The Soul of Scale: A Playbook for Scaling Culture

What happened

Abhishek Paul's title at the time was Culture Shepherd, settled on in about three minutes because nobody could agree on anything better. He spent most of the hour on why culture gets worse if you leave it alone.

The idea he kept coming back to was entropy. Things tend towards disorder without anyone doing anything to them: metal rusts, and a company gets worse as it grows in size or in age. Culture is not something you set and then have. It degrades unless somebody is actively holding it up, and most people will not do that for you. They will do their job, do it well, learn, and go home, which is a reasonable thing to want from a job.

He was blunt about alignment. A team where everyone hits their own goal but not the same goal is not a team, and he reached for the old line about the operation being a success and the patient dying. Tasks differ. Goals should not.

His practical advice was to overcommunicate past the point of irritation. Say it the way a parent says it, until people are sick of hearing your voice and have no doubt at all what you mean. Then expect to keep saying it. Interns still fail to turn up; the reinforcing never finishes.

He closed on three questions. Do you have the right people, are they in the right seats, and are they doing the right things. Somebody can be talented, committed and in the correct role and still be putting their energy in a different direction from everybody else.

What was promised

A Conversation with Abhishek Paul, Culture Shepherd at Kissflow

Abhishek Paul

Culture Shepherd at Kissflow

Abhishek Paul has worked for about two decades in large enterprises, start-ups, and scaling companies within the technology space. This experience, witnessing the industry's cycles of growth and decline, made him curious about intrinsic motivators and how to scale them successfully within an organization.

Currently, he is the Culture Shepherd at Kissflow, where he tends to the company's culture by guiding its direction and creating systems and practices to protect the "soul" of the organization as it grows, ages, and loses some of its original builders. This "non-BS approach" involves creating new ways of running people operations for hiring, performance management, growth, and rewards, specifically designed for the modern technology workforce.

His passion for applying "Systems Thinking" principles to create meaning-driven, high-performance work cultures led him to pursue a doctoral thesis at IIT Madras. Before his current role, Abhishek had the privilege of being on a special assignment with the SWAT team under the COO's office at Infosys. His objective was to lead the PMO in transforming the company's policies and processes to help the massive organization regain the nimble feel of a "small company" while retaining its value and scale.

Saturday, September 27, 2025

Format:

Fireside Chat & Live Q&A

Location:

Kovan Labs,

, Avinashi Rd, TNHB Colony, Indira Nagar, Civil Aerodrome Post, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641014

Your company is growing, but is your culture breaking?

It's the classic scaling dilemma. The tight-knit, energetic culture that powered your early success starts to fade as new teams are added, processes become rigid, and the original builders move on. How do you scale the business without losing the "soul" of the organization?

Following our last discussion on founding an intentional culture, The Product Space is proud to continue the conversation by tackling the next great challenge: scaling it.

Join us for an exclusive fireside chat with Abhishek Paul, the Culture Shepherd at Kissflow. This isn't a theoretical talk; it's a playbook from a leader whose entire role is dedicated to protecting and nurturing culture through high growth. We'll explore his "non-BS approach" to redesigning people operations—from hiring to performance management—and learn how to apply Systems Thinking to build a meaningful, high-performance work culture that lasts.

In this session, you will learn The first signs that your culture is at risk during scaling.

How to design systems for hiring, growth, and rewards that protect your company's "soul."

Practical lessons from managing culture at both a massive enterprise (Infosys) and a high-growth scale-up (Kissflow).

Agenda (IST)

10:15 AM - 10:25 AM: Opening Remarks by The Product Space

Abhishek Paul

11:50 AM - 12:00 PM: Closing Remarks & Final Networking

Who Should Attend?

Founders and C-Suite leaders of Series A, B, and C startups

Product Managers and Engineering Leads managing growing teams

HR and People Operations professionals looking for modern approaches

Anyone who has felt the culture shift as their company has grown

About the Host

The Product Space is a community-driven organization based in Coimbatore, dedicated to fostering the product management ecosystem. We bring together professionals from product, design, and technology to learn, share, and grow through curated events, workshops, and networking opportunities.

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