10 Great Entrepreneurial Places to Work

Location: 415 West Broadway, New York, NY What makes a great Number of employees: 25 entrepreneurial place to Number of years in business: 12 work? What they do: BAM is a creative design studio, offering For these 10 companies, creating environments that design solutions for clients in the healthcare, corporate, encourage teamwork, creativity, and a sense of ownership and research sectors. have made them desirable to top talent. For superstar employees all over the region, the ability to help build Why they are great: In the 12 years they have been in something and watch their efforts directly contribute to the business, BAM Architecture Studio has never lost an success of a company is an enticing offer. Personal employee to another architecture firm in New York City. growth, freedom of expression, recognition of talent, and Read more. 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.

Alexander Interactive (Ai)

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. BAM Architecture Studio www.OperationsInc.com

Why they are great: In the jeans and T-shirts world of Why they are great: In the last 12 months, brand Manhattan web design firms, it is difficult to stand apart as consultancy and design firm Infinia Group, who works with a great place to work. Read more. 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.

AC Lion

Location: 62 West 45th Street, New York, NY TradingScreen Number of employees: 22 plus 8 summer interns Location: 30 Irving Place, New York, NY Number of years in business: 15 Number of employees: 200 What they do: AC Lion is an executive search firm that specializes in staffing sales, marketing, product, and ad Number of years in business: 12 operations teams. What they do: TradingScreen is an independent provider Why it’s great: In a business where a large percentage of of liquidity, trading, and investment technology via SaaS to the employees are in sales, it can be near impossible to the financial community. avoid a cutthroat competitive work environment. Read more. Why they are great: While many companies strive to get their employees to think like owners, TradingScreen actually makes the employees owners. Read more.

Infinia Group

Location: 515 West 20th Street, New York, NY Conversation

Number of employees: 35 Location: 18 West 23rd Street, New York, NY

Number of years in business: 9 Number of employees: 44

What they do: Infinia Group is a brand consultancy and Number of years in business: 4 design firm.

www.OperationsInc.com

What they do: Conversation is an integrated Why they are great: When it comes to having a good communications agency that leverages emerging media company culture, businesses need to practice what they with old-school traditional media. preach, especially when they’re in HR. Read more.

Why they are great: Conversation agency takes a work hard, play hard philosophy. Read more.

Blue Fountain Media

Location: 102 Madison Avenue, New York, NY Arkadium Number of employees: 130; 60 full-time consultants Location: 920 Broadway, New York, NY Number of years in business: 9 Number of employees: 136 What they do: Blue Fountain Media is a digital marketing Number of years in business: 11 agency.

What they do: Arkadium creates online, casual games for Why they are great: Blue Fountain Media, a Manhattan- the web, Facebook, and smartphones. based web design and marketing company with clients like HarperCollins, the NFL, Procter & Gamble, and AT&T, has Why they are great: In 2001, Jessica Rovello and Kenny a tag line that they try to work, and live, by: springing ideas Rosenblatt were dating and working at a tech company to life. Read more. when they got into an argument about who was the best Ms. Pac-Man player. Read more.

Applico

OperationsInc Location: 220 East 23rd Street, New York, NY

Location: 992 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT Number of employees: 50

Number of employees: 33 Number of years in business: 3

Number of years in business: 11 What they do: Applico is a mobile consulting and development firm headquartered in NYC. It provides What they do: OperationsInc is a human resources cross-platform mobile solutions: iPhone apps, Android outsourcing and consulting firm. apps, and mobile websites.

www.OperationsInc.com

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.