Dynamic work environments and opportunities to take on new challenges are some of the biggest reasons people love working for startups, but you don’t necessarily need to give those up if you want to work somewhere more stable.
Tech companies that pride themselves on maintaining startup-like cultures even when they’ve outgrown their early offices do exist. We asked a few of them how they maintain that magic.
GoHealth’s software makes it easier for consumers to choose, sign up for and use health insurance plans. Although the company has been around for 13 years, director of paid media Jackie Mondelli said an openness to new ideas and the healthcare industry’s ever-changing nature means employees at GoHealth have constant opportunities to take on different challenges.
How has GoHealth maintained a startup-like culture as it’s grown?
At GoHealth, employees are encouraged to bring their ideas into the room, regardless of their position or tenure. Executives’ doors are always — literally — open. It’s common to start a position here and then take on responsibilities outside of your original role. There’s always room for growth and ways to challenge oneself. Regardless of your role, you’ll be working cross-functionally with other teams and executives to get the job done.
What is the most interesting aspect of your work?
The fast-paced, ever-changing atmosphere makes GoHealth a challenging yet fun place to work. Because the healthcare industry is constantly changing, my role here evolves year after year. I’ve been at GoHealth for almost seven years and I’ve had five different roles. As GoHealth expands and grows, employees are presented with opportunities to broaden their skill sets and knowledge of the industry. It’s exciting to think about which role I’ll take on next.
Headquartered in Chicago but with offices all around the globe, ThoughtWorks makes custom software for retailers, nonprofits and tech companies alike. Chicago general manager Patricia Mandarino said the range of clients is a big part of what keeps her team’s work interesting — and a flat structure with opportunities to pivot into unexpected roles doesn’t hurt, either.
How has ThoughtWorks maintained a startup-like culture as it’s grown?
We have always been on the leading edge of technical innovation while refining our craft, and we’ve created and open sourced a number of products that help our clients stay competitive. We work with large organizations that want to stay relevant and not be disrupted by smaller, more agile companies. That work ranges from creating software for smart ovens to building growth platforms for retail organizations with much legacy technology debt and redesigning the customer experience for fast food chains.
Our corporate and team structures are essentially flat. Opportunities to take on leadership roles are regular, and although we have defined career paths, consultants can move through those paths at their own pace or pivot and take on completely different roles. Poly-skilled consultants are abundant at ThoughtWorks.
What is the most interesting aspect of your work?
When I was a consultant, the most interesting thing for me was the ability to learn different domains and industries as I moved from client to client. I was able to learn about a variety of industries including railcar leasing, retail, air travel, government operations, food ordering and grocery.
Today, it’s the variety of projects and people that I am responsible for. As the general manager for the Chicago office, I am challenged to keep people motivated and growing on projects as well as ensure we are delivering value and delighting our clients.
With Signal’s tech platform, marketers can identify consumers across digital and non-digital channels, ensuring that they receive consistent messaging wherever they go. According to members of the company’s tech team, Signal stays dynamic through regular hack weeks, letting employees pursue their interests and trying out new things.
How has Signal maintained a startup-like culture as it’s grown?
Caitlin Fitzharris, director of product: Employees and leadership alike believe that good ideas can come from anyone, no matter your level or title. Signal provides opportunities to try new things that interest you, even if it is outside your realm of expertise. After two years at Signal, I had the opportunity to move from being an individual contributor to someone with a strategic role who helps influence the future direction of Signal's solutions.
Signal also gives people the unique opportunity to make an immediate impact on our products and services. For instance, we have quarterly company-wide hack weeks where Signalites can take time to focus on projects outside of their day-to-day. The results can turn into product features we implement. Ultimately, this positively impacts the company and our employees' personal growth.
What is the most interesting aspect of your work?
Jessica Jorsch, VP of identity and data services: We're all willing to take risks and try new things to meet and exceed client expectations, and that has led us to have really strong, collaborative partnerships. For example, over the last few months we've been building out a new set of offerings based on client feedback. Teams across the company have worked tirelessly to quickly create, pilot and launch these new offerings. In my experience, it's rare for companies to recognize an opportunity and provide support to take a big idea from concept to reality in a few short months. I'm lucky to get to spend every day collaborating with smart people.
Solstice works with Fortune 500 companies to build software and rethink digital strategies. Strategy principal Jared Johnson said members of his team are allowed to move between roles to gain a better understanding of the business and discover other opportunities.
How has Solstice maintained a startup-like culture as it’s grown?
In an enterprise, you are expected to play within the established boundaries and processes to get results. At startups you are expected to play with boundaries and processes. At Solstice, we are always challenging ourselves and making sure we don't focus on what is established; we focus on what is right.
Maintaining a culture of constant re-invention as we grow is critical. To offer as many opportunities as possible, we use what we call "circles" that let all employees hop around between different roles, like product, strategy or engineering to see what is happening in other domains. Also, we bake in cross-functional ideation wherever we can. Solsties can rise through the ranks quickly; we have a round of promotions every quarter. Encouraging the growth of our people requires rapid promotion cycles.
What is the most interesting aspect of your work?
Challenging both our employees and our clients to think about re-inventing both their digital products and their existing business models to achieve tenfold growth, not incremental 10 percent improvements. I love blowing something up and re-thinking all of the usual assumptions. You give game-changing ideas a chance to get a foothold when you do that. In my experience, enterprises would rather not rock the boat because so many processes and assumptions have already been established, but when you empower your teams to think about disruption and re-invention, that is when you can achieve much more exciting outcomes.
Images via featured companies. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
What makes your company's culture unique? Send us an email or tweet us @BuiltInChicago
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