Los Angeles isn’t exactly known for its lack of choices. If you can picture an opportunity, it probably exists somewhere within the urban sprawl. So why should its tech scene be any different?
Aside from personal growth opportunities and a collaborative company culture, job seekers in the tech industry are aligning their personal values with the work they take on more than ever before. Still, many are surprised to find out that the team setting they fantasize about is readily attainable with the proper search. You just have to know where to look.
Luckily for job hunters, tech companies all across California are in growth mode this quarter. Their open roles span a wide range of industries, including product design, animal welfare, music technology and more. And according to employees, their workplace dynamics are enough to make any potential applicant take notice.
“Everyone is expected to make an impact by challenging the current assumptions and processes, and serving as catalysts for change,” said Julia Bedanova, SVP of Operations at Million Dollar Baby.
For Output Chief Marketing Officer Cody Ryan, it’s about being driven by a shared mission — whether that’s inspiring creativity and self-expression through music, developing innovative new products, or most importantly, embracing team curiosity and collaboration to become even greater.
“While interviewing, I was immediately struck by how much growth potential the company has and how much opportunity the team has to impact that growth,” Ryan said.
Built In caught up with Bedanova, Ryan and four other industry professionals to find out what initially drew them to their roles, the valuable lessons they’ve learned throughout their career journeys and all the ways they’re looking to grow into the near year.
Modern Animal offers pet owners memberships unlimited visits to any Modern Animal clinic and 24-hour access to the company’s medical team. Appointments, medical records and invoices are all managed using a mobile app, and the company even offers telehealth appointments.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience changed over time since you were a new hire?
Modern Animal has a very special energy about it. Our mission to improve the lives of animals by building a better place for the people who love them really spoke to me. Not only because I am a pet owner, but because it places people at the center of the business.
Reimagining this industry through a people-centric lens felt like an incredible opportunity to be part of, and a year into my Modern Animal journey, I can say that all the hopes I had for this role and business are coming true. We’ve grown from our first clinic in West Hollywood to a second location in Pasadena. Our Studio City and Playa Vista clinics will be opening in early 2022, and our Culver City corporate office will be opening in March 2022 as well. Along the way, we have grown our team from 50 employees to over 150 employees and I’m so excited about our future.
Reimagining this industry through a people-centric lens felt like an incredible opportunity to be part of.”
When you’re looking to grow your team, what’s a quality that you look for in candidates, and why is it important at your company?
People are at the center of everything we do. It’s why we focus so intensely on finding amazing talent to be part of this company. From our veterinarians and kennel attendants to our engineers and operations leaders, we are looking for candidates who are not only passionate about what they do but believe in creating a positive and inclusive culture for the whole of Modern Animal.
For us, that means we look for candidates who are excited to roll their sleeves up and work side-by-side with our clinic teams to get to the best solution, who demonstrate exceptional personal and team leadership, and who are passionate about building this business with us.
Output is a Los Angeles-based company developing innovative software and gear for musicians, film composers, and music producers. Output’s software has been used to create songs for Drake, Coldplay, Justin Bieber and Rihanna, as well as TV shows like Stranger Things and Game of Thrones.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience changed over time since you were a new hire?
I was drawn to Output for a number of reasons. I’m incredibly passionate about music and the positive impact it can have on people and the world. Perhaps even more than that, while interviewing and meeting members of the team and the board, I was immediately struck by how much growth potential the company has and how much opportunity the team has to impact that growth. Output is a mission-driven company, and having the ability to join a passionate team that is inspiring creativity and self-expression through music is something that really spoke to me.
As far as change in experience, I think that change is baked into every day or week at a fast-growing and evolving company. Every week we are building new processes, developing new product innovations, finding new ways to reach our customers and defining or redefining the way we do things. Music technology is a relatively new and ever-changing space that demands a nimble team that wants to constantly challenge ourselves to think about how we can create something new or make something better. On a regular basis, we have to ask ourselves “What if we…?”
Current or prospective employees need to constantly ask themselves how they can make our products better for our customers.”
When you’re looking to grow your team, what’s a quality that you look for in candidates, and why is it important at your company?
The team at Output is growing like crazy. We’ve more than doubled our headcount over the last 12 months, and we’re anticipating continuing that growth in 2022. While the skills and expertise needed for any given role obviously varies, across all functions there are two traits that really stick out as important, regardless of role or function.
The first is curiosity. This means having the intrinsic motivation to pursue new ideas or new ways of doing things, and the willingness to figure out how to get it done by working cross-functionally with your peers. Current or prospective employees need to constantly ask themselves how they can make our products better for our customers, broaden our impact on our industry and be willing to figure out how to build out and test their ideas.
The second is empathy. Empathy is an essential part of building and marketing B2C products. Our team needs to be able to put themselves in the shoes of our consumers to understand their journey and build better experiences and products. Empathy is also an essential part of being a strong team player. We have a diverse team and it’s crucial for collaboration to understand where others on the team are coming from.
Million Dollar Baby Co. is a fast-growing baby furniture company on a mission to build exciting baby brands “so there are no more boring nurseries.” The parent company is built of six family brands that design all of their own products in house.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience changed over time since you were a new hire?
After doing management consulting and jumping from one company’s challenge to the next, I was eager to build something. I was either going to join a startup or do something of my own. My big requirements were to have ownership over a large part of the business, flexibility in when and how I do things, and to believe in the future of the company and its cause.
MDB offered exactly that — except it was not a startup. It was a 25-year-old company with an established foundation, yet it operated in an entrepreneurial fashion. Even though we have grown dramatically in the last five years, all of this still holds true.
Everyone is expected to make an impact by challenging the current assumptions and processes, and serving as catalysts for change. We give team members — even new hires — the psychological safety and opportunity to take risks and make an impact. This creates a very dynamic and energetic culture of entrepreneurial thinkers with a bias for action.
Our teams will not be complacent in repeating a flawed or inefficient process over and over.”
When you’re looking to grow your team, what’s a quality that you look for in candidates, and why is it important at your company?
I look for individuals who are passionate about continuous improvement. I like to see a track record and excitement about their own personal growth and interests. Whether it’s enthusiasm about classical antiquity that’s manifesting itself as a new podcast or finishing a bachelor’s degree at night school as a mom of six kids, this passion and dedication is very telling.
I like to hear anecdotes of how they have added to the culture of an organization and made it better than when they first joined. Our teams will not be complacent in repeating a flawed or inefficient process over and over, but instead will raise their hand and say, “This is broken, there has to be a better way! I want to fix it!”
Equally important, they’ll also emerge as the culture bearers for the company because they care about making the team better, happier and more cohesive. I love those people and surround myself with them.
Parachute is a modern lifestyle brand committed to making people feel at home. The LA-based company, which was founded in 2013, designs and responsibly manufactured sheets, bedding, robes and more using premium quality materials made by experts around the world.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience changed over time since you were a new hire?
I was very drawn to the product and the Parachute brand originally. After interviewing with the team, I was equally impressed with the leadership and the culture. The company has changed drastically since I started three years ago — we have quadrupled in size of employees, expanded into new categories and have built out many new systems that make our day-to-day processes more efficient.
Learning how to thrive through change and continue to evolve is what makes us collectively great.”
When you’re looking to grow your team, what’s a quality that you look for in candidates, and why is it important at your company?
When looking for new employees to join Parachute, we look for individuals who are kind, self-motivated and adaptable. First and foremost, treating colleagues with kindness and respect is at the core of our culture in order to create a place of belonging and make every day enjoyable. Being self-motivated is extremely important at a startup, as we prioritize trust and encourage new ideas to help take us to the next level.
Lastly, adaptability is key to success at Parachute as we continue to grow. Learning how to thrive through change and continue to evolve is what makes us collectively great!
3PL Central is a fast-growing SaaS solution company in the third-party logistics market. Born within an active 3PL warehouse, 3PL Central built the first cloud-based warehouse management platform to better serve customers and increase warehouse efficiencies to grow their businesses.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience changed over time since you were a new hire?
I was looking to transition back into a marketing role within the tech industry when I found this listing. On a whim, I applied, and it has been a great fit ever since.
To be transparent, not much has changed — and I mean this in the best way. The role was presented to me with realistic expectations. This made it easy to transition into my job at a new company while also setting expectations on my team about how we tackle projects — not just how I approach work. This is a bit rare at many companies, since nowadays expectations are not always clearly identified so early in the application process in an effort to attract candidates.
However, 3PL Central was transparent, engaging and above all direct in what they sought out for this role from the start to now.
Realizing that the overall success of your team and the company is a collective effort takes priority.”
When you’re looking to grow your team, what’s a quality that you look for in candidates, and why is it important at your company?
There are always growing pains when acquiring companies. In our case, it’s less of a pain and more of a transition. 3PL Central has grown massively since I started, and with growth comes changes that need to be addressed in the most optimal manner for all. Therefore, it has been the most interesting challenge to date due to the scale. I feel like we are working with what we have available and seeking to always achieve more when doing anything. This might seem cliché, but it’s easier said than done and we are doing it.
This leads me to believe that someone who can find the silver lining in all aspects of a job is a key person we look for. No job is ever perfect at all hours of the day, but realizing that the overall success of your team and the company is a collective effort takes priority. We are very lucky to consistently find individuals like this who strive to make changes that impact us for the better, all while maintaining the attitude that “if I succeed, we all succeed” and vice versa.
Cie is a venture studio and innovation accelerator in the digital solutions space that works with both global brands and emerging startups, helping companies launch groundbreaking products faster and smarter.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience changed over time since you were a new hire?
From the first time I spoke with them, Cie stood out because they aim to create social impact through building businesses that solve real world issues. What I didn’t realize until I’d been there awhile is that Cie’s business and social strategy does the important work of raising awareness while also creating growth opportunities for everyone involved.
Every person is a contributor. Acceleration happens on many different levels by combining our unique team made of doers, business builders and capital investors with a market-aligned startup.
Our experience frees us up to focus on solving more of the mission-critical objectives that enable each startup to hit exit velocity.”
What’s your most interesting or exciting work-related challenge right now, and how are you overcoming it?
It’s hard to pick just one thing, since we have several startups at both the incubation and acceleration phase that have shared and unique challenges. Rather than spending all our energy on the daily tasks of running a startup, our experience frees us up to focus on solving more of the mission-critical objectives that enable each startup to hit exit velocity.
We do that by building tailored networks of expertise and then utilizing each team member to bring impactful ideas to life. So, I get a much wider array of challenges to solve — something that in other settings I’d have to jump from startup to startup for. It’s like being in an entrepreneurial master class.
