We’re Happy at #64… for Now

We were just named #64 on Built In’s Best Large Companies to Work for in Austin. Are we #1? No. Is it a respectable, real number that gives us something to shoot for? Absolutely.

We’re good with #64 – for now. In part, because it feels honest. There are 63 companies ahead of us with bigger names, bigger budgets, and perks that look great in a press release. There are a lot behind us still figuring out some things, but doing great work.

We’re somewhere in the middle and we plan to keep doing better. We’re in this for the long run. That means doing the work, learning as we go, and building something that lasts.

Some of the companies on this list have kombucha on tap. Ok, we do have that in one of our offices. Some have nap pods. We all just nap squirreled up under our desks like normal people. Just kidding.

Some of these companies probably have Slack channels dedicated entirely to dogs. Respect. Our chat group for #pets is mostly cat people. We build in-house and use open-source products. We’re different… kind of. Scrappy, spicier. But sometimes the dogs also make it onto our #pets company chat, too.

Some companies optimize for vibes. Some optimize for optics. We optimize for how the work actually feels on a Tuesday afternoon.

Why This One Matters to Us

This award matters not because it says we’re perfect, but because it reflects how our people experience working here.

At Corporate Tools, our culture isn’t accidental. It’s the result of a few principles we take seriously – even when they’re inconvenient.

We believe this is our sport.

That means we care about the craft. We show up prepared. We hold ourselves accountable to the work and to each other. We don’t phone it in, and we don’t treat work like a performance for someone else’s approval.

We play the long game.

We’re not interested in short-term wins that come at the cost of trust, people, or quality. Whether it’s building tools, teams, or careers, we think durability beats flash every time.

We pursue unreasonably high standards.

Not because perfection is possible – it isn’t – but because caring deeply about quality raises the bar for everyone. We’d rather do fewer things well than a lot of things halfway.

And we put employees first, customers second, and profit third.

Because when the first two are right, the third tends to follow. We don’t treat people as inputs or costs to be minimized. We treat them as the reason the work is any good in the first place.

About That Ranking

Look – there are incredible companies ahead of us on the list. There are also companies behind us that do great work and like us are aiming to be higher on this list next year. That’s how growth works.

What we’re proud of is this: we didn’t chase this ranking. We didn’t optimize for it. We didn’t game a survey.

We just showed up, answered honestly, and kept building the kind of place we want to work at ourselves. Where we show up for one another and keep growing as people.

Apparently, that’s good enough for #64. And we know we’ll be better next year because stagnation isn’t an option.

If This Sounds Like Your Kind of Place

If you’re the kind of person who:

• cares about doing good work
• owns mistakes and learns from them
• wants teammates who act like teammates
• prefers substance over posturing

…you might like it here.

We’re Hiring

Take a look at our open roles and see if there’s a fit: https://www.corporatetools.com/jobs/

If you’d rather be part of a team that’s playing the long game instead of bragging about the perks, we’d love to hear from you.

And yes – we’ll reply.