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What makes a great entrepreneurial place to work?
For these 10 companies, creating environments that encourage teamwork, creativity, and a sense of ownership have made them desirable to top talent. For superstar employees all over the region, the ability to help build something and watch their efforts directly contribute to the success of a company is an enticing offer. Personal growth, freedom of expression, recognition of talent, and having ownership over what they do every day carries a high value for many workers and proves that smaller, privately held companies can compete for talent with the big businesses offering big compensation.
These 10 companies take culture seriously and it is paying off. The founders of these companies share just a few of the many ways they have created a great company to work for, and why they are glad they did.
Location: 415 West Broadway, New York, NY
Number of employees: 25
Number of years in business: 12
What they do: BAM is a creative design studio, offering design solutions for clients in the healthcare, corporate, and research sectors.
Why they are great: In the 12 years they have been in business, BAM Architecture Studio has never lost an employee to another architecture firm in New York City. Read more.
Location: 149 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
Number of employees: 31 full-time; 5 contractors
Number of years in business: 10
What they do: Ai is a web design and engineering firm.
Why they are great: In the jeans and T-shirts world of Manhattan web design firms, it is difficult to stand apart as a great place to work. Read more.
Location: 62 West 45th Street, New York, NY
Number of employees: 22 plus 8 summer interns
Number of years in business: 15
What they do: AC Lion is an executive search firm that specializes in staffing sales, marketing, product, and ad operations teams.
Why it’s great: In a business where a large percentage of the employees are in sales, it can be near impossible to avoid a cutthroat competitive work environment. Read more.
Location: 515 West 20th Street, New York, NY
Number of employees: 35
Number of years in business: 9
What they do: Infinia Group is a brand consultancy and design firm.
Why they are great: In the last 12 months, brand consultancy and design firm Infinia Group, who works with clients like Pfizer, Nielsen, and TDF (Theatre Development Fund), has grown 33 percent to 35 employees, and grew 30 percent in revenue from 2010 to 2011. Read more.
Location: 30 Irving Place, New York, NY
Number of employees: 200
Number of years in business: 12
What they do: TradingScreen is an independent provider of liquidity, trading, and investment technology via SaaS to the financial community.
Why they are great: While many companies strive to get their employees to think like owners, TradingScreen actually makes the employees owners. Read more.
Location: 18 West 23rd Street, New York, NY
Number of employees: 44
Number of years in business: 4
What they do: Conversation is an integrated communications agency that leverages emerging media with old-school traditional media.
Why they are great: Conversation agency takes a work hard, play hard philosophy. Read more.
Location: 920 Broadway, New York, NY
Number of employees: 136
Number of years in business: 11
What they do: Arkadium creates online, casual games for the web, Facebook, and smartphones.
Why they are great: In 2001, Jessica Rovello and Kenny Rosenblatt were dating and working at a tech company when they got into an argument about who was the best Ms. Pac-Man player. Read more.
Location: 992 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT
Number of employees: 33
Number of years in business: 11
What they do: OperationsInc is a human resources outsourcing and consulting firm.
Why they are great: When it comes to having a good company culture, businesses need to practice what they preach, especially when they’re in HR. Read more.
Location: 102 Madison Avenue, New York, NY
Number of employees: 130; 60 full-time consultants
Number of years in business: 9
What they do: Blue Fountain Media is a digital marketing agency.
Why they are great: Blue Fountain Media, a Manhattan-based web design and marketing company with clients like HarperCollins, the NFL, Procter & Gamble, and AT&T, has a tag line that they try to work, and live, by: springing ideas to life. Read more.
Location: 220 East 23rd Street, New York, NY
Number of employees: 50
Number of years in business: 3
What they do: Applico is a mobile consulting and development firm headquartered in NYC. It provides cross-platform mobile solutions: iPhone apps, Android apps, and mobile websites.
Why they are great: Applico has flexible hours (10am–4pm is typically required, but exceptions are made) and requests to work from home often are accepted. Read more.
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