SPOTLIGHTS
Year Founded:
Lead Investors:
Office Environment:
Including the team in most important company decisions. The founders seek feedback on early drafts of most major initiatives, and we've made real changes in response to employee input. By respecting their autonomy: we have a small pocket of core hours daily, and the rest of the day is self-directed by each individual. Minimum vacation: while we have the standard unlimited vacation policy, we also have a 2 week minimum. We do turn off people's Slack at the end of the year if they don't take enough time off!
Today as we are growing quickly, we're mostly focused on recruiting. We care a lot about having unbiased interview loops that are specific in what they search for so that biases don't creep in. We focus on DEI channels at the top of the funnel even when they are lower-volume than others. Instead of doing forced and awkward happy hours where everyone comes together, we have built vulnerability and inclusion into our day-to-day work as a fully remote company. The team has “Show & Tell Tuesday”, where everyone brings something (usually random!) from their house to show. We have seen typewriters from last century, trolls and more! Every Thursday is “Triumphant Thursday”. We believe in celebrating small and big wins and this allows an opportunity to acknowledge, celebrate small individuals personal or professional wins every week - anything from resolving a gnarly bug to seeing your parents for the first time in a year when the borders opened post-pandemic.
Stemma is a balanced company. We're in early stages with a lot of major decisions ahead of us, but enough figured out that we're able to focus. We have a customer-first orientation and feedback loops, but still a strong high-level guiding vision. We work hard and ship quickly: we want this to be a place where everyone can do the best work of their career and grow. But we're also cognizant that B2B is a long-game and so we are careful not to burn the candle at both ends. We're fiercely rational and care a lot about examining our beliefs, but also do that with personal compassion.
The *kindest* team. Nice is superficial, doing what you think will appease or placate others -- saying what you think they want to hear. Kindness is borne of deep understanding and empathy and is doing the thing they actually need. Saying you look great today is nice; saying you look great but have something between your teeth is kind.
