The OCV Style Guide is used for our handbook and public-facing materials. It provides guidelines to keep our content and communications consistent and effective. It is a living document and should be referenced often for the latest guidance.

Content Philosophy

Content at OCV is dynamic and iterative. Our public communication channels (handbook, blog, social media) are transitional spaces that are constantly evolving as we gain new information and insight. Our approach to creating content reflects our values.

Boldness: Our content is opinionated and confident. We iterate quickly based on feedback.

Example: Our handbook guidance is constantly changing and evolving.

Example: We published a blog post taking a stance on the AGPL software license. After receiving feedback and counterarguments via social media, we updated the post with our adjusted stance.

Table of Contents

Resourcefulness: We follow the good/better/best framework and default to speed over perfection. Public-facing content should always include accurate information and be free of typos but may include ephemeral thoughts and opinions.

Example: We update our handbook in real-time with imperfect information.

Example: We published a blog post on recruiting a startup CEO. The blog post reflects our current opinion on when and who to hire. OCV may change its opinion in the future and contradict the blog post. The business goal of the blog post is to help us attract and recruit CEOs matching our current demand today. We’re comfortable with editing or retiring the piece as our business model shifts in the future.

Inclusion: We acknowledge that OCV’s approach to content is atypical and we are open to different perspectives. We prefer to be agile and experimental in our approach to content and encourage contributors to find creative and effective ways to work to meet our business needs.

Describing Open Core Ventures

1. Always spell out “Open Core Ventures” on the first reference. Use “OCV” for all following instances.
2. Don’t use “invest” to describe OCV. OCV starts companies, it does not invest in existing companies.
3. Use the term “OCV companies” or “companies” when referring to our portfolio companies. Don’t use “portfolio” or “PortCo”.

Voice and tone

1. Plainspoken: Write like you speak. Avoid needless words.
2. Professional: Be brief and focused.
3. Polished: Identify your audience and be consistent in addressing the same audience unless you specify otherwise.

Style conventions

Use the most popular U.S. English spelling and phrasing.

Active voice

Whenever possible, use active voice instead of passive voice.

Active voice identifies the subject that performs the action. In the example below, “Contributors write the handbook,” it’s easy to see who is doing what. Active voice is closer to the style used in conversation and is especially important for localization.

In passive voice, “The handbook is written by the contributor,” the subject receives the action. This sentence uses more words and takes longer to identify the subject.

The table below shows more comparisons between active and passive voice.

Acronyms