Beanstack → Joyful Reading Co.
Growing without losing what makes the team work.
From Zoobean to Joyful Reading Co., Outside Angle helped build and evolve an operating system through growth and combination. The organization is now taking greater ownership of its systems, with Outside Angle shifting toward guidance and targeted support.
The situation
Beanstack was growing, and its leadership wanted the culture and ways of working to grow with it. The challenge was building systems that could sustain performance while keeping the team connected through hiring, leadership transitions, and organizational change.
The work
Outside Angle helped build and refine retreat cycles, performance rhythms, feedback practices, and the systems that supported the team over time. The partnership continued through the acquisition and merger that formed Joyful Reading Co.
Over more than five years together, the team grew from about 15 people to more than 70 and came through an acquisition and a merger.
As the operating system matured, ownership moved inside the company. Six-month cycles, feedback and review tools, and shared working practices became infrastructure the team could sustain and improve. Outside Angle’s role is evolving from leading and facilitating those cycles toward advising the people who now carry them.
What the story shows
Organizational effectiveness is built through repeated practice. Systems, leadership behavior, and culture evolve together as the organization changes.