It’s no secret that the Bay Area is a hub for startups. In fact, there are so many awesome companies in SF and surrounding cities that it might even start to feel overwhelming. Where should you start? Who is actually hiring? Are there jobs open for someone who (gasp) doesn’t know how to code? The answer there is a resounding yes. While we love all the techies and software engineers among us, all companies need awesome, smart non-technical people to make the world go round. If you were inspired by our last blog on awesome Bay Area companies to know about, here are 20 SF Bay Area companies looking to grow their teams this year — could one of them be your next adventure?!
1. Slack — Gifs > Emails
Claim to Fame: Waking up to 20 new work emails is fun and all, but waking up to 20 weird dog memes from your co-workers is infinitely better. Oh yeah, it also decreases the time you spend reading emails and increases work productivity. Basically, Slack is the worst and best thing to happen to your boss.
The Masterminds: Stewart Butterfield helped found Flickr prior to changing the workplace instant-messaging world forever. You know it’s good when Butterfield initially begged friends at companies to try Slack, only to have users double within a week from word of mouth.
Currently Hiring: Customer Experience Manager, Office Coordinator, Compensation Manager, Customer Marketing Manager, Product Marketing Manager, Enterprise Account Executive, Customer Success Manager
2. BloomThat — Flowers on Demand/Valentine’s Day Savior
Claim to Fame: 1-800-Flowers this is not. BloomThat is on a mission to increase the number of flowers being sent nationwide. Their belief? Flowers should be as easy to send as a thank you email. Not only that, but they should also arrive looking like what they actually look like in the pictures online. How else are you going to Instagram them?
The Masterminds: Matthew Schwab sent flowers to his mom once when he was 10. Unfortunately, the customer service and all-too-often frustrating experience of sending flowers hasn’t changed much since then.
Currently Hiring: Community Manager, Technical Support Representative, Sales Specialist, Finance Manager, Global Supply Manager
3. Lugg — A Post-Ikea Necessity
Claim to Fame: Uber-like Lugg makes it easy to quickly move large, bulky items wherever and whenever. Think: after a (meatball eating) Ikea shopping spree, or when all your friends decide Oakland is what’s up and you’ve gotta make the move. Hint: Oakland has always been what’s up.
The Masterminds: Steve Zerneri and Eric Kreutzer, like everyone else, experienced first hand what it’s like to lug furniture you bought from The Treasure Island Flea to Russian Hill. The difference? Zerneri and Kreutzer did something about it.
Currently Hiring: Launcher, Community Manager, Customer Happiness
4. Eaze — Uber for Mary Jane
Claim to Fame: Times are different (and we’re not mad). Eaze is the frontrunner of startups attempting to capitalize on the marijuana industry. The company began as an ‘uber for weed’ delivering the goods straight to your door, but now also boasts EazeMD. For $30, you too can be a proud owner of a CA medical marijuana license if approved by Eaze’s resident doctors via live video consultations.
The Masterminds: Keith McCarty is the CEO of Eaze who decided to finally bring modern day technology to an industry that has been around for infinitely longer.
Currently Hiring: Data Scientist, Director of Communications, Director of Marketing, Marketing Manager, Student Brand Manager, Manager of Delivery Optimization, Operations Associate, Senior Program Manager
5. Honor — Not just for Mama’s Boy
Claim to Fame: Everyone wants the best for their mom and pop, but what do you know about their help when you live across the country? Honor not only matches aides based on how they actually get along with your parents, but also pays aides nearly double the industry standard! Honor is a startup doing something cool and disrupting an industry that desperately needed it. We want grandma to have the very best!
The Masterminds: Seth Sternberg wanted to make sure his elderly mom was being taken care of by her aide in Connecticut. He decided to create Honor so adults everywhere could ensure their loved ones were receiving the best care.
Currently Hiring: People Ops Manager, Staffing Coordinator, Program Manager, Growth Marketing, Recruiting Manager, CX Associate, Sales Development Associate, Sales Ops Manager
6. Poshmark — Spring Cleaning All Day Every Day
Claim to Fame: Apparently, 1 in 50 women have downloaded Poshmark. With its online resale marketplace and virtual closets, the app is the easiest way to make bank on all the clothes you thought looked cute in the store, wore once, and haven’t touched since. We know your closet probably isn’t that big, so do yourself (and maybe a random person who thinks your last-season booties are the business) a favor. This is the way to purge.
The Masterminds: CEO Manish Chandra is a firm believer in all things mobile. Unsurprisingly, he decided to bring mobile to the closet he shares with his shopaholic wife.
Currently Hiring: Community Associate, Associate Growth Manager, Associate Growth Marketing Manager
7. Zumper — The Property Brothers in App Form
Claim to Fame: Have you ever spent months investigating Craigslist and Zillow, attempting to scrounge up a true 2 bedroom with a bathroom larger than a closet? Now, have you ever done that and had to then deal with a broker not at all like the one you saw on Property Brothers? Zumper too. The company hopes to cut out not only the painful search process, but also the middle man vehemently standing between you and your future home.
The Masterminds: What happens when you combine ex-real estate veterans with ex-Google engineers at one TechCrunch Disrupt conference? An app where you can find an apartment, schedule a viewing, and instantly submit your co-op application within the same time it would normally take you to stop looking at Craigslist’s Missed Connections and actually focus on the task at hand.
Currently Hiring: Currently Hiring: Recruiter, Director of Brand Marketing, Concierge, Account Executives
8. Minted — Pretty Little Things
Claim to Fame: Minted is an online marketplace for independent artists to sell everything from snarky holiday cards to cutesy wedding favors. Basically, if you ever want your home to look like something from Pinterest, go to www.minted.com. We’re into it.
The Masterminds: Mariam Naficy started minted in her attic above her garage as a passion project. With her Stanford Business School friends, minted soon took off to dominate Pinterest boards everywhere.
Currently Hiring: Video Production Specialist, Public Relations and Events Intern, Business and Technology Journalist, Strategic Partnerships, Director of Manufacturing Ops
9. Feastly — Anthony Bourdain in Your Kitchen
Claim to Fame: Feastly recognizes the fact that not every great chef owns a restaurant… so they offer an instant connection to a chef for a meal wherever and whenever you want to be classier than your normal Sunday Postmates order.
The Masterminds: Noah Karesh went to Guatemala in pursuit of Mayan ruins and authentic dishes. After hours spent among tourist traps, Karesh ended up at a local avocado sellers’ home paying his mother for a delicious meal. Meet Feastly.
Currently Hiring: Events Photographer
10. ZenProspect — Helping Sales Teams Breathe a Little Easier
Claim to Fame: If you’ve ever done sales, you know it has it’s ups and downs. Downs being the tear-your-hair-out moments when you’re drowning in lead generation and cold emails with no calls on the calendar… and the ups being finding out that services like ZenProspect exist. Their full service platform is a complete game changer for sales teams big and small, helping to identify and target the right prospects, run seamless email campaigns, and A/B test to your heart’s desire. They’ve found a way to make something really not zen feel (almost) zen. Seriously, thanks guys.
The Masterminds: Take a previous engineer at Square and Apple, a passionate entrepreneur, and a strategy consultant turned business development guru… Tim Zheng, Ray Li, and Roy Chung took a process they knew was painful and set out to fix it. And we salute them.
Currently Hiring: Head of Marketing, Growth Marketing Manager, Head of People Ops, Lead Recruiter, Account Executive, Sales Development Representative, Customer Success Manager, Account Manager
11. Little Spoon — For Fresh Babies
Claim to Fame: We’ve all gotten more health conscious, careful about everything we put into our bodies (except for maybe 2am Saturday nights?). What hasn’t really changed, though, is how we feed our kiddos! The Gerber Baby is cute and all, but it could be time for an upgrade. Little Spoon believes that your baby’s food shouldn’t be older than your baby, which seems like a pretty good rule of thumb. They’ll help you customize a nutritional plan that best fit your baby, all organic and free of chemicals, additives, or allergens. These Babyblends are made with love and delivered right to your door. Sorry, Gerber Baby, but you’re not irreplaceable.
The Masterminds: Michelle Muller loved making fresh baby food for her son and all her friend’s kids, so much so that she quit her job and rented a kitchen to get it off the ground. Angela Vranich was passionate about organic and natural food products and noticed that the baby aisle needed some serious disrupting. Ben Lewis was an entrepreneur with a background in revolutionary concepts (like cold brew and cold-pressed juice, so we owe him our lives). Put ’em all together and the rest is history.
Currently Hiring: Director of Operations, Customer Experience Associate
12. ScoreBeyond — Modern Test Prep/Lucky Teenagers
Claim to Fame: Remember how much you hated waking up for that awful Saturday morning SAT prep class? Turns out teenagers these days are the lucky ones, since instead of getting dragged kicking and screaming to a random room in someone else’s high school, they get to do test prep online with ScoreBeyond, an EdTech startup we love. Like on their iPad, or their smartphone, or their laptop, but with a legit private tutor who can help you reach your goals. Apparently it works, because they boast some pretty awesome stats. See? Lucky teenagers.
The Masterminds: Emrecan Dogan went from a small town in Turkey to a Stanford MBA to running a venture-backed EdTech company that already serves ⅓ of the students in the US who take the SAT and ACT — with plans to expand beyond just these tests. He believes that “education is the key to social mobility” and is doing his part to help ‘em get there.
Currently Hiring: Outbound Sales Associate, Product Manager, Director of Marketing, Operations Intern
13. Guideline — Your 401(k) Demystified
Claim to Fame: Embarrassed to admit you might not actually know the half of it when it comes to a retirement plan? You’re definitely not alone, which is where Guideline comes in. Not only does it help growing businesses manage the 401(k) process for their teams, it makes it super easy for employees to enroll and make smart choices about their savings (even if you feel like you aren’t in a place to do it). This growing FinTech company is taking away all your excuses…
The Masterminds: Kevin Busque, a co-founder of TaskRabbit (heard of them?), noticed that his employees weren’t really taking advantage of the company’s savings plan because the experience was too complicated and clunky. So, Guideline was born as an easier, less confusing way to tackle your 401(k).
Currently Hiring: Business Marketing Coordinator, Operations, Customer Success Associate, Account Executive, Account Specialist, Sales Development Representative, Account Coordinator
14. Gobble — Meal Prep for Real People
Claim to Fame: If you are one of those people who meal preps and instagrams it with a fitness hashtag, go on with your bad self. If you aren’t, check out Gobble — their perfectly portioned meals are ready in just 10 minutes, and they’re both healthy and delish. And can be made in one pan? We’ll take it. Whether you’re a busy family or just a millennial with no work/life balance, this is a breakthrough. A really tasty one.
The Masterminds: Oosma Garg had already built and sold her first startup and been featured on Forbes 30 Under 30, but she realized that between work and school she ended up eating junkfood in her car or at her desk and her health suffered (been there, amirite?). When her family got worried and her dad showed up with a suitcase of food, the idea for Gobble was born.
Currently Hiring: Director of Customer Service, Senior Recipe Writer, Fulfillment Associate, Customer Support Representative
15. Digit.co — Guardian Angel for Your Savings Account
Claim to Fame: “I don’t make enough to save!” is the rallying cry of young professionals, who are maybe living paycheck to paycheck or maybe just really not great at budgeting. Digit is different, because once your connect your bank account, they use an algorithm that takes out just the right amount of money so you hardly notice it’s gone! Some days they might take out as little as 72 cents, but that can still add up. Start planning that dream vacation, because you’ll be on your way to your savings goal before you know it. Vegas here you come?!
The Masterminds: Ethan Bloch knew that 60% of Americans between ages 18 and 40 save nothing in a year, and 70%of us were stressed about money last month. So why aren’t people making smarter choices? As a former accountant and finance researcher turned founder (he sold his startup to DemadForce), he was the right person to step in and reduce the friction from traditional banks.
Currently Hiring: Business Operations, Customer Support Hero
16. Chariot — Not Just Another Ride Share
Claim to Fame: Commuting sucks. Chances are you didn’t get a seat on Bart and didn’t get to hear the end of that pod cast you’re into because Muni feels like a fight for your life. If you want a new way to get to work, your Chariot awaits — fast, reliable, and actually affordable rides that get you here you need to go. Not to mention they use crowdfunding to help them decide what routes to open next, servicing areas that are hard to get to on mass transit. Stress-free commuting is just an app away!
The Masterminds: Ali Vahabzadeh got the idea for Chariot while traveling in Nepal, where he saw a crowded bus with people hanging out the windows… and then saw a shared van that flew right by and got him to the other end of the city in no time. So Ali set out to shake up mass transit, providing it in areas where it didn’t exist and helping people find an alternative to get around their cities.
Currently Hiring: People Operations, Global Drive Operations
17. Springboard — School for the 21st Century
Claim to Fame: You might feel like your college education taught you a lot about 19th century poetry or radical feminist ideology, which are all super cool and important. When you’re thinking about your hard, marketable skills, however, you may be singing a different tune. That’s why programs like Springboard are so important, because they are designed to bridge that gap. If you want to get better at Data Science or Analytics for Business, Springboard will teach you the skills you need at your own pace, all while you get 1:1 mentored by an industry expert who can help you get real world experience. Education has to adapt with us!
The Masterminds: Parul Gupta and Gautam Tambay founded Springboard as a search engine for online courses in Bangalore, and it’s grown to Silicon Valley as demand for programs like this continues to grow in the EdTech space. They focus on tech courses and data science, but who knows what comes next?
Currently Hiring: Growth and Marketing Lad, Mentor Relationship Manager, SEO Specialist
18. Compology — Trashy in a Good Way
Claim to Fame: Not many of us spend too much time thinking about dumpsters, but businesses who are cutting costs by using Compology’s unique system are sure glad someone did. By using sensors in dumpsters and a software platform, they can monitor containers and waste management schedules to make sure companies are only paying for waste they actually generate. We accumulate a lot of trash, and it’s about time we figure out smart ways to deal with it, saving money and upping efficiency in the process.
The Masterminds: Ben Cheban’s background in tech and Jason Gates’ background in construction and demolition blended together nicely as they noticed a lack of investments on the hauler side of things. They’re excited to continue growing their business, partnering with other players in the space, and expanding ways they can change how we think about trash collection.
Currently Hiring: Sales Rep, Lead Content Marketer, Operations Manager, Tech Recruiter
19. Lumoid — Rent the Runway, Gadget Style
Claim to Fame: We can do home try on for glasses and for bras, and we can rent an outfit for pretty much any occasion. But what about when you want to test out some awesome equipment before you drop some serious cash? Lumoid has your back, as a try-before-you-buy way to test out everything from high end cameras to drones, headphones, and even fitness trackers. When you love something, you can make it your own and get a discount for being a renter. It’s the gadget lover’s dream!
The Masterminds: Aarthi Ramamurthy was recruited by Microsoft as one of their youngest product managers, and went on to work on awesome things like Xbox Live and Netflix (thank you thank you thank you!). No surprise that this girlboss decided to start something new as she realized that retail experience wasn’t changing as fast as our online consumer interactions. She worked her butt off, got Lumoid into YCombinator, and the rest is history.
Currently Hiring: Marketing Associate, Marketing Manager, Operations Associate, Customer Success Manager, Product Merchandizing Manager
20. Exygy — Design Meets Social Impact
Claim to Fame: Exygy calls themselves a design and build agency, which means they do things like strategy, UX design, and engineering to help their clients shape and build their vision. The cool part is that they work with clients who strive for innovation, seeking out folks who are working towards improving communities (like the UN World Food Program or Unicef!). It is possible to do good and work in tech! Just gotta find a company like Exygy that wants to combine technology, design, and social impact to create change.
The Masterminds: Zach Berke is a software engineer, designer, consultant, and strategist who founded Exygy as a freelancer — and then grew it into a a team of passionate people working on purpose-driven projects. Sounds pretty awesome.
Currently Hiring: Business Development Associate, Director of Business Development, Product Manager
If you’re looking to shake things up in Silicon Valley, you definitely have more than a few places to start. With cool companies like this working hard in every corner of the Bay, there is no shortage of ways to get involved! These are just a few of the startups we love in SF, and one of them just might be your next dream job. Some of them are even Planted partners… wink wink.
Ready for a little boost in your job hunt? Sign up on Planted, and get connected to hot Bay Area startups asap!
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