One of the most critical but challenging things for any startup is building a high-performance team that is engaged, inspired, and motivated. Young startups often ignore this in service of chasing product-market fit, but building a company is as important as developing a product. Successful startups do both. At Prefect, we began investing in culture and HR infrastructure very early, and have seen considerable tangible ROI for our company and our team as a result. We firmly believe in empowering our team through positive structures, as this enables them to do the best work of their careers. We trust our team to solve problems and execute, and the team trusts the company in turn to support them in their personal and professional endeavors.