Ask most investors what it takes to be best-in-class and you’ll hear the same answers: find great deals, have a strong investment strategy, create value.

What is less discussed is how you operate as a team behind the scenes. The day-to-day rhythms and expectations that shape how decisions get made, how people show up, and how the team gets better over time.

In other words: culture.

At Copilot Capital, we treat culture as infrastructure. It’s a set of shared habits that underpin everything we do and that we rely on to stay focused, move quickly, and keep learning. We’ve built it deliberately, because we’re a small team, doing hard things, and we can’t afford the drag that comes from misalignment or ambiguity.

In practice, that means:

• 𝗪𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽. Everyone on the team is empowered – and expected – to lead. That includes having the hard conversations, disagreeing respectfully, and committing once a decision is made.

•  𝗪𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀. No egos, no passengers. We admit what we don’t know, ask questions, seek feedback, and aim to improve every week.

• 𝗪𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹𝘀. Success here is collective. We share context, we stand on each other’s shoulders, and we deeply respect time – our own and each other’s.

• 𝗪𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲. Scaling a business is hard. We lean into the “sweaty back moments” because that’s where growth happens.

• 𝗪𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱. We show appreciation for others. We open doors. We add value to the ecosystem and pay it back.

Company culture shouldn’t be about virtue-signalling. It’s about performance. The best software companies are run this way – so we believe the best software investors should be too.

Culture might not show up in your P&L. But over time, it determines everything else that does.