Giddy anticipation for the holidays, renewed optimism for the new year and the invigorating bite of cold weather (well, cold for Los Angeles). There’s a certain magic in the winter air this year.
As Riverside’s Mission Inn is adorned with 4.5 million twinkling lights and friends gather around bowls of ramen in Koreatown and Little Tokyo, LA’s tech scene creates its own take on a winter wonderland. Built In LA has curated a list of five noteworthy companies gearing up for a flurry of growth.
These LA companies bring good to the world in their own ways, but all have put time and effort into their people-first benefits — and each one has its eyes on a stellar 2024. Grab a pour-over with a splash of oat milk and learn more about what LA’s tech winter wonderland has to offer.
What The Aerospace Corporation does: A California nonprofit, The Aerospace Corporation operates a federally funded research and development center that provides guidance and advice to military, civil and commercial customers to ensure the success of complex, technology-based programs.
NOTEWORTHY PERKS
- Mandated unconscious bias training
- Onsite gym, team workouts, recreational clubs
- Tuition reimbursement
Culture of learning: “For someone new to this, it is a lot of learning and exposure to new principles and terminology — just the number of acronyms on a project can be overwhelming,” Manager of Engineering Applications Jennifer Lee told Built In last year. “At Aerospace, there are many subject matter experts who are more than happy to share their knowledge and explain how space systems perform. The ability to understand that information, incorporate that information into the tools that we develop using techniques learned from previous experience elsewhere and convey that knowledge to non-experts can be challenging.”
What Emotive does: Emotive is a computer software company that provides SaaS, mobile marketing, NLP, machine learning and B2B.
The Perks
- A monthly stipend to focus on wellbeing
- A generous five days of paid volunteer time per year
- A quarterly day off to focus on mental health
In the news: This year, Emotive acquired Bloom Digital, a marketing agency known for its expertise in SMS, email marketing and paid advertising. The acquisition enabled the launch of Emotive Attribution, a product designed to optimize marketing spend across various channels using first-party data. “This strategic acquisition and product expansion will enable us to provide even more comprehensive and effective solutions for eCommerce merchants, helping them grow throughout the entire funnel,” said CEO Brian Zatulove in a statement.
What ScreenCloud does: A cloud-based SaaS company, ScreenCloud helps businesses drive sales, productivity and engagement with digital signage.
TECH STACK
- C++
- Jest
- Jira
- HubSpot
- Salesforce
- Tableau
Flexible work: “The flexible schedule allows me to leave home and travel back from the office when the commute time is the shortest — which in itself is a difficult task in LA,” Casy Alvarado, a sales development representative, told Built In last year. “This drastically cuts my travel time. I save an hour and a half each day. It’s definitely a game changer in the workplace.”
What Prodege does: Prodege is an adtech company that created a platform of the same name. The Prodege platform is a consumer insights and marketing tool to help users acquire new customers, increase brand loyalty and drive product adoption.
CORE VALUES
- Give back: Charitable giving and volunteering are two of the greatest things a company can do.
- Respect: Always be honest, transparent and respectful with colleagues, consumers and partners.
- Own it: Teammates are expected to act on behalf of the organization and lend a hand when needed.
- Innovate: Continuously innovating to stay competitive is a key part of personal and team growth.
- Teamwork: Staying unified as a team is critical to success.
Room to grow: Amanda Aguilar joined Prodege nine years ago, and there has been no shortage of career growth ever since. Though she initially worked in customer service, her knack for product marketing made her a top choice for an internal move to the marketing team when a role opened up: “I was approached almost immediately to see if I’d be interested in the role,” Aguilar said. “It felt good to know other people in the company believed I could be an asset to that team.” Aguilar’s experience is just one example of the sort of investment in employee growth and retention that can be expected at Prodege.
What Tebra does: Tebra is a healthtech company that specializes in practice automation.
NOTEWORTHY PERKS
- Performance bonuses
- Home-office stipend for remote employees
- Wellness days
- Job training and conferences
Supporting employees: “At Tebra, employee experience isn’t just what spontaneously happens,” said Jordan King, director of people and culture told Built In earlier this year. “It’s not something that is farmed out to a business partner or something the recruiting team has to do in addition to their primary function. It’s cool to see Tebra investing so many resources to support employee experience.”
