The Top 50 Seed-Stage Companies to Work for in 2021
At Will Reed, we believe early-stage founders are shaping our future - creating culture - and it’s our responsibility and privilege to support them as they courageously bring good things into the world.
This Top 50 list is an homage to the creators, movers and shakers who are solving meaningful problems and doing it with deep regard for people and culture.
Let’s spotlight the ones forging our future and defining the future of work.
Trend #1. The traditional HQ is dead
Fully-distributed teams are the new norm.
Founders are securing regional hubs (i.e. co-working spaces), so their employees have flexible, unmandated access to physical office space.
Company-wide destination offsites are happening more frequently.
Trend #2. Funding is happening fast
In 2016, the average time lapse between a seed round and Series A was 18.1 months.* Fast forward to 2021, seven of the Top 50 secured their Series A during the making of this content, with an average time lapse of only eight months.
*Sebastian Quintero, “How much runway should you target between financing rounds?” Last modified October 26, 2017.
Trend #3. The talent shortage is real
98% of the Top 50 companies are actively hiring, and their main needs are Engineering and Sales. On the Engineering front, many founders are looking outside the U.S. for this talent.
Trend #4. DEI is more than an internal hiring initiative
Danielle Pensack of Rightfoot educated us on The Diversity Term Sheet Rider for representation at the Cap Table, while Bo Han of Buzzer shared their Strive Initiative, whereby 1% of company equity, 1% of net profits, and 1% of customer-elected transactions will be dedicated to investing in equitable outcomes for Black, Indigenous and People of Color.
Trend #5. No hint of ego
In the early days, the CEO is the face and spokesperson of the company. It’s just how it works. But let me assure you, every single one of these CEOs made a staunch point to celebrate his/her co-founders and founding team. I was deeply moved by the lack of ego and authentic team spirit.
