The 17 best startups to work for in America
Many people crave the energetic environment found in startup culture.
But the opportunity to be valued and feel like you are building something from the ground up can be tempered by long work hours and the stress of potential failure. Not all startups get the recipe for employee satisfaction right.
These 17 startups, which stretch from San Francisco to Orlando, definitely do.
To compile this list, we looked at Glassdoor's ranking of the best small and medium companies to work for in 2015. The Glassdoor ranking is based on the input of employees who provided feedback about their satisfaction with the overall company via Glassdoor's company review survey. Not all companies are eligible, as Glassdoor's algorithm takes into account the quality, quantity, and consistency of the employee reviews. The rating is on a five-point scale.
Unsurprisingly, many of the companies that appear in Glassdoor's top ranking are "startups" — which we defined as small to medium-sized private companies, broadly in the technology space, that have been around for less than a decade.
These are the 17 best startups to work for according to employee ratings.
17. Gigya
Flickr/Realtime Report
Average rating: 3.6
Headquarters: Mountain View, CA
Industry: Customer Identity Management
"Complete startup feel. We have two kitchens, it's a pet friendly office, and catered lunches each week. There's a game room with bean bags, ping pong table, and an N64. Everybody is friendly to each other and an awesome team to be around." -Business Development Representative
16. VMTurbo
Glassdoor
Average rating: 3.7
Headquarters: Valhalla, NY
Industry:Cloud Infrastructures
"As a developer you get to work on vey interesting projects, very challenging and varied work. The team is incredible, you work on meaningful tasks and you really get to influence the final product. Management is open to comments, advice and feedback." -Senior Software Engineer
15. SoftRock
Glassdoor
Average rating: 3.8
Headquarters:Orlando, FL
Industry: Customer Acquisition, Angagement and Support
"I love working at SoftRock. I have had the ability to work within multiple departments learning not only my job but how other departments function and how it takes our entire team to be successful. We also have a lot extra activities outside work such as a company football league, themed weekly cookouts, and charity work." -Operations
14. Kareo
Glassdoor
Average rating: 3.8
Headquarters:Irvine, CA
Industry:Medical Office Software
"I have been with the company for a year now and the dust has settled. But I still feel like I am on my honeymoon. The people at Kareo are some of the smartest people I have every worked with and the level of enthusiasm and kindness is off the charts. I feel like I make a significant contribution to the organization most every day." -Recruiter
13. Boostability
Glassdoor
Average rating: 3.9
Headquarters:Lehi, UT
Industry:Search Engine Optimization
"The culture is pretty great. You get the chance to work with some great people at Boostability. They also teach you a lot about SEO basics. Company parties are also a lot of fun. Overall, this is a great place to work if you are still in college. The company is growing and is doing very well financially. This is as stable as it gets in the unpredictable SEO industry." -Anonymous Employee
12. MongoDB
Flickr/Ian Whalen
Average rating: 3.9
Headquarters: New York, NY
Industry: Database Technology
"Lots of perks (free food, manicures, outings, etc) Smart people that really work well together Everything I do really matters. The company has hot technology that is really going to take off." -Anonymous Employee
11. MuleSoft
Flickr/AllThings Open
Average rating: 3.9
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
Industry: Integration Technology
"MuleSoft, simply put, is in a class of its own. The first day here I felt like the stupidest guy in the room (I think I still am) as you are working with some of the most intelligent and talented people in the world. Egos are checked at the door, and everyone here works together to accomplish what's best for the company." -Marketing
10. Zerve
Glassdoor
Average rating: 4.1
Headquarters:New York, NY
Industry: Travel & Tourism
"Awesome career opportunities: Zerve = career growth. There are no shortcuts or hand outs, but for a highly motivated individual, Zerve is the perfect environment to work with purpose, be focused, learn a ton, excel, grow responsibilities, increase compensation, and ultimately build a career. Excellent mentors: I've had the supreme benefit of working with phenomenal mentors and learning from a few of the all around smartest people I've met at Zerve." -Anonymous Employee
9. Quantcast
Flickr/IAB UK
Average rating: 4.1
Headquarters:San Francisco, CA
Industry: Data-Intelligence Platforms
"Rapidly growing company with a never ending list of new and interesting challenges. There's really no other competitor with the amount of data Quantcast has collected and arguably no one who can offer the same full funnel approach in the digital advertising space. Great environment with pool tables, ping pong, bike storage, catered lunches and dinners and flexibility to get your work done in your own style." -Finance
8. Zuora
Flickr/The DEMO Conference
Average rating: 4.1
Headquarters:Foster City, CA
Industry: Relationship Business Management
"Our customer base are disruptors, positive reaction from candidates being presented with the opportunity once they understand the nature of our business and what we are achieving, candidates want to be part of something special and be part of the next wave of large enterprise driven software IPOs. It's a no-brainer opportunity if you understand the market." -Senior Recruiter
7. Okta
Flickr/TechCrunch
Average rating: 4.2
Headquarters:San Francisco, CA
Industry: Cloud Technology
"It's a startup. You'll have real responsibility for real work that has a material impact on the success of the company. You'll get to work for an industry leader in a really important segment of the market; it doesn't get much more important than security and identity management." -Anonymous Employee
6. SevOne
Glassdoor
Average rating: 4.2
Headquarters:Wilmington, DE
Industry: Infrastructure Performance Monitoring
"SevOne encourages employees to go the extra mile, to do things in the geek-chic way whenever possible, to go open source whenever possible, and to increase one's own skills as a worker. There are a lot of fringe benefits, such as weekly ice cream days in the summer and catered payday lunches." -Anonymous Employee
5. FindTheBest.com
Glassdoor
Average rating: 4.4
Headquarters:Santa Barbara, CA
Industry: Data Aggregation and Visualization
"A lot of companies brag about being a "meritocracy" - a place where promotions and success are purely dictated by your merit without the influence of any political factors, favoritism, etc. In my experience, this is a truly rare environment to find but FindTheBest has it. If you are hard working and ambitious, this company allows you to grow your own career as fast you can handle." -Product Manager
4. Zscaler
Glassdoor
Average rating: 4.4
Headquarters:San Jose, CA
Industry: Cloud Security
"You get to work with some of the best brains in the valley, building and selling an amazing cloud platform that is totally disrupting the security industry. And at the end of the rainbow is a blockbuster IPO coming down the pike. This is definitely a place I would recommend and recruit my friends and colleagues to." -Product Marketing Manager
3. MediaMath
MediaMath
Average rating: 4.6
Headquarters: New York, NY
Industry: Marketing Technology
"Plenty of things to learn and exploit your knowledge. Management lives like a family and respect each other views and includes in big decision making. An awesome place for your career growth." -QA Engineer
2. Spiceworks
Flickr/Interop Events
Average rating: 4.6
Headquarters: Austin, TX
Industry:Information Technology
"I've worked for some amazing companies and Spiceworks is, by far, the best one all around. We all truly love coming to work and being a part of an organization we believe in. It's a wonderful feeling when you enjoy the day to day aspect of your job and management does a great job of mixing things up and keeping it interesting." -Anonymous Employee
1. Instart Logic
Glassdoor
Average rating: 4.7
Headquarters:Palo Alto, CA
Industry: Cloud Application Delivery
"1. Fascinating technology to reshape and reenergize the undisturbed CDN space with the next generation technology called Software Defined Application Delivery. 2. Awesome product to dramatically improve the performance and security aspect of existing web applications. 3. Great team consists of high caliber and passionate individuals who are motivated to thrive in this collaborative environment." -Engineering
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