Culture and Values – What It’s Like Working at Bluedot

What do Armenian politics, Pokémon GO, a job board, and murder ballads have in common? Our San Francisco-based Bluedot team. Our backgrounds and interests are as varied as they come - representing five different cultures and six or seven languages.

At Bluedot, we value diversity - inside and outside the office. Whether we’re brainstorming a product feature release, hiring a new team member, or chatting about life, we stay curious and learn from each other. Just as we place consumer experiences in context for brands and enterprises, we place each team member in context by understanding their perspective, passions, and experiences.

For example, one day over lunch our Head of Marketing and resident Pokémon GO guru, Judy, explained how she wins raid battles and the community that’s emerged as a result. Inside the office, we’re all learning from her product marketing expertise as we ramp up for a new feature release (stay tuned!). Another lunch conversation involved the origin and evolution of murder ballads (a genre of music I was unaware of previously!) and why Mae, our Marketing Manager, likes it.

Our values start at the top with our CEO and co-founder, Emil. He leads by example - embracing his unique background in policy and passion for Armenia.

Recently, he hosted a panel discussion at our Bluedot office on the recent political revolution in Armenia. As he prepared for the event, he shared with our team the historical context of the revolution and how it impacted his family.

Armenia’s Velvet Revolution - a panel discussion in partnership with AGBU Young Professionals of Northern California, hosted at the Bluedot office in San Francisco

Panelists included: 

• Dr. Yervant Zorian, President, Synopsys Armenia, AGBU Central Board Member; 
• Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian, President, American University of Armenia (AUA); 
• Emil Davityan, Co-Founder, CEO of Bluedot Innovation, former Australian Prime Ministerial Advisor; 
• Nina Achadjian, Principal at Index Ventures, Founder HIVE Ventures, focused on investing in Armenian entrepreneurs across the globe; 
• Andranik Kurghinyan, Software Engineer at Facebook, Yerevan State University alumnus and Velvet Revolution activist in Silicon Valley; 
• Dr. Karena Avedissian, USC Fellow and social movement scholar based in Yerevan who participated in the revolution and interviewed several of its organizers

One of my passions is contributing as an advisor to ProsperCity, the first job board in the nation committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. I’m continually learning what DEI looks like in practice, which often leads to conversations with our team about hiring practices, work styles, communication across cultures, continents, and genders, and more.

As a fairly recent hire, I appreciate that, as a company, we’re actively creating a diverse and inclusive environment. We’re growing, learning, and culturally expanding with each new team member. (And yes, we’re hiring!)

While we all care about different things and participate in different communities outside of the office, we’re united in our values and passionate about our work. Want to join the team? Drop us a line!