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Working with a start-up is different than working in a larger company. The work environment at a start-up is fast-paced, flexible, and fun. You also get a chance to be a part of the next big thing. But it is not all rainbows in the world of start-ups. Small teams, role ambiguity, long hours, lack of organized workflow, and protocols can overwhelm even the most seasoned employees. In fact, many companies just simply fail in their pursuit to become the next Google or Apple.
Hence, working in a start-up is challenging, and you would want to make sure that any firm you join is a great place to work with a promising future ahead. Some start-ups care about employee experience, engagement, diversity, equity, and inclusion, while also having a vision for the company. We suggest identifying your strengths, interests, values, and ambition and exploring various roles and start-ups that align with them. To support you with this, we have prepared a list of top start-up employers in the US.
1) Hiya
Hiya is a Seattle-based call scanning app that stores caller profile information enabling you to identify incoming calls and block unwanted ones. Hiya was developed as a caller ID app for Whitepages but spun off in April 2016. They have recently raised $8.5 million in a later stage VC funding.
Today, its 140+ workforce serves about 200 million active users in more than 40 countries. They have three offices in Seattle, London, and Budapest. They put a strong focus on reputation and employee satisfaction. Their Glassdoor rating is a staggering 4.9 with a 100% approval rating for the company and leadership.
2) Bestow
Bestow is a digital platform for life insurance. It caters to individual and business clients, making it an insurance solution for businesses of all sizes across the channel. They have a team of 220 employees in their headquarters in Dallas and an office in Austin. Founded in 2016, Bestow has raised $145 million in total equity funding at $490 million in valuation. They recently acquired Centurian Life Insurance, a firm with licenses in 47 states and the District of Columbia. The company has a rating of 4.2 on Glassdoor with a 76% approval rating for the company and an 80% approval rating for the leadership.
3) Unite Us
Unite Us is an outcome-focused technology company that provides collaboration and coordination software to connect health and social care providers, integrating social determinants of health into patient care. It is a veteran-led technology company enabling providers across communities within a state to externally refer and track the total health journey of every patient. Founded in 2013, its headquarter is in the Greater New York Area. The company has an inclusive culture and a diverse workforce.
4) Gong
Gong is a private tech company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, US. Their patented Gong Revenue Intelligence Platform captures and interprets customer interactions and uses the data to help clients drive their sales and improve customer experience. Founded in 2015, they have over 84,000 paid users and upward of 2,000 industry-leading clients such as LinkedIn, PayPal, Slack, Zillow, etc.
Gong recently raised $250 million in a Series E funding, bringing the company’s valuation to $7.25 billion. In addition, they have acquired an Israel-based start-up Vayo, specializing in data analytics for sales teams, and launched a coaching solution for sales for remote work. They have a good rating of 4.6 on Glassdoor with an approval rating of 93% for the company and 98% for the CEO.
5) Discord
Discord Inc. was formerly known as Hammer & Chisel. Founded by the same team as OpenFeint, Discord started as a chat app for gamers and has since transformed into a mainstream social media platform. Users communicate with voice, video, messaging, files, and media in private chats or communities called ‘servers.’
Today, the number is close to 150 million monthly users, with 30% non-gaming communities. The global pandemic also impacted the user count from Feb to July 2020, increasing the number by 47%. According to a Bloomberg report, Discord recently raised $500 million at a $15 billion valuation. The company is rated 4.5/5 on glassdoor with an 89% approval rating the company and 96% of the CEO.
6) Petal
Founded in 2016, Petal Card Inc. is a fintech company based in New York, US. They provide Visa credit card products based on the user’s income, spending, and savings history to determine the creditworthiness as an alternative to credit score. This makes credit more accessible to people. It delivers a simple and modern digital experience to its users and encourages them to build credit, avoid debt, and spend responsibly.
Today, there are 300,000 Petal cardholders with about 10,000 to 20,000 new members joining per month. In Jan 2022, they raised $140 million in a Series D funding round, raising their valuation to $800 million. Petal has a 4.7/5 rating on glassdoor with a 98% approval rating of the company and its CEO.
7) Brex
Brex Inc is a fintech start-up comprising 760 employees. Founded in 2017, Brex offers “all-in-one” finance products for businesses like business accounts, reward programs, high-limit credit cards, expense tracking, and more. They recently launched a venture debt financing service to support their start-up customer base. Their team works remotely but they do have some small hubs in San Francisco, Salt Lake City, New York City, and Vancouver, B.C. They also offer WeWork membership to provide their employees the flexibility to work how they wish.
They have recently signed a term sheet for $300 million funding, propelling it to decacorn status and raising its valuation at $12.3 billion. Brex also acquired one-year-old Weav in August last year for $50 million as its first significant acquisition. Weav was a developer of a universal API for commerce platforms. Brex has a glassdoor rating of 4.7/5 with a 94% approval rating of the company and a 98% approval rating of the leadership.
8) Faire
Faire is an online wholesale marketplace that helps retailers source wholesale merchandise for their stores while also helping makers and brands reach local retailers. They use machine learning and data to connect thriving communities of entrepreneurs around the world. Founded in 2017, they recently announced a $400 million in series G funding round at a $12.4 billion valuation. Their team of 900+ works from 10 offices in five countries. They have a 4.7/5 rating on glassdoor from current and former employees, with a 92% approval rating of the company and 94% approval rating of the leadership.
9) Dataiku
Dataiku is a centralized data platform that systemizes the use of data from analytics to enterprise AI for improved business outcomes. They provide a common ground for data experts, a repository of best practices, ease of machine learning, and AI deployment. Dataiku serves as a catalyst for companies. More than 450 companies including Unilever, GE, and FOX Newsgroup utilize their services.
Founded in 2013, they have a team of nearly 1,000 people working from its offices in New York and Paris. Dataiku recently announced that they have raised $400 million in Series E funding bringing their valuation to 4.6 billion. They have a very high Glassdoor rating is 4.9 with an approval rating of 97% for the company and 98% for the CEO.
10) Gravy
Gravy helps subscription-based businesses recover failed payments from customers. They rely on a human-to-human approach for payment reminders and recovering failed payments, all personalized for their clients on a subscription basis. Since its founding in 2017, they have scaled to 300 clients and processed over 6 million failed payments, recovering $175 million in failed payment subscriptions. Their clients range from $250,000 to $100 million in revenue, which further diversifies their expertise.
They have their office in Alpharetta, Georgia, but CEO Casey Graham says “Slack is their headquarter”. They have raised $4.5 million in a Series A funding round, led by Arlington Family partners of Birmingham. Graham says that salaries at Gravy start from $55,000. The company has a 4.3/5 rating on Glassdoor with an 82% approval rating for the company and an 89% approval rating for the leadership.
11) Auth0
Auth0 provides identity and access management (IAM) solutions for application developers. They develop single sign-on solutions for their client apps running on various platforms with different identity providers. Their platform, Auth0, is customizable to suit the personalized needs of their clients.
They were recently acquired in a $6.5 billion deal by Okta, another IAM company. Auth0 maintains that they will operate as an independent business unit within Okta led by the same CEO Eugenio Pace. According to a Gartner report, Auth0 and Okta together stand as the third-biggest IAM solution providers after Ping Identity and Microsoft, projecting a positive future for the start-up. They have a Glassdoor rating of 4.5/5 with an 85% approval rating for the company and an impressive 99% approval rating of the leadership.
12) Attentive
Founded in 2016, Attentive is a text messaging marketing solution for businesses, driving 20.5% of total online revenue by creating personalized SMS experiences for their customers. The platform uses real-time behavioral data to send an engaging text to each subscriber. Attentive has been favored by 4,000 businesses like CB2, Steve Madden, Pura Vida, etc. They are based in New York and have 1200+ full-time employees. Their Glassdoor rating is 4.1 with a 75% approval rating of the company and an 80% approval rating of the leadership.
See anything you like? Get started on your job search in these top start-ups today. Not convinced if a job switch is the right move? You can browse through our library to read more on career planning, identifying your new industry, and how to evaluate an employer. If you need support with planning your next step in your career, we would be more than happy to help.
