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What's something successful companies have in common?

You might be thinking of great products or exceptional branding. And you'd be partially correct.

But the CEOs winning in 2025 aren't just shipping products; they're building a company culture that drives their mission. One that scales.

Forget the noise. When we talk about culture, we're not talking about fancy onboarding slides or mission documents. The best of the best are working with systems and tools that shape their company's behaviour.

Oh, and now AI plays a significant role in that.

McKinsey found that using Artificial Intelligence supports scaling company culture. This could be through tools that prompt reflection or workflows that incorporate real-time feedback.

So AI isn't just about automating things to make people work faster. It's about shaping how people work together.

Key players, like Microsoft and Runway, are using this tech to improve how teams collaborate and better live by their values.

We know that culture isn't about what you say. It's what you do.

There's a lot of hype around this, but what's actually working? Here are 14 **hacks** from 10 companies that’ve nailed their culture.
Take note:

**Nvidia**
**OpenAI**
**Databricks**
**Google, DeepMind**
**Scale AI**
**Conviction**
**Theory Ventures**
**Inflection AI**
**Shopify**
**GitHub**

1. Jensen Huang - CEO, Nvidia

Hack 1:

Use AI to explain the reasons behind decisions. Let it help you track the logic behind your choices.

AI is like a second brain for the team at Nvidia.

CEO Jensen Huang recently described Nvidia as "one giant AI," where the team defaults to AI in their everyday work.

One reason for this is more transparent decision-making. By keeping a record of how decisions were made, teams can move quickly without losing track of their reasoning. This transparency is super important when working in highly complex and challenging environments.

They're known for referring to the culture as "The Nvidia Way."

Nvidia thrives on speed, autonomy, and intellectual honesty. People may have a lot of freedom, but they're expected to maintain high accountability and outputs.

A Harvard Business Review case study highlighted that their culture is a significant reason why Nvidia remains so innovative.

2. Mira Murati - CTO, OpenAI

Hack 2:

Utilise AI to empower your team to prototype faster.

Learning fast, or else.

I mean, their motto is "ship and iterate."

OpenAI's CTO, Mira Murati, encourages fast feedback. Try things quickly, reflect openly, and improve each time.

Most companies would wait until the end of a project to reflect on it. But no, not here. OpenAI reflects on its approach as it goes and treats each experiment as a learning opportunity. AI supports this approach by tracking insights and progress over time, not just outputs.

For example, a small but powerful rule they follow is the "campsite principle." That means everyone should leave documentation in better shape than they found it. Which in turn supports a culture of iteration.

Hack 3:

Make cross-team collaboration the norm. Experimentation means working across many fields.

At OpenAI, engineers, researchers, and product teams are all encouraged to collaborate on building things together.

Drawing input across fields, including the humanities and social sciences, helps develop tech more responsibly while strengthening a diverse culture.

3. Ali Ghodsi - CEO, Databricks

Hack 4:

Visibility = Trust = Speed.

Transparency is everything.

Databricks encourages openly sharing how teams work, their tools, and their progress. This way, everyone is kept in the loop.

There's no time for guesswork, sweeping things under the rug and allowing problems to brew.

This kind of transparency fosters a great deal of trust within the company culture.

Everyone can see how the business is really doing.

Hack 5:

Culture is your "cheat sheet."

Ghodsi has a unique perspective on company culture. He sees it as the personality of its CEO.

So, if you want to grow your culture, he thinks you should make it visible. Write it down, share it, and build from it.

He has talked about codifying the company culture with a "cheat sheet", a simple, clear list of principles like truth, openness, and accountability. Once "codified," AI can help track whether these values are alive and kicking.

4. Demis Hassabis - CEO, Google DeepMind

Hack 6:

Culture is a laboratory.

Every team runs with what they call a "cultural hypothesis" at DeepMind, which is a working theory about how they can collaborate better.

Instead of assuming what works, they test it. They treat culture like a live experiment.

AI tools help track the progress of those experiments. By looking at patterns, giving quick feedback, and prompting reflection.

The idea is simple: try, learn, tweak, and repeat.

As Demis Hassabis told MIT Tech Review, DeepMind builds its culture around open-ended exploration. That mindset applies to the people side of things, too, not just the research itself.

When you treat culture like an experiment, teams feel safe to try new things. It shifts the focus from getting it right the first time to learning fast and improving together.

Hack 7:

Build failure into systems.

Progress over perfection.

It's also essential to build failure into your work process, according to DeepMind.

Whether it's a research model or a team ritual, they expect it to change. AI helps support this by logging what they tried (but failed) and how it played out.

The failure itself isn't what's key here. It's the mindset that matters most.

5. Alexandr Wang - CEO, Scale AI

Hack 9:

Stay accountable.

Walk your talk.

Alexandr Wang is big on aligning values, operations, and outcomes.

In a podcast episode with Accel, Wang spoke about how crucial it is for Scale's huge AI mission to align with its culture.

That need for alignment is reflected in their hiring practices.

They're not interested in performative nonsense. Scale hires people who take ownership of their work and have a strong internal drive.

Wang believes that leadership sets the tone. If you want culture to scale, your leaders must embody cultural principles that everyone can follow.

6. Sarah Guo - Founder, Conviction

Hack 10:

Make AI a core skill.

If Sarah Guo is clear about one thing, it's that AI is not optional.

In a recent conversation with Noor Siddiqui, she shared how the things we used to think of as "futuristic" are already the norm.

And she believes this shift isn't just for engineers. Whether you're in sales, design, or strategy, AI literacy is no longer negotiable. It's as basic as writing emails or using spreadsheets.

Everyone at Conviction must engage with the tools and stay current. That culture of continuous learning keeps the team ahead of the curve and helps them adapt to new tech without burning out.

This AI-first mindset drives a culture that's constantly progressing.

7. Tomasz Tunguz - Founder, Theory Ventures

Hack 11:

Use data.

Tomasz Tunguz is known for his practical, data-first mindset.

On his blog, he shares regular insights on how startups can utilise data to make informed decisions. Some ways could be tracking product-market fit, team performance, or addressing a lack of momentum.

But what stands out is how this approach also shapes company culture.

Tunguz believes that good decisions come from knowing what's happening, not just relying on gut instinct.

A culture built on data doesn't get stuck in old habits. This momentum only compounds over time.

8. Mustafa Suleyman - CEO, Inflection AI

Hack 12:

Values rule.

AI is really about people, according to Mustafa Suleyman.

It's not just about being cutting-edge but rather about reflecting human values.

In his book "The Coming Wave," he talks about "values-driven design." It's the idea that we should create technology with empathy and ethics at the core.

That belief is reflected in how Inflection operates. Culture is a reflection of what the company believes is right.

At Inflection AI, a great culture means being clear on what matters and building from there.

9. Tobi Lutke - CEO, Shopify

Hack 13:

Make AI part of every role.

Echoing other AI leaders, CEO Tobi Lütke declared AI literacy "non-optional" In a 2025 internal memo.

Everyone, regardless of their role, is expected to understand how to use AI in their daily work. Designers, developers, and product teams are all using tools like Claude, GitHub Copilot, and other AI systems to work faster and smarter.

If there's a way to automate a task or speed it up with AI, teams should explore that before adding headcount.

AI-First is now the default mode. This shift fits with Shopify's culture of autonomy and learning.

The message is clear: if you're not using AI to enhance your work, you're falling behind.

10. Thomas Dohmke - CEO, GitHub

Hack 14:

CEOs should lead AI-First.

"AI-powered culture must be CEO-driven," Dohmke said, emphasising that while everyone in the company should be AI-fluent, this must begin with the CEO.

Under his leadership, GitHub introduced Copilot, an AI tool that helps developers speed up coding. This tool helped reduce the number of support tickets by 20% in just one year, resulting in a revenue growth of over 45%.

Pretty impressive.

But it's not just a productivity tool. Reshaping everyday work around AI is changing the culture, which enables GitHub's teams to work faster and smarter, keeping them ahead of the game.

These A-players aren't just having fun with their shiny AI toys.

They're using tech to reshape how teams work, taking an AI-native approach to company culture.

What do they have in common?

They:

→ Stay true to their values and mission.
→ See AI-culture as mandatory.
→ See company culture as fuel for growth.
→ Remain transparent to build trust (and that trust builds speed).

What role does AI play in building a winning culture for you?

Are you serious about your culture?

Send us a message here. We'll help you scale what matters.

14 Team Hacks AI Founders Are Using In 2025