Thank you to Lyft for sponsoring our Culture Creator Award at the Women 2.0 Awards on Feb. 12.
By Betsy Mikel (Editor, Women 2.0)
The sold-out Women 2.0 Awards are just around the corner! In case you missed what all the fuss is about, this is our 10th event anniversary and first awards ceremony. Tech’s brightest and most creative minds are coming together under one roof to celebrate the new generation of innovators. This Thursday, we’ll honor individuals and companies for their talent, leadership and achievements in the tech industry.
We’ve already announced the nominees and the awards that will be presented on stage. We’re also taking time to thank our sponsors, without whom the Women 2.0 Awards wouldn’t be possible. Our favorite ride-sharing app, Lyft is sponsoring our Culture Creator Award.
While many think that working for Lyft requires outfitting your car with pink mustache, don’t forget the behind-the-scenes technology that makes it all possible. Lyft currently has 18 open engineering jobs, ranging from New Grad Software Engineer to Senior Web Developer to just about everything in between.
To get a bit of insight as to what it’s like to work on building Lyft technology, we spoke to Tali Rapaport, the Vice President of Product, and asked her what Lyft’s company culture is like.
Location: San Francisco
Size of team: 400 (entire company)
Favorite company perk or benefit: Monthly Lyft credit to help with commuting
The Lyft vision: To reconnect people and communities through better transportation. We imagine a world where cities feel small again. Where transportation and technology bring people together, instead of apart.
What’s the culture like at Lyft?
Tali Rapaport: Lyft’s culture is creative, collaborative and inclusive. Individuals are encouraged to be themselves. Hard work is rewarded and accomplishments are celebrated. Everyone that I’ve had the chance to work with has been incredibly smart, and it’s inspiring that each and every employee is fueled by the shared vision of reconnecting people and communities through better transportation. At Lyft, we think of ourselves as one big family – and it’s that welcoming environment that made me so drawn to Lyft in the first place.
What’s something people are surprised to learn about working at Lyft?
Tali Rapaport: While we’ve quickly grown to more than 400 people, Lyft still feels like a small startup. We move quickly and everyone is committed to getting the job done, no matter what it takes. But even on a crazy day, we take the time to sit down and each lunch together. I think people would be most surprised to learn that many employees believe so passionately in the potential for Lyft that more than 25 percent of them are Lyft drivers themselves (including both of our co-founders!)
I’m proud and encouraged to be part of a growing leadership team at Lyft that is nearly 50 percent female. We have so many brilliant women helping lead the way and I think that’s what makes the Lyft brand and experience so accessible for female drivers and passengers. In fact, 30 percent of Lyft drivers and 60 percent of Lyft passengers are female.
What’s one reason someone might chose working at Lyft instead of working for another technology company?
Tali Rapaport: It’s unique to find leadership so firmly committed to making the world a better place. Lyft was founded under the idea that together, we can eliminate traffic and make it even easier to live car-free. This has been a goal of our co-founders since they started Zimride long before Lyft in 2007, and is still very much ingrained in the day-to-day at the office.
Lyft’s practice of rewarding and advancing employees based solely on ability and accomplishments, rather than precedent or rank, is also unique and not something you’ll find at other companies.
