Nestled on the outskirts of the North End and amidst several bustling construction sites is Pixability - a growing company working to disrupt the world of video advertising strategy. The firm, which is also one of our Tech Madness finalists, recently outgrew its previous office space further down North Washington Street, so we took a look at their new digs (as of this past December) and got a good glimpse into Pixability culture.
As I arrived at the bright and industrially accented space, the first thing I witnessed was one of their weekly Pixability Picnics (pictured above). This tradition includes a lunch spread courtesy of the company, and employees are asked to take the time to eat together - not alone at their desks. If anything could set the scene for an in-depth culture conversation, it would be that.
Gathered in one of the lofty office’s transparent conference rooms, I dove into what makes Pixability tick with people in varying strata of seniority: Founder and CEO Bettina Hein, CMO Rob Ciampa, Senior Marketing Communications Manager Alexandra English and Customer Insights Analyst Eric Linder.
The overall vibe, not surprisingly, started with the founder.
“Since I’m essentially a career entrepreneur, I like to brag that I never had a real job,” Hein said. “Part of that is I wanted to create work environments I like working in. As a student, I worked odd jobs and internships. I had work experiences that were negative and I always felt like I needed to rescue the people working there...I thought, ‘When I do my own thing, I can unleash their full potential.’”
“The best way to form a culture is, at the beginning, you find people who gel with you,” she continued. “As the company gets bigger, that’s when you can codify that special sauce for culture. When we came up with our culture code, I thought about everyone at the company and what they were doing to see what exemplified the best behavior.”
Cohesion through diversity
For Hein, who has a remarkably eclectic background both personally and professionally, she found company cohesion through diversity. Everyone in the room agreed that part of what makes Pixability Pixability is that its employees are a mish-mash of people who, when put all together, just works.
“Company culture is always an extension of founder...Although, I don’t want to say this is a cult of Bettina,” Hein joked.
So what makes this motley crew so close? For one thing, the very first value outlined in the company’s Culture Code is letting employees be themselves, so there’s a sense of comfort and acceptance in the air.
“I think the common curiosity factor is a big thing that brings us together,” Ciampa added. “We’ve found that if people have insatiable curiosity, there’s no better place for them than Pixability.”
But, on top of all of that, Pixability actively invests in collaboration. Every quarter, they pay for everyone - in their New York, Chicago, San Francisco and London offices - to come to Boston for a kickoff. It’s all about coming together for the sake of strategy and socialization.
Weekly happy hours
Speaking of socializing, the startup also holds weekly happy hours, of which each department has a turn to plan the themes and beverages for a month. They hold hackathons that encourage different departments to work together so everyone gets to know each other, lunch and learn opportunities and office outings to volunteer, run 5ks, do yoga or go boxing down the street as a group.
Linder explained that unlike other places he’s worked, Pixability has a concrete sense of culture without any contradictions. The Culture Code is laid out in black and white (or, more accurately, in red and white) but employees also live it. Their social bonds transcend the work day and colleagues hang out outside the office, going to brunch (even though Ciampa isn’t a fan of the pseudo-meal) or concerts together.
“Sometimes, I see on Facebook that everyone is hanging out and I get a little jealous,” Hein laughed.
Photos by Olivia Vanni for BostInno.
