Flux Manifesto
Startups are pioneers. Where solution is not obvious and success is not granted, they explore the unknown to disrupt the existing markets. But for ideas to reach their full commercial potential, and the entrepreneurs to achieve exceptional profits, they need a culture that fuels imagination and facilitates deep connections to other like-minded business mavericks. In other words, they need a culture that enables play.
Incorporating playful fun into work environment triggers innovation, encourages teamwork, enhances problem-solving capabilities, and keeps us functional under stress. But most importantly – play brings joy. And who wants to live a joyless life? Microsoft brings you Flux. It’s more than a co-working space – it’s a playground for ideas to develop and flourish.
Flux offers a community where you can rest a while to leverage the benefits, and use the muscles of a big corporation to cultivate your new-born idea to never-before-seen heights. Here you can play, but you don’t have to play by the rules. No orders given or taken, instead Flux provides an unrestricted flow of inspiration that will have a clear impact on the volume of your business. Come play and create the next Finnish phenomena. Your success is our success.
House Rules
Change
Startups are a breed of companies that needs and lives on constant change and evolution. Microsoft Flux startups should approach their ideas with a healthy dose of criticism to develop themselves further. Every day in Flux will look very different, so adjusting to changing environment is a key, taking advantage of the buzzing atmosphere even better.
Fun and a bit weird
Microsoft Flux aims to be a playground of ideas, so we approach work like play (hint hint the big word) and Flux is a safe ground to test your weirdest ideas and projects. We guarantee that you will be inspired to quirkiness by e.g. Attack from Mars pinball machine, completely yellow meeting room or by the relaxing drinks corner.
Growth in learning
Flux as a word means constant change. It’s not a coincidence we named the space like this. We feel that trying something new, creating ideas, starting companies all rely on constant learning and the growth that comes from it. No one is ever ready, so building and honing your skills is crucial.
Open minded
The world is full of wonders, and Flux is there to give people an opportunity to discover new ideas and share them. Being open minded is a mindset where we look at the possibilities and opportunities in new things, not at the obstacles or inconveniences they might cause. We are approaching Flux with the same mentality, nothing is set in stone. We will open-mindedly change.
Be humble
As the other house rules have pointed out, no one is ever ready and we have a lot to learn. Being humble plays a big role in admitting that. Therefore, we ask you to be humble in Flux, so that you have room to grow and everyone is respected in the community.
It’s our space
Flux is a community space that we take care together. Everyone will participate and help putting the dishes to the dishwasher, clean their own trash and wonder together why the coffee machine isn’t working and eventually fix it 😉
Build Flux
Flux isn’t just faceless people accidently working in the same place, it is a community. Everyone is contributing and helping. We expect that all of our in-house startups learn some new content and teach some new content. How it works is, in the first week we will give you some materials to go through and then on the second week you teach something else to the other people at the space. The lesson doesn’t have to be anything big, around 15-30 minutes is enough. The lesson can be on anything – experience on selling to big companies or insights from IoT etcSo in a nutshell, the community learns from it’s members.
Be accountable
We at Flux expect you to weekly tell us how is it going. Our team will meet up with you weekly to give advice, tips or just high fives if everything is going perfectly. We will also host biweekly “town halls” with the whole in-house startup community to share challenges and success. Entrepreneurs anonymous one could say.
Open and honest
We want Flux to be place where people feel comfortable sharing their ideas, and give feedback to other ideas. A space where you can trust that you can get the feedback you need, and feel great. We want people to be open to possibilities whether it is in a meeting room or meeting a stranger over a cup of coffee at the Flux kitchen.