> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://vaughan.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Vend10: Year Five — Be Excellent - URL: https://vaughan.ai/blog/vend10-year-five-be-excellent/ - Published: 2020-09-30T19:06:51.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-07T23:23:33.000Z - Author: Vaughan Fergusson - Tags: Vend10, Startup, Startup Lessons, Retail Technology, Retail, #medium-import ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/d2a1b2281e9d.jpg) A slide from an old values presentation I used to onboard Venders. Freddie believed in awesomeness. Having fun as you go is important, and celebrating the wins as much so. But at the same time you need to be great at what you do, or it’s just fun and cakes. Being excellent is hard, doing the impossible is harder. To make sure you are going the right way you need to have values to guide you and your team, so you know what to celebrate. At Vend we have our team values that [Mel mentioned as a key part of our culture](https://vaughan.ai/blog/vend10-year-three-culture-eats-strategy/), and have pretty much stayed the same since day one. They were developed roughly a year into the business at the point of time where we had a sizable number of people committed to the Vend journey. At this point I was asked by a Vender if we have a company mission statement and values. We did not, well nothing written down, so I quickly put together a presentation to onboard new team members with. My design skills were not great, but that presentation evolved and was used every other month to bring everyone together and remind them why we do what we do. The business has grown somewhat so we no longer roll out my terrible slide show (although I will include some slides for lols), but from that presentation four things stuck and remain as part of daily life at Vend. ### We bring delight to our retailers > “If we are doing anything less than delighting retailers then we are doing it wrong” — Said anyone at Vend It’s obvious, but our customers are what we are all about. We love retail. We think the world wants more vibrant and diverse independent retail communities and we will do whatever it takes to help retailers succeed. We know the face of retail is changing. We also know that through this change bricks & mortar continues to be a consumer’s choice place to shop and a place where we can have remarkable experiences, magic, just not possible digitally. And retail is hard. It may take 5 minutes to open an ecommerce store and compete with a hundred thousand other ecommerce stores that opened that month but bricks and mortar retail is not only hard, it’s what works. 80% of all shopping is in stores and that stat is not changing fast, not even after Covid. So we help retailers in any way we can be amazing because it makes the world a better place. It requires a lot more passion, grit and perseverance to succeed in retail that is truly committed to the customer, we hold on to this. But honestly, it makes sense to make your customers happy. Word of mouth is one of Vend’s largest forms of organic growth. You make your customers happy with remarkable experiences and they tell other people. Retailers generally are next door to other retailers. They are friends. We know we are doing a good job when we get great feedback or hear “a friend told me about Vend”. This all goes back to [the first Vend retailer](https://vaughan.ai/blog/vend10-year-one-start/) where we literally bought them a macbook so they could get up and running. Then there was the time we sourced a bunch of iPads on short notice and hand delivered them for a Lululemon popup event. The team doing after hours setups for Dulux. Running across town and rescuing broken printers. Visiting Sennheiser and ending up doing an impromptu training session for their management team. However, on the flip side, when we get negative feedback we need to treat that as precious as gold. A customer is telling you something you need to listen to. That’s how you get better by taking on board all the negative feedback and acting on it. Compliments are nice, but they just give you a big head. ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/1a841023eea8.jpg) We displayed our support rating loud and proud even when it wasn’t 100%. ### We make the impossible happen, often We like to do the impossible. If it’s hard it’s the right thing to do. It’s just something we believe and we know a little secret we are happy to share with you. First, how to do the impossible is mostly about attitude. Vend became famous (or infamous) for our JFDI approach to things. Just Fucking Do it. Like a sassier Nike. A little controversial to have a swear in your values, or to make it into a giant neon sign you to hang on your wall (we have such a sign). JFDI is less of an instruction, but more of a philosophy. Don’t overthink it, just do it (but still use common sense judgement) ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/c9994b15b195.jpg) Another of my slides — Startups are like roller coasters, best check before you strap in with an idea. There are lots of phrases I could use here, like perfect is the enemy of good enough. But really JFDI is about learning by trying, try not to fail but acknowledge that failure is a learning experience too. The faster you try something and get to a success or failure the better. We would use data to inform us on the best course of action. But sometimes even the data doesn’t tell you everything and actually doing something is better than doing nothing. The best decision is the right one. The next best is the wrong one. The worst one is none at all. ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/92ee7b297c4f.jpg) Process is important, but too much kills innovation and honestly anyone’s ability to get shit done. Impossible is a misused word. Why try, it’s impossible! But we know a secret, often what people really mean is “unbelievable”. We like to try and do things that others believe couldn’t be done, sometimes we fail, we are human, but when it works it’s like we did something impossible. ### We bring our best self and we look after each other Doing impossible things daily is hard, so we need to look after each other and be a better person in the process. We take care of our Vend family. This value has changed a bit over time, we used to just say take care of our Vend family, but some thought it was odd to act like a family, when we are professionals that work together — and you don’t fire your family, not even creepy uncle Joe who needs an intervention. But really the label doesn’t matter, we still take care of each other. We need to be good people, and understand that everyone is going through their own world of challenges, and kindness is never wasted. It also makes people want to be together knowing others have got your back. When someone needs help, we give it even if it isn’t on our job description. We also want you to be you. Why would you want to try to be someone else? We like you as you with all your quirks. That’s how you have diverse thinking and it makes work interesting when no two Venders are the same. We celebrate this diversity and we treat everyone how they want to be treated. With respect. ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/23e4fc573d21.jpg) Perry’s best self is a cactus. Learning is a lifelong endeavour, and we embrace that. I have seen fantastic journeys of Venders who have joined as part of support or sales and in a few years have expanded into engineering, product, leadership and moved on to bigger things in other companies. We also say once a Vender, always a Vender — the family doesn’t need to work together to be a family still. Over 1,000 Venders have come and gone over the last 10 years. I hope the time at Vend was something special for everyone. I also know it has made the industry and ecosystem better. ### Act like an owner Lastly, it’s not tiddlywinks. We need to make sure we own our actions, good and bad. We need to make sure we act like we own the joint, and ultimately we need to have a successful business, otherwise it’s really hard to help retailers when you can’t pay your own bills. We are fortunate that Vend is break-even and growing, which is pretty incredible and thanks to all those 1,000 Venders who acted like an owner over the years. Acting like an owner is more than calling fair cop if you get something wrong — it’s also celebrating the wins. Now I don’t mean cake every day, but it’s hard doing what we do, and we need to be reminded now and then that it is working and be proud of what we have achieved. ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/e23dc39602bf.jpg) A slightly different interpretation of act like an owner. I am incredibly proud of what our team has done, we started with an idea in a spare room and now we span the globe as a category leader. I am incredibly proud of our values which have stuck for a decade. That means they are real, and not made up. It’s what I believed 10 years ago and we all still believe now. Your values will be different, they need to be what resonates with you and your team. They are harder to add once you are underway, but get them right and they should outlast you. ![](https://vaughan.ai/content/images/2026/11/42e24b877252.png) This meeting room is now forever known as the JFDI room.