5 Workplace of the Year Winners Lean on Core Values to Create Strong Company Culture – GeekWire
Trust. Justice. Accessibility. Openness. A lot goes into building a strong company culture — and earning a nomination for GeekWire’s 2026 Workplace of the Year awards.
The award, presented by JLL, recognizes companies with a unique workplace. This year’s Workplace of the Year finalists are the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2), Carbon Robotics, DAT Freight & Analytics, Humanly, and Yoodli.
Now in its 18th year, the GeekWire Awards is the premier event to recognize the top leaders, companies and achievements in Pacific Northwest tech, bringing together hundreds of people to celebrate innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. It takes place on May 7 at Showbox SoDo in Seattle.
Online clothing rental company Armoire won Workplace of the Year last year. The Seattle startup, launched by CEO Ambika Singh, was praised for assembling a support network among its employees that reaches out to its customers and the wider community.
Read on for information about the finalists for Workplace of the Year, selected by a panel of independent judges based on public nominations. You can help choose a winner: Cast your vote here or in the embedded form below. Voting continues until April 10.
Seattle’s Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Ai2) focuses on openness as a core value, driving “AI for the common good” and encouraging teams to share models, data, and research with the wider community.
The non-profit organization, founded in 2014 by the late Paul Allen, has become a mainstream open source AI company. It trains models like OLMo and Molmo fully in an open environment, releases weights, code, and datasets, and sets demonstration standards that shape how people build and use AI beyond its Seattle headquarters.
Ag-tech startup Carbon Robotics counts five simple values which are the keys to its culture: Do what you say you will do; never let a customer down; we should be paid for our work; know what you are talking about; embrace mistakes in the pursuit of innovation. The company calls the former its guiding value and says it builds trust in the company and its customers who are all tightly knit, multi-generational, family-owned farmers. Reputation is very important, Carbon believes.
Founded in 2018 by CEO Paul Mikesell, Carbon Robotics made its name across ag-tech with the LaserWeeder, a machine that can be towed behind a tractor and uses its technology to locate crops in fields and target and eliminate weeds with lasers.
DAT Freight & Analytics it says it has wandered into the bulk purchase in 18 months by treating the integration as building a culture instead of taking over, guided by their “One Dat” value. The company says it relies on strong practices such as Gallup engagement benchmarking (up to 75 percent among tech organizations), systematic pay equity analysis, and the Women in Tech mentoring program. DAT believes in helping its partners in Seattle, Denver, Beaverton, Ore., Toronto, and Bangalore feel like one team.
Beaverton, Ore.-based DAT — named a best place to work earlier this year — operates the largest freight forwarding marketplace in North America. Founded in 1978, DAT is a business unit of publicly traded industrial conglomerate Roper Technologies.
Seattle-based startup According to the people committed to building fairness in both its product and its workplace – its AI recruitment platform is constantly audited by external partners to reduce bias, and that same commitment to fairness shapes how the company works internally. The team demonstrates strong representation of BIPOC and women members, based on the values of integrity, ownership, and collaboration. The result, says Humanly, is a culture where people are encouraged to work hard, take action, and treat change as an opportunity rather than a disruption.
Led by CEO Prem Kumar, Humanly was founded in 2018 and uses automation software to help companies screen job candidates, schedule interviews, automate initial communications, check references, and more. Target customers with high rental needs.
An AI role-playing activity runs Yoodli focused on doing AI communication training is accessible to everyone, maintaining a free class that has reached nearly a million users worldwide – including non-native English speakers, people with speech disabilities, and students preparing for initial interviews. Yoodli says his culture operates on three simple, actionable principles – Humility, Bias for Action, and Winning Together – and models leadership with those values clearly, creating space for the whole team to be seen as authentic.
Yoodli was founded in 2021 by CEO Varun Puri and President Esha Joshi. The Seattle startup, launched in the AI2 Incubator, sells AI-powered software to help people practice real-world conversations like sales calls and response times.
Astound Business Solutions is the presenting sponsor of the 2026 GeekWire Awards. Thanks also to gold sponsors Amazon Sustainability, Baird, BECU, JLL, First Tech and Wilson Sonsini, and silver sponsors Prime Team Partners.
The event will feature a VIP reception, dinner and fun social gatherings. Tickets are going fast. A limited number of partial table sponsorships and full sponsorships are available. Contact person [email protected] to reserve a spot for your team today.
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