Choice is a great thing, especially when you’re preparing to kick off a new career. Of course finding a new job, especially one where your work is both challenging and rewarding, can be a full-time job in itself.
That’s why we’ve gone and rounded up nine of Los Angeles’ most unique and fastest-growing tech companies, all of which offer top talent the opportunity to do impactful and exciting work. Continue reading to learn more about these companies and what makes them so distinct.
What they do: Mothership’s platform is designed to simplify and speed up the “last mile” of freight shipping by making it easier for shippers to connect with local drivers. In addition to offering same-day service on local shipments, the company also offers solutions for shippers with national needs.
What's one trait all the members of your team share?
“At Mothership, we accept the responsibility of shaping the world,” said CTO and Co-founder Gregg Luskin. “There are people who let the world happen to them and those who take the responsibility of making it a better place. We wake up every day passionate about our mission and excited to make an impact.”
What's one thing that would surprise people about your company?
“The first official Mothership office was in the retrofitted garage of our first client,” said Luskin. “That made it easy to store pallets overnight for customers and onboard drivers. Believe it or not, some of the very first Mothership driver-partners were pitched and onboarded in the alley right out back.”
What they do: Papaya Pay’s app is designed to make paying bills as easy as taking a photo. Well, it’s almost that easy. In addition to taking a photo of your bill, you also need to select a method of payment. After that’s done, Papaya takes care of the rest.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
“We’re all critical thinkers,” said Software Engineer Divya Jagadeesh. “We work hard to understand the problem in front of us by defining the situation and talking and thinking about it in different ways. We persist in understanding before solving. We have the space to ask hard questions, share our opinions and take ownership over our work.”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
“Everyone at Papaya has a hobby that they’re invested in,” said Jagadeesh. “We have dancers, ping-pong players, cheese lovers, Taipei tour guides, motorcycle enthusiasts, bird watchers — the list goes on. I am trained in Bharatnatyam, a form of Indian classical dance, and taught the company about its history and even did some dancing!”
What they do: NuORDER’s wholesale e-commerce platform makes it easier for brands and retailers to connect and do business. The company’s platform features over 2,000 brands and 500,000 retailers.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
“Our team is stacked with great collaborators,” said Web Developer Brian Bonus. “Our backgrounds are varied, but we all have the same goal: build great software for our users. At times that means healthy debates over approaches to new, complex problems, and other times it might mean iterating with design, product and external stakeholders to improve existing solutions, but everyone is focused on creating great outcomes rather than worrying about who gets credit for the win. That team mentality really is at the core of everything we do.”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
“Our current office boasts a small meditation room for all employees to use for self-care breaks,” said Bonus. “Our industry can be intense, and our company is committed to helping everyone maintain a healthy work-life balance. Creating a space for mental well-being is just one example. In the past, we’ve also had regular fitness classes, group outings, offsites and other activities to help combat stress and build better relationships. One of our core values is ‘Honest AF’ — you can guess what ‘AF’ stands for — and these kinds of perks have been wonderful for creating an atmosphere where everyone can be their authentic self.”
What they do: Enervee’s software applications and services are designed to help consumers make energy-conscious purchasing decisions, specifically when it comes time to buy appliances, cars and lighting.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
“Fortunately for us, every member of Enervee’s tech and product teams possess the amazing quality of being willing to learn and try something new,” said Director of Product Mike Silva. “This goes well beyond just a mindset, as they actually do this in their daily work. From complex core platform architectural changes to building new features, the teams are always willing to find the best solution to meet the need, even when it requires learning a new type of framework. This trait has resulted in the Enervee tech team implementing bold new solutions — all while having fun in the process!”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
“Our team-building and company events never lack creativity,” said Silva. “Whether it’s an accomplished company goal, milestone or just a big week, the entire team at Enervee makes sure to acknowledge, celebrate and enjoy some non-work time together. Events like go-kart racing, regular themed happy hours, trips to interactive arcades, escape rooms and even karaoke nights have been unique and fun ways for us to engage with coworkers outside of the office.”
What they do: Prodege helps brands boost consumer engagement, gather insights and increase their exposure. The company operates four consumer engagement platforms — Swagbucks, MyPoints, ShopAtHome and InboxDollars — which reward users with cash and gift cards for completing surveys, watching videos, playing games and more.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
“All members of the finance and business operations team are super analytical,” said VP of Finance Joe Picciano. “Given the broad scope of our duties, which range from forecasting and budgeting to analyzing AB tests for new products and user experiences, the analytical aspect of our team is expressed in many different ways, but one commonality is our passion for all things data. Whether we are looking at current revenue trends to update our revenue forecast or mining our database to try to solve a new and interesting problem, we all take a data-driven approach. This allows us to remain objective and unbiased in our decisions, resulting in the best possible outcomes for the company.”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
“Our company’s mission of ‘giving’ goes far beyond creating rewarding moments for our members,” said Picciano. “While we’ve awarded our members over $700 million to date, you may be surprised to learn that we also give each of our employees $50 per quarter to donate to any charity of their choice. The most incredible part is that many employees opt to contribute extra donations that they fund themselves. What can I say, Prodege loves giving!”
What they do: Laserfiche’s enterprise content management system is used by more than 30,000 companies around the world to streamline and automate document, records and business process management.
What's one trait all the members of your team share?
“One trait that all members of my team share is a willingness to jump into any task that needs to be completed, even if they aren’t an expert on the subject,” said Senior Software Engineer David Choy. “They are also all quick learners who can be pointed toward a potential solution and then work all the way until the code is live in production. No matter the language or situation, they are quick on their feet and able to conceptualize and implement a solution quickly.”
What's one thing that would surprise people about your company?
“We have an annual summer party and Christmas party, with family members invited to the latter,” said Choy. “Both feature buffet meals and impressive raffle giveaways, including new phones, tablets, drones and gift cards. In a time of frequent budget cuts at many other companies, Laserfiche still sets aside money to celebrate its employees.”
What they do: Some companies fail to stay innovative as they age. That’s not the case with the Automobile Club of Southern California, better known as AAA, which was founded in 1902. The company has its own digital acceleration team, known as ClubLabs, which builds, tests and delivers new features and tools for AAA’s millions of members.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
“We are collaborators and problem solvers,” said UX Strategy and Design Manager Laurie Sadow. “We’re energized when confronted with brain benders.”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
“We have a very multicultural office,” said Sadow. “You can learn something new every day at lunch by sitting with people you don’t normally work with and having amazing conversations about their backgrounds. One of our teammates is a former K-pop backup dancer!”
What they do: Wevr develops cutting-edge software that enables creatives to tell immersive stories using virtual reality technology.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
“The first thing that comes to mind is ‘imaginative,’ but what really sets us apart is the way the whole team always comes together to tackle challenges, regardless of their area of focus or level of seniority,” said VP of Business Development, Operations and Finance Shane Robinson. “So I’d say we’re ‘collaborative’ before anything else! We all wear a lot of hats, and people are very generous with their time when it comes to helping each other out!”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
“People may be surprised to know that even though we are a relatively small company — our studio is a house in Venice — our leadership team includes some of the best creative and engineering talent in the world,” said Robinson. “For example, working with us is two-time Academy Award-winner Andy Jones, a visual effects artist who worked on ‘Avatar’ and ‘The Jungle Book.’ Interactive immersive media is an emergent medium. It’s the new next thing, and Wevr is attracting the world-class talent and firepower to make many new future worlds come to life.”
What they do: Lucky Day is in the joy business. More specifically, the company’s app rewards users for playing games with cash and prizes, all without any financial risk.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
“We are results-oriented,” said CEO Joshua Javaheri. “We come in daily to learn and grow personally and professionally as a team.”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
“We are not just Lucky Day the app,” said Javaheri. “We are a user-driven startup that is focused on delivering new products based on what we have learned about the tens of millions of people that have used Lucky Day — our first product — over the past five years. Stay tuned!”
