Things We've Learned So Far

Notional Labs has learned a lot since its inception. Here are some of our key lessons that helped us grow and shape our team, as well as build our reputation and trust with our delegators, partners and clients.
  1. Focus on the users, and the rest will follow. Notional wouldn't exist without the delegators, clients and partners who have put their trust in us. We perform better when we try to see ourselves through their eyes. We grow a lot more when we focus on providing a better service.
  2. Better is always possible. We can always improve something - efficiency, communications, uptime, decentralization. We strive to constantly improve and enhance our company and team. If you have any feedback you think could help us improve, then let us knowhere
  3. Each person plays a unique role in the machine. From the infrastructure lead to the office cleaner, everyone at Notional is here for a reason. Everyone contributes to make the machine run better, and everyone deserves respect and acknowledgement for their contributions.
  4. People work better when they're more involved. All new onboards at Notional are put on a vested equity agreement. This has led to our team feeling a sense of real ownership for the work they do.
  5. Let staff grow in their own direction. We give Notional's team members the tools, training, and tasks they need to grow. There are many opportunities to take and paths to walk once basic training is complete, and this decision is ultimately the individual's alone.
  6. It's essential to leave your comfort zone - but having a nice chair is also important. Our team is our bread and butter - it's how we can serve our customers and grow our company. We challenge them and expect them to grow, but we know how important it is to look after them and provide the best possible working conditions. We still haven't got around to buying office beanbags, but we'll get there one day...
  7. There's always something new to learn. Notional doesn't do everything perfectly. We've made our fair share of mistakes and tried our best to learn from them. There are still problems ahead in our path, but each one serves as a chance to reflect, redrawn, and grow.
  8. Communication is key. Organizing Notional's comms network took a long time and it's still not perfect. We use several tools and integrations to ensure customer messages are seen and responded to quickly. This is a constant battle in the blockchain space, but we have made some great progress.
  9. Real growth needs to be sustainable. When boring a tunnel, you don't just drill a continual hole through the mountain. Instead, a machine drills one small section, then scaffolds and builds the tunnel around it, then continues to the next small section. In this way, the tunnel is built without the mountain caving in on it. Notional grew very quickly in the beginning. This was great, but it meant later on we spent a lot of time patching in holes and building a framework to sustain our growth. We're still perfecting this process, but now we are better able to sustainably manage our growth.
  10. Profitability for all our stakeholders. Notional Labs is a business. We're lucky to working in a space that pushes the boundaries of technology and finance, and many of our team would still be in this space whether they were being paid to or not. But at the end of the day we strive to make a profit for the stakeholders at Notional. We are unapologetically capitalist.
  11. Social responsibility. What principles list would be complete without a nod to social and environmental responsibility? But with this we are very serious. Blockchain and cryptocurrency are powerful forces. They have the potential to change the way people store information, transact value, and maintain their privacy. They also have the ability to cause a lot of harm - financial and other - if not used responsibly. We've seen how disaster can ruin ordinary people in the volatile cryptocurrency markets. We aim to inform and educate wherever we can so they can make better decisions. We strive to use our own power in this space to keep its vision aligned with that outlined by Satoshi Nakamoto in the originalbitcoin whitepaper.