the chance to explore any kind of new and maybe even crazy concept one might think it's worth exploring for our growth. Collaboration at its higher standards is something we live with. We don't care about strict rules and standards, everything goes down there by itself for everyone in our company is leading, learning, getting and giving. And is there anything fuzzy driven by such a dynamic factor? You might wonder... No. How come? Well dear reader, you see, we are all great professionals and passionate of what we do. We always set ourselves high goals and we always like to achieve them. And speaking of culture, we are really proud that we are a pretty heterogeneous company, comprised of people coming from 23 (correct me if I'm wrong) nationalities from all over the world. And yes, we do care about every single one of us, we do care about our customers and the quality of our products. And don't think we are taking ourselves too serious. We are always rewarding ourselves by gathering in an amazing place where we have a lot of fun, share interesting new ideas and take our minds off work.

-‐-‐ Antoniu-‐Raoul Chis, Development

42

TrustYou culture for me: I have been working in quite a lot companies mostly hotels but never worked for one like TrustYou. For me the main thing to love working for a company is if you go the extra mile, and the company sees and appreciate that. Like Confucius said: choose a job you love and you never have to work again. Working for TrustYou is not just work for me it is more, way more..... Looking so forward for a superb 2014!

-‐-‐ Bernhard F. Lengauer, Sales

43

When a company culture is of question, you would always want to be a fly on the wall to capture the essence of what the company is about. As it is people, who make the company, I would say, that people at TrustYou are rather more personas with attitude, which is needed to overcome the challenges of a startup environment. Open space & open discussions, frank communication and possibility to be heard, definitely distinguish TrustYou and talk in praise of company culture, where one of the main goals is to distinguish the company from other providers by excellent service and building strong personal relationships with key players on the client’s side. If TrustYou would be a person, we could describe her or him like this:

• 32 year old • open & frank • smart & respectful • witty & approachable • fearless but trustworthy • carefully choses friends to reflect her/his lifestyle • knows there is space for her/him in the world • is not only on a mission to serve, but to be excellent friend

to those who need support.

-‐-‐ Larisa Huremovic, Key Account Management

44

I started to work for TrustYou in August 2013 to support the Client Success Team in the Munich office in Germany. To me the TrustYou culture is an important pillar of the overall company structure that affects several areas within the company and influences each and every employee on a daily basis. The team and thereby the company’s culture is very international which also is an important idea behind the firms’ overall culture. This allows us to share and cultivate ideas on the basis of diverse backgrounds while taking different customs from all over the world into account. Especially now, during Christmastime, we are all excited to get to know various Christmas rites, from all over the world. Values and behaviors as well as the social environment are constants when defining a business culture. The very flat hierarchies within the company make it easier for the team to share thoughts and ideas while this direct contact makes each and every member of the team available to others. The direct contact to colleagues is encouraged by our team events, collective lunch breaks and the weekly get-‐together on Friday evenings. Compared to other companies, TrustYou has a very relaxed and open-‐minded culture that surely encourages employees to work hard while still not forgetting that recreation is important once in a while.

-‐-‐ Philipp Möllers, Customer Service

45

TrustYou is a great opportunity to develop your professional skills and for acquiring formal experience while enjoying of the most amazing and friendly environment. I like the intercultural environment; everyday, I enjoy sharing my time with people coming from all over the world who give me at the same time the opportunity to learn from what other people are used to. Professionally speaking, TrustYou is a company that enables you to feel your own pace while working, gives you independence in every sense, but most importantly, permits you to be aware of what your duties are, meaning that you have to self-‐regulate what your doing feeling the freedom and the responsibility. I was told that working in Germany is similar to being alienated from every single person you work with, because what matters is working hard or working professionally, but here at TrustYou i've found the perfect combination of everything. I have to say that I am very proud of being part of this group.

Anonymous

46

Working at TrustYou is like being the O in H2O -‐ one matters a lot making a sound bond. Meanwhile TrustYou is so vivid and lively and dazzling that you find yourself in all different states of aggregation -‐ frozen, liquid, solid or gaseous -‐ at one time. Since innovation and flexibility being the key word here every O can easily be part of rocket science H3O2. Working at TrustYou means you reach for the stars!

-‐-‐ Michael Menzel, Sales

The name of the company defines its core principles and culture: "Trust" and "You". "Trust" because: 1. Our clients trust us delivering quality and reliable information on

which they can improve their business and stay ahead their competitors, trust our competencies and value them.

2. Our employees trust the management being able to provide a competent vision on the future, to focus on the customer needs, to identify and capitalize the potential of the market.

3. Our management trusts the employees being committed and dedicated to their work, being innovative and actively involved in the company's projects, being efficient and dynamic.

"You" sets the focus on the people. We are not a sum of individuals, we are one team. Flat hiearchy, clear responsibilities, strong communication. We value the persons in his or her integrity: work skills, culture, social abilities, spirit. We trust the saying that if you enjoy what you are doing, then you never work. However, aside to the work in itself, the TrustYou culture means also a well shaped social life, including yearly events like Christmas and Oktoberfest parties, celebrating the employees' birthdays, team buildings, trips. The geographical distribution of our offices makes TrustYou a multi-‐national and a multi-‐cultural company, where you can learn new things all the time. Many things may happen to you, but one never: to get bored.

-‐-‐ Adela Crisan, Customer Service

47

The TrustYou culture is pretty cool. Whether it's drinking the finest of ales in a medieval-‐themed restaurant in Budapest, imbibing the finest of Maß atop an Oktoberfest bench, savouring the finest of Munich brews on Friday after 5 p.m., or sipping the finest of whiskeys in a Munich cigar lounge, there's always a chance to discuss the weighty topics of the day with one's colleagues. Here on the 4th floor of the MTZ we are lucky to bear witness to one of the finest gatherings of intellectual wizardry since the Manhattan project, or even Plato's Academy. Here on a daily basis, we wrestle data like a lumberjack wrestles a grizzly bear -‐ each enduring near fatal blows, with grim respect from time to time pausing, to leave the final determination of the victor to another day. Like Alaskan icefishers we crash though management responses and retweets, surveys and social media, casting our net wide and deep. Our White Whale: consumer insight. And there's also some fun projects to work on!

-‐-‐ Nicholas Gow, Computational Linguistic

48

The most important question you should ask a person working at a company you're interested in is: do you feel happy on your way to the office? Depending on the answer you'll know how this company is. If you had asked me that, I'd have answered always the same: yeeeees! TrustYou is a really open-‐minded company. We are a group of young people coming from different places over the world, eager to work on challenging projects and looking forward to have a great time while building something big. We work hard on our tasks, we are serious when it's necessary, we have fun playing Xbox or kicker when we have time for it, we have always time to celebrate what we call beer o'clock (5pm on Fridays) and we enjoy everything we do at the office. That's our culture!

-‐-‐ Robert Ventura Simon, Development

• Check your suits at the door and don’t judge a book by its cover.

• Young, eclectic group of smart, highly-‐motivated people who are fun to be around.

• Amp up your desire to hit it out of the park; those with an entrepreneurial spirit thrive.

• How you get it done (at home, in jeans, sitting on the floor) doesn’t matter. Just get it done.

• Small company with big plans and potential. • If you say you will do it, do it. Nothing is forgotten. • Founders provide a great balance. Their deep friendship

trickles down into the culture and provides a family-‐like, caring atmosphere.

-‐-‐ Carla Caccavale Reynolds, PR

49

The TrustYou experience is the first job experience I have ever had. Being so, my knowledge of other companies' culture is very vague and probably stereotypical. However, it is obvious that TrustYou is not an ordinary company. I find it different because of its employees, because of its employers and because of the relationships created between them. TrustYou is about respect, open-‐mindedeness, positivity, variety of personalities and cultures, new ideas, confidence and, not at last, about care for the customers' needs. What is also characteristic of TrustYou is hard work combined with fun and rigor. But not an imposed rigor (at least not from outside), but one that has to do with each person's conscience. I was also fascinated about this company's policy of not compelling people to become alike and bare of persoanlity, but of rather encouraging them to preserve their characteristics and peculiarities. TrustYou is the perfect balance between work and living life. It is an experience which I will definitely not regret and one which I recommend to as many as possible!

-‐-‐ Anonymous

50

I only recently joined the company and my welcome has been very warm and trustful. After that little time of being part in our team, I can certainly tell that TrustYou's culture is unique and special. It is young, full of energy and an atmosphere of sharing! A distinct company culture is important because it can make or break the entity of such a complex environment, it is important to work hand-‐in-‐hand. This is exactly what TrustYou employees do. They work with great pleasure and motivation to achieve common goals. TrustYou favors and supports individual abilities and people joining with new productive ideas. Something that other companies don't appreciate enough. It is a very important aspect to keep improving and look forward to gaining increased reputation and of course create new business. We all share the same visions for the company and hail from all walks of life. I love the international flair, being able to speak different languages and communicating with open minded colleagues who are always there if you need them the most. The weekly "get together's" are a great perk. They help to get to know each other better and build a real team spirit. TrustYou is better than I would have ever expected. It's simply managed by a great team of leading lights who do a great job !

Monika Gassem, Key Account Management

51

For me, TrustYou culture has much to do with the atmosphere I work in every day. Every morning, I walk into a large bright office overlooking the Olympic Center. I am happy when the sun is shining in and I'm friendly welcomed by my colleagues. A functioning computer waits for me or -‐ should this not be the case -‐ an always helpful system administrator. While the PC boots up, I make a beeline to the kitchen, get something to drink, fresh fruit or I put my lunch in the fridge. On birthdays, in the Advent season or if something else is celebrated, there is always somebody bringing cake or cookies. Due to the international composition of the team you hear different languages throughout the day and during lunch in the kitchen you might get to know how Christmas is celebrated e.g. in Brazil, Poland or the United States. Since I work only part time, unfortunately I always miss the Friday night party to start the weekend ... The nice thing is that some colleagues become friends, and working with friends is fun.

Elke Pürzer, Computational Linguistic

52

I do think that TrustYou's company culture emerges from the connectivity between different departments. Connectivity promoted through several team events over the year or daily short break sessions around our office playground and kitchen areas. Everybody loves the Friday "beer o'clock" which sometimes overlaps with regular tech talks or table football sessions. Too bad that Oktoberfest is only once a year. What I think it stands out, is the commitment of team members in achieving a common goal. I also like the transparency which has lately evolved through the regular town-‐hall meetings or dashboards pointing out key aspects of our products.

-‐-‐ Anonymous We all wear a lot of hats, and don't have org charts, so you may find yourself lost as to where to turn occasionally. Everyone is really helpful, and will help to point you in the right direction when you do have questions. Or make fun of you when you calendar invite the entire company to your vacation. Don't send calendar requests to team@. Just so you know. As a company, we're passionate about how all the data we collect can be used in so many different ways. I'm constantly hearing about new partnerships and products that we can offer. TrustYou is constantly changing and evolving, so there's rarely a dull moment.

-‐-‐ Keri Dell, Customer Service

53

At TrustYou, we are all very committed and passionate about our work. We put a lot of energy, personality and creativity into our projects and are truly hands-‐on in finding the best solutions for our customers and partners. We love to learn new things and try new technologies or strategies. Since we are going the extra mile not occasionally but every day, the quote "work hard, play hard" really applies to us. Most of us in TrustYou's Munich office are not natives from Munich and moved here from all over the world to study and/or work. While family and friends might not always be geographically close, one can find a kind of surrogate with the "TrustYou family". Different nationalities, languages, personalities – one thing we all have in common is a good sense of humor, playfulness and the passion for nice food and drinks. We like to bring local specialties (and spirits :-‐)) from business trips or home vacations and try them out together – preferably on Fridays at "beer o'clock" while playing some music and recaping the past week. As a true data company with scientific approach, we obviously don't trust labels but do our own measurements, e.g. with the office alcoholometer. From a working perspective, I appreciate the trust that is put in us, the confidence that we are able to handle our tasks and projects independently and the inherent freedom in terms of self organization. I also very much appreciate the open-‐minded and co-‐operative spirit here at TrustYou. Paradoxically, this spirit becomes most visible when something goes wrong. Instead of e.g. blame and accusation like it may happen in other companies, there is a lot of support, common effort and acting in concert in resolving the situation and even turning a problem into a something great. In retrospective we take it as a learning for the future and evolve.

Claudia Ebner, Project Management

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