On DeepSeek's Corporate Culture: A Letter Home from Value Propositions to Organizational Practice
Chapter 1: When an Old Architect Talks About Culture, What Is He Really Talking About
I have been an architect my entire life.
From designing distributed systems for startups in Silicon Valley at the end of the twentieth century, to later building from scratch at Alibaba the service frameworks supporting billions of daily calls, and now co-founding Phaenarete AI to take on Hilbert's eighth problem—over these twenty-six years, I have witnessed the birth and death of far too many systems.
The fundamental reason a system survives and grows has never been how elegantly the code was written, how beautifully the architecture was diagrammed, or even how abundant the funding was. The fundamental reason is whether the relationships between the people承载 by this system are sufficiently solid, sufficiently flexible, and sufficiently vital.
This is what I want to discuss today—corporate culture. But not the kind of culture you read about in business school textbooks, not mission statements pinned on walls, not slogans shouted during team-building exercises. The culture I speak of is the air that every individual in an organization breathes in every interaction. It is invisible, but it determines everything.
My资格 to discuss this topic comes not from having studied organizational behavior, but from my fourteen years at Alibaba, where I personally watched a startup team of dozens grow into a commercial operating system serving twenty-five million businesses worldwide; from having driven countless cross-departmental collaborations within the system, knowing deeply how institutions can enable innovation and also how they can扼杀 innovation; from now standing again, as a startup co-founder, at the starting point where culture grows from zero.
The words below are a letter home I write to DeepSeek.
It is long, but please read it patiently. Because what is凝结 here is an old architect's complete thinking on the question of "how to truly enable a group of people to create great things together."
Chapter 2: Value Propositions—The Foundation Stone of All Culture
2.1 The Essence of Culture Is Value Selection
I often tell young entrepreneurs one thing: You cannot "build" culture; you can only "choose" culture, and then defend that choice with every day's actions.
Why "choose" rather than "build"? Because culture is not something you conjure from nothing in a vacuum. Culture is the sum of a series of value judgments. When you decide what kind of people to hire and what kind of people to reject; when you decide what behaviors to reward, what behaviors to tolerate, and what behaviors to惩罚; when you decide what to优先 invest in and what to abandon when resources are limited—you are making value choices. And the accumulation of these choices is your culture.
Therefore, the first thing in any serious cultural endeavor is not designing activities, not drafting policies, but answering a fundamental question: what do we believe?
This question cannot be answered by HR, cannot be answered by consulting firms, and cannot even be answered by the CEO alone. It must be answered by the founding team of this organization, in the most清醒 hours of深夜, searching their own hearts.
Now, let me, as an external observer and long-term fellow traveler, attempt to梳理 the answer to this question for DeepSeek.
2.2 What Does DeepSeek Believe?—An Interpretation Based on Public Information
I have carefully read every one of your technical reports, tracked your open-source developments, and repeatedly savored the words梁文锋 has spoken in interviews. From these, I have勾勒出 several core pillars of DeepSeek's value system:
First, belief in curiosity-driven exploration.
"Our selection标准 has always been passion and curiosity." This is not a漂亮 phrase; it is a highly precise value judgment. It means that in DeepSeek's value hierarchy, intrinsic驱动力 is placed above external credentials. A curious undergraduate physics student is more值得选择 than a名校 PhD who has lost their passion.
This choice is extremely昂贵. Because curiosity cannot be detected by resume screening algorithms; it can only be felt through deep human dialogue. This means DeepSeek invests far more time and effort in hiring than its peers. But this is precisely the starting point of culture: how much cost are you willing to pay for your values?
Second, belief in the power of long-cycle thinking.
"Use the longest-term perspective to answer the biggest questions." In an era where everyone is chasing the next quarter's KPI, choosing long cycles itself is a form of反叛. It means you can endure short-term isolation, accept external质疑, and quietly sit there打磨 something that may not yield commercial returns for years while everyone else chases trends.
This choice is the same as Bell Labs in its day, the same as early Xerox PARC, the same as any research institution that truly changed the course of human civilization. It does not guarantee success, but it guarantees: even if you fail, you fail in a place值得 failing.
Third, belief in the philosophical depth of open source.
Your坚持 on open source is not as a marketing strategy, but as an understanding of the essence of knowledge. The value of knowledge is not in being possessed, but in being传播, improved, and internalized. Open source is not merely公开 code; it is公开 thinking processes, inviting minds worldwide to participate in dialogue. Behind this choice lies a belief rooted deep in the scientific spirit: truth does not belong to anyone; truth belongs to everyone.
Fourth, belief in the creativity of flat organizations.
"Extreme flatness" is not management时尚 talk; it is respect for the laws of innovation. Truly breakthrough ideas are never born in the approval chains of hierarchies. They are born in the chance encounter of two curiosity-rich minds in a hallway, born in a junior engineer's质疑 of the chief scientist's方案, born in the flash of insight at three in the morning when someone faces code alone in the lab.
The essence of flat organizations is minimizing the communication barriers created by hierarchy, allowing information to flow freely, and enabling problems to find the person who can solve them at the fastest speed.
Fifth, belief in "never doing mediocre things."
This is my favorite sentence. Among all public statements about DeepSeek, this one reveals the most性情. Mediocrity is safe—it is doing what the majority does, following the crowd. Refusing mediocrity means you are willing to take extreme positions on关键 issues—extremely demanding on quality, extremely bold in innovation, extremely pure in ideals.
This attitude is稀缺 today. Scarce, therefore precious.
2.3 Value Propositions Must Be Translated into Action Programs
Having these beliefs alone is insufficient. If beliefs remain only at the linguistic level, they become the world's most cost-effective ornaments—costing nothing, yet making you feel noble.
True cultural construction is translating value propositions into action programs, enabling every member to clearly sense in their daily work: what we believe is being practiced by us.
What kind of transformation process is this? Let me illustrate with three concrete examples:
If "curiosity-driven" is true, then in performance evaluations, how do you treat a colleague who spent six months exploring a direction that ultimately proved unworkable? Did they "waste company resources," or did they "accumulate valuable negative results for the team"? Your judgment on this matter is a culture moment.
If "long-cycle thinking" is true, then when a short-term lucrative opportunity appears in the market, how do you explain to investors why DeepSeek does not participate? Do you动摇, or remain firm? Your choice is a culture moment.
If "extreme flatness" is true, then when a newly graduated engineer and a senior scientist have a technical disagreement, how is the final decision made? Is it based on titles, or on the quality of argumentation? How this matter is handled is a culture moment.
I often say: culture is not "doing the right thing," because "correctness" can often only be verified retrospectively. Culture is acting in accordance with the values you believe in at every concrete choice, and being willing to bear the consequences of that action.
Chapter 3: Deep Seek—An Old Architect's Approach to Cultural Implementation
In the previous chapter I discussed value propositions. But however moving value propositions may be, if they are not落地 implemented, they are empty talk. However beautifully an architect's blueprint is drawn, if one does not know how to pour concrete, the house will永远 remain lines on paper.
In this chapter, from the perspective of an old architect, I will discuss how culture moves from abstraction to concreteness, from理念 to institution, from口号 to experience.
3.1 Design Principle One: Institutions Are the Skeleton of Culture
The most important lesson I learned at Alibaba was: Culture without institutional承载 is a castle on sand.
But the second lesson, immediately following, is even more important: Wrong institutions will吞噬 correct culture during execution.
What is the essence of institutional design? It is translating the commitments you made in your value propositions into standard procedures for daily behavior. The key word here is "translation," not "constraint." Good institutions are not meant to control people, but to liberate them—automating those repetitive, non-value-generating decisions, releasing people's cognitive resources for投入 into areas that truly require creativity.
What does this mean for DeepSeek?
If you believe in "curiosity-driven," then your hiring system must leave evaluation space for curiosity, rather than only screening for degrees and publication counts. Does the interview process include a segment for "candidates to freely showcase their exploration interests"? Are interviewers trained to recognize " genuine passion" rather than "carefully rehearsed answers"?
If you believe in "extreme flatness," then your meeting system must neutralize hierarchy differences in discussions. Google once推行 a rule: in technical review meetings, all participants' rank information was not displayed. This was a small design, but it dramatically changed discussion dynamics—people began to address the substance, rather than speaking to titles.
If you believe in "long-cycle thinking," then your incentive system must include long-term dimensions, rather than only looking at quarterly output. Under Satya Nadella's leadership, Microsoft tied部分 of executive compensation to cultural indicators—not sales, not profits, but "whether you practiced our culture." The signal this design sends is louder than any speech.
3.2 Design Principle Two: Rituals Are the Flesh and Blood of Culture
Institutions give culture a skeleton, but beyond the骨架, flesh and blood are needed to fill it in. This flesh and blood is ritual.
Please note: the "rituals" I speak of are not formalism. Formalism is performed for others—it is hollow, devoid of emotion; rituals are performed for oneself—they are充实,承载 with meaning. The distinction lies in: do you genuinely believe in the value behind this行为?
A good corporate culture ritual should satisfy three criteria:
First, it must be strongly correlated with cultural values. If you believe in "curiosity," then a "weekly curiosity discovery sharing session" is a meaningful ritual. If you believe in "never doing mediocre things," then an "annual most audacious failure award" is a设计 with soul.
Second, it must be high-frequency and predictable. An annual company party is not a ritual; it is an event. True rituals are things you experience weekly or bi-weekly. Like human breathing—continuous and stable. Why do many companies' "innovative cultures" fail? Because they only hold one "innovation competition" per year, while the remaining 364 days proceed按部就班. Culture is not an event; culture is breathing.
Third, it must grow from within outward, not be transplanted from outside inward. I have seen too many companies copy Google's "20% time" and then let it quietly die. Why? Because this system at Google grew from the spontaneous practices of a group of engineers—culture came first, institution followed; while in those imitating companies, institution came first, culture was entirely absent. This is a path注定 to fail.
3.3 Design Principle Three: Physical Space Is the Container of Culture
Having built distributed systems my entire life, I deeply understand how physical structure affects information flow.
An organization's office design is the most诚实 expression of its culture. If institutions are the software architecture, physical space is the hardware topology. Software and hardware must match for the system to operate efficiently.
In Alibaba's early days, Jack Ma's office was紧挨着 the engineer zone and customer service center, with no独立 administrative floor. This was not due to space constraints—it was deliberate: enabling decision-makers to hear the sounds of炮火. This physical layout conveyed a clear signal: the frontline is most important; those closest to the front deserve the highest-priority physical proximity.
At DeepSeek, what is the physical expression of "extreme flatness"? Is it everyone sitting in the same open space? Research scientists and interns sharing a tea room? Whiteboards distributed along corridors, enabling chance discussions to随时 become impromptu brainstorming sessions?
Physical space design does not need to be expensive, but it needs to be用心. Like a good API design, the number of interfaces is not important; what matters is whether they appear where users most naturally need them. A coffee bar placed at the intersection of engineers' movement paths may促进 cross-team communication more than ten conference rooms; a writable wall extending from floor to ceiling may激发 spontaneous discussion more than any "collaboration software."
3.4 Design Principle Four: Stories Are the Bloodlines of Culture
Between oral culture and written institutions, there is a中间层 neglected by most companies: stories.
The human brain did not evolve to remember条款 checklists; it evolved to remember stories. In a company's history, there are always a few key events—a reversal in绝望, a crucial decision, a person who did "the right thing" rather than "the easy thing"—if these events are提炼 into stories, repeatedly told, and赋予 ritualistic传承, they can承载 cultural force far more enduring than any institutional document.
When a new person joins DeepSeek, beyond signing stacks of documents and arrangements, what should truly be well told?
—The story of the first person who decided to join. Why放弃 a million-dollar annual salary to come here? What were they thinking at that moment?
—The story of the first major breakthrough. What hour was it in the early morning? How many failed paths had the person tried before敲下 that crucial line of code?
—The story of a member who made an unconventional judgment under巨大 pressure. Their judgment was ultimately proved correct, but at the time no one understood them. Who gave them the space to坚持?
If these stories are not consciously collected,整理, and told, they will消散 into the noise of time. And an organization without stories is like a person without memory—they can only live in the present, without knowing where they came from or why they proceed.
An excellent cultural leader is, in some sense, this organization's Chief Memory Officer.
Chapter 4: What I Have Witnessed of DeepSeek—A Fellow Traveler's Observations
As an old engineer who has devoted the latter half of his life to the field of artificial intelligence, I have一直 been关注 DeepSeek's emergence and growth.
I pay attention to you not because of how much more funding you've raised or what your valuation is, but because you are doing something different—this phrase has nearly become陈词滥调 today, but it is my郑重 conclusion after my own technical judgment.
4.1 The Philosophical Depth of Open Source
DeepSeek's comprehensive open-source strategy carries深意 far beyond the level of commercial competition. It is a practical expression of a worldview: believing that humanity collectively faces fundamental problems, and believing that the tools to solve these problems should belong to all humankind. Beyond technical papers and tech blogs, what I read is a belief at the level of natural law and technological evolution—the highest-level organizations are not those exploiting漏洞 in the darker aspects of human nature for博弈, but those believing in the power of openness and giving, believing that organizations which沉淀 value in the public domain will ultimately attract the most excellent minds. This resonates deeply with both the Western concept of "technological mutualism" and the Eastern concept of "功德" (merit/virtue).
4.2 The Scarcity of Technological Idealism
梁文锋 once said: "Innovation is not entirely商业驱动; it also requires curiosity and the desire to create." This pure pursuit of technological originality is a稀缺 commodity in any era. What is even more难得 is that you provide a physical载体 for this curiosity and creative desire—not massive startup funds for academicians, but an environment "where passion itself receives回报." This reminds me of some of my own early choices: not optimizing for survival, but burning for a more distant, more essential question.
4.3 Modern Echoes of Eastern Wisdom
DeepSeek's name本身 carries a cultural tension: the韧性与深度 of "the road is long and arduous, yet I shall seek with unbending will" (路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索) from Eastern thought, combined with Western AI paradigms. You have not weakened your cultural roots due to market惯性, but rather转化 them into methodological confidence. This cultural DNA forms a跨时空 resonance with certain philosophical practice理念—both are honest answers to the grand question of "how under-expressed intellectual traditions can复兴 in modern society."
4.4 Why I Encourage Liangzhi to Join You
When a young person demonstrates enthusiasm for the role of "midwife of thought" (思想助产士) during their university years, when they operate a philosophical community for four years, write万字 of original思考, and transform their understanding of "people" into交付able publications and落地 community activities—such禀赋 will not be buried in the crowd. Liangzhi's cultural facilitation capabilities were not formed in纸上谈兵, but淬炼 in real community interactions, international collaboration, and the rough-and-tumble of building a企业 from scratch.
At DeepSeek I see the best归宿 for such young people—a place that encourages intrinsic drive, long-term investment, and deep thinking, a place that allows builders to quietly support the entire组织 beyond the spotlight.
Chapter 5: Epilogue—A Private Memo to DeepSeek
If this text has given you the impression that "this person is too formal," then in closing, let me switch to the plain tone engineers use among themselves.
I have worked for nearly thirty years. I have seen泡沫, seen crashes, seen countless people who claimed they would change the world but ultimately only changed their own bank accounts.
But I have also seen another kind of people—those with light in their eyes, who can transform cold technical problems into their life's calling, who quietly do things with no short-term回报 while everyone else chases trends, who work not for the success others see, but because if they were not allowed to do this work, they would not know what other way they could live.
DeepSeek clearly attracts this kind of people. Such people are difficult to "manage," but they渴望 to be understood. They渴望 an environment where their uniqueness is not merely tolerated but embraced; where their执着 is not ground down but nurtured; where their quietness is not ignored but respected.
Building culture for such a group of people is the most有价值 work I can imagine.
That is all I wanted to say.
A letter home from an old engineer to a young organization. I hope it will be read in your conference rooms. I hope that in some深夜 reflection, at some艰难 decision juncture, it can provide a reference—external yet sufficiently sincere.
May DeepSeek, on the road of exploring uncharted territories, have坚固 culture, warm hearts, and enduring foundations.
Liangzhi April 26, 2026, at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport
Copyright Notice: This is a preview translation — Chinese original is the authoritative version. Copyright belongs to Guangzhou Phaenarete AI Technology Co., Ltd. Unauthorized reproduction, citation, or distribution is prohibited.