What I really like about this "our team" sort of philosophy from Ning is its simplisity and dead on accuracy. This is by far the best outline I've seen. I'm already really impressed with the concepts of Ning (check out the Ning Blog) and after reading this I'm convinced these guys are going to be huge! The real question, how long can they go before the bidding wars begin? Wonder who will land them, Yahoo, Microsoft, Google... I have my ideas...what are yours?

"We have been around the start-up block enough times to have a very clear idea of what kind of team we want to build. Here are some of the things we believe in:

• Run fast, fly low, and be cheap
• Promote from within--quickly
• Keep everyone informed, both on the good news and the bad news
• Organize based on a cell structure for both technical and non-technical functions
• 3-5 person teams
  • Flat organization
• Be transparent
  • Review projects every 2 weeks
• Reward innovation, ingenuity, and hard work
• Meritocracy
• Evaluate and reward managers based on development of people
• Top down reassignments of high achievers
• Build a team with potential, drive, curiosity, intelligence and ambition
• Don't have to have experience or a track record
  • We want people to build experience and track records with us
• Train people
• Everyone teaches
• Honest, frequent feedback
• Weekly 1:1, staff, and all hands meetings
• Written career development plans