The Anatomy of an Alchemist
The story of values, the value of stories.
You’ve probably been in touch with one Lumos team member and that’s how you got here. For those of you who are new, I am Andrej, CEO and co-founder of Lumos, and I like to send out a thoughts, updates & surprises to amazing people (that’s you!). Today’s post is all about stories and values.
Stories are part of us
I loved storybooks growing up. As a child, I heard fantastic tales that helped me imagine impossibly bright futures. They shaped my way of looking at life. Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? Such a simple story taught millions of people around the world the value of patience and persistence.
In fact, humanity is built on stories. From the earliest days of civilization, tales have been our compass. They've not just entertained us, but have shaped our very understanding of the world. Greek gods, Norse legends, or tales from the Mahabharata—these myths weren't just bedtime stories. They were frameworks that societies used to explain the unknown, teach morals, and instill a sense of purpose and community.
Fast forward to today: The business world has realized the potential of stories and is packaging them as 'values.' Ideally, they should tell a story that guides our actions and decisions. However, more often than not, those values feel more like internal marketing than real beliefs that transcend short-term business metrics. It’s not an easy thing to get right, because there’s no logical “right or wrong” solution.
I strongly believed that the Lumos team could approach it authentically, showcasing who we really are, while telling a beautiful story — one that we can hopefully tell our family and friends many years from now.
The Story behind The Story
Our adventure started with a dream. We started Lumos because we wanted to transform an entire industry for the better. This inspires us to try our absolute best because we aspire to craft an exceptional story that will stand the test of time.
Seeking Excellence…
The Hero’s Journey celebrates a person who ventures forth, faces trials, transforms, and returns anew. For us, it’s IT (also known as IT Admin, Head of IT, and so on.) We want them to be seen as the Heroes they truly are. No modern company could function properly without them.
This intentionality creates a wonderful reinforcing motion: By striving to elevate others, we elevate ourselves.
You might think. Aren’t we overdoing this? Aren’t we just building a B2B product? Am I not just selling software? Sure, but that’s just one way to look at it. For any document, product, or business strategy, there can be joy and excellence. Joy, in knowing that you did things right. That you gave your all. This goes beyond “work”. It's a mindset we share. It's what brought us here.
As a High-Impact Organization…
Everyone talks about excellence, but very few actually reach it. It’s even harder at the top level in Silicon Valley, where tens of billions of dollars are invested every year. It’s an environment full of professional dreamers. It’s humbling, and at times, scary. However, every memorable success needs a big challenge.
We can build a movement, not just a product if we band together and help each other unlock our potential. We can find our zone of genius (which is always outside of our comfort zone) and solve incredibly challenging problems if we surround ourselves with stunning people that we admire. It’s a contagious energy that makes us succeed and have a blast with genuine connection and laughter.
And that’s where our values come into play. Values are our DNA that weave us together and give us shared purpose. They also reflect who we are at our natural best. They make it clear what we expect from each other. To prevent values from being just words in a doc, we set incentives. We reward, we promote, we manage performance based on these values. They are our guides. Because if we live by them, they become our unfair advantage that will help us create something special.
…True to The Lumos Way.
Frankly, “corporate values” can be awkward sometimes. If done incorrectly, they can feel bossy, dictating how to act and what to do.
To prevent that, we should look at them as guiding forces rather than as rigid laws. They showcase what makes us uniquely great. Think of the Hogwarts Houses. They're so distinct because of the different people in them. That’s what values do. They're uniquely you, me, we. They're that “yes, that’s us” feeling.
Values display our shared identity, as unique as our fingerprints, leaving marks on everything we touch. They create a distinctive aura that we can all rally around in a genuine way. When we talk about Lumos, we don’t just talk about the products we create but also the distinctive philosophy we live by. These values are the bedrock of our unique story. Values need to be memorable and honest so that they can be purposefully shared.
And, It Starts with Each and Every One of Us.
At Lumos, we’ve called ourselves 'Alchemists' since Day 1. Alchemists transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. They turn common matter, overlooked by most, into gold. It’s intentional transformation and creation. Our values are the intrinsic characteristics that describe who we are at our natural best. When all of those things come together consistently, magic happens. This increases the likelihood of our success.
Earlier, we mentioned how we can solve any problem if we surround ourselves with admirable people. And that stunning person is you. “The Anatomy of an Alchemist” describes our four values that each of us strives to display. That’s why we wrote our values as “I” instead of “We.”
We're each on our own Hero's Journey, striving to make a difference and return home transformed with amazing people by our side, just like the characters in the tales we grew up with.
Lumos Values — The Anatomy of an Alchemist
Set the Standard
The Inner Fire
I have this innate passion and drive to create my career’s best work here. To get a great outcome, I constantly ask for feedback to get better, build a habit of urgency and climb mountains if needed. In short, I either find a way or make one, going above and beyond what’s expected.
We held off coming out of stealth mode for two (!) full years, even when we had nearly $1 million in ARR. We wanted to ensure we had a story that was worth sharing before going public. If you're going to tell a story, tell a big one or don’t tell one at all.
And once we had it, we prepared for 6 months for it. We were okay and excited to iterate on initial versions again and again and again until we felt that the website, pitch deck and product is good enough.
It’s part of the Lumos DNA to try to set the standard when it comes to the quality and the drive to get to that quality. That’s why we value drive over experience in hiring. Drive isn't an inherent trait, it's more like a muscle — it can be developed, utilized, and become your unique strength. High drive quickens your learning curve, allowing you to surpass those with more experience.
Whether you're in marketing, sales or engineering, the underlying essence of setting a standard remains the same — the joy of creation, the innate passion to get it done well and the satisfaction of exceptional work. Why? Because we’ll be successful as long as we have stunning colleagues and big challenges.
Discover to Deliver
The Disciplined Mind
Curiosity combined with principled thinking can conquer any challenge. I don’t just assume what the problem is but I am curious to explore and ask “why.” Equipped with insights, I evaluate trade-offs and can showcase a clear reason why I took a certain action.
At Lumos, designing to delight and customer obsession aren’t just concepts; they’re what we do every day. It's not limited to 'design' projects but is applicable to any initiative. By diverging to explore problems and identify opportunities, then converging to advance with often incomplete information, we attain superior outcomes. This approach promotes both deep investigation and a preference for action through principled decision-making.
Seeking Understanding: At the very beginning of Lumos, we started exploring B2C opportunities around finding shadow IT for users. After 20 interviews, we picked up for one interviewee that business might have better use of a shadow IT technology. And so, we iterated from there with dozens of more interviews. Over the first 12 months, we iterated on five different product ideas until we landed on the AppStore for Companies.
Principled Decision Making: Our commitment to careful evaluation and principled decision-making manifests in our extensive strategic planning. We have a vision document spanning multiple years, yearly company strategy, individual team strategies, and quarterly plans that map back to that strategy. We are willing to invest time and care about principled decision making. Or, we scope in v0.5s for our features to keep focused while iterating fast. If we ship small, we can keep our momentum up and our bar high.
Paint in Pink
The Witty Smile
Painting in pink in B2B is about being playfully bold. One, I think big because optimism shapes reality. Two, I communicate and act with a smile, bringing levity into my interactions. Three, I win people’s hearts and minds through a novel story and a clear point of view.
If you think of the competitive landscape in IT and security, all logos are very blue and boring -- none of them are pink (maybe red). We decided to pick pink as our logo color because we believe in being a story-led company and choosing boldness.
Paint in Pink can be interpreted in different ways.
Boldness over Success. Painting in Pink is bold and dreamy. Thinking big is a self-fulfilling prophecy. For instance, examining marathon times reveals how humans can surpass their perceived limitations by setting ambitious goals. You are 1.4x more likely to run a marathon in 3:59h than in 4:01h. This phenomenon is called the Pygmalion Effect. They named it after Pygmalion, an ancient Greek sculptor who fell in love with his creation to the extent that it came alive. At Lumos, we set an almost unreasonable goal of building one AppHQ that will consolidate multiple markets to become the App Company.
Playfulness. Painting in Pink is quirky. We try to infuse our way of communicating and interacting with optimism and smiles, bringing levity into my interactions with others. A smile is often the shortest distance between two people, it’s a universal welcome. Join one of our Zoom meetings and you’ll see the Zoom chat blow up with fun remarks and crazy memes.
Having a Point of View. Painting in Pink is a statement. We have a point of view and convey it through a story that is novel and clear - almost magical. We believe in being a story-led company. Check out our videos here and here that try to live this ethos.
Care Genuinely
The Golden Heart
I am eager to support co-workers and customers and proactively jump in to help -- your problem is my problem. I believe it is with this unity that there is victory. So, I care and proactively work on my relationships with people.
As simple as it is, we believe in caring. Caring is more than just kindness and positive words. It means being attentive to others, genuinely empathetic, and truly taking action for others.
Yet caring goes beyond just supporting our teammates — it extends to our customers, candidates, and external folks we interact with. For example, you can look at our G2 reviews to see how our customer support differentiates Lumos. Or at some of our internal posts, with our “taco culture” of sharing appreciation for one another, and with emojis for showing our values:
What’s your story?
Everyone has values that they live by and I’d love to know yours. Feel free to reply directly to this email, forward it to anyone that’s interested, and, if the above truly resonates with you, we’re hiring.
–Andrej
As an HR - People Partner, I truly appreciated Andrej Safundzic’s post and how it highlights Lumos’ commitment to values-driven growth. In high-growth environments like Lumos, the challenge lies not just in scaling talent but in intentionally building a culture that evolves with the business. I believe embedding core values into every facet of the employee experience ensures alignment between purpose and performance, ultimately fostering innovation and a strong sense of ownership across teams. Kudos to the Lumos team for leading with purpose — I look forward to the opportunity to partner in the future to drive this vision forward.