Aha! Ranks in Top 100 on Forbes' List of America's Best Startups

It is wonderful to be recognized for what makes you unique. Last year, we were featured on Forbes’ inaugural list of America’s best startups for 2020. We were particularly honored to be included in this list because of its focus on employee experiences. From day one, we have aimed to put our people first and create an environment where everyone is respected for who they are, valued for their contributions, and encouraged to achieve excellence every day.

We are excited to share that we were ranked among the top 100 companies on the 2021 Forbes list.

Forbes once again partnered with market research company Statista to compile this list, which consists of the top 500 startups most liked by their employees. They evaluated 2,500 U.S. businesses founded between 2011 and 2018 with at least 50 employees. The focus was on three main criteria: employer reputation, employee satisfaction, and company growth.

Aha! is joined in the top 100 by the likes of many impressive and well-known companies, including Zoom, Daily Harvest, and Duolingo. The list spans a diverse range of industries — from finance to health and lifestyle to business software services. And it includes companies in all 50 states. Last year was challenging on many levels regardless of industry. We feel fortunate that our company was able to continue to rapidly grow even during unprecedented world events.

Aha! is unconventional in many ways — we know what makes us unique is the company's tremendous performance and our exceptional team.

For example, we have been fully remote from the start. So we have become experts in how to create a supportive and engaging work environment with a fully distributed team. But like many others, we had to adjust as we embarked on a new normal at the beginning of 2020. Our in-person onsite events had always served as important opportunities for the team to form meaningful connections with one another. We worked hard to replicate the magic of these events virtually and find new ways to stay connected while apart.

Here are four additional factors that put Aha! in the top 100 on Forbes' list of America's best startup employers:

Strategic vision

Happy and successful teams are goal-oriented. At Aha! we have a clearly defined vision — to help create a world of lovable software. Every person in the company understands our company strategy and their role in driving it forward. We even include trust in the vision as a core metric for evaluating how lovable the company is in our annual employee survey.

Sustainable growth

Aha! has been self-funded and profitable from the start. That means that we have never raised a single dollar of outside funding. And our growth continued in 2020 with the launch of new workspaces and a new product — Aha! Ideas. We formalized new training programs and welcomed partners to help us expand the services we offer customers.

Lovable culture

Employee joy is the foundation of our company's existence. Because we know that when our team is happy, the company thrives. We encourage daily gratitude, foster cross-team connections, and always celebrate each other's wins. And this past year, the team found even more ways to connect. We held our first virtual company offsite with the theme of "100 percent Aha!" and the team rated it one of our best yet.

Commitment to giving

We believe we have a moral responsibility to help others. In recent years, we have contributed more than $250,000 to nonprofits through our philanthropic program, Aha! Cares. We originally created the program to support people's most basic needs — food, safety, and shelter. But in light of the events of 2020, we expanded the program to include "opportunity." We financially supported social justice organizations and launched a fellowship designed for those who have been historically underrepresented in software.

Our team knows that what matters most is doing something meaningful with people you care about.

We pride ourselves on creating an environment for our team to achieve every single day. We deliver real value for our customers, ourselves, and communities — and we are happy doing it. We are proud to be recognized once again as a company that has one of the best reputations as a remote-first employer and is a special place for people who want to do their best work.

Want to be part of this inspirational team? Join us.