488 - PlanetScale
PlanetScale was founded in 2018 to offer high-performance and scalable databases in the cloud, powered by Vitess and MySQL. The company has since raised a reported $105 million in funding and are trusted by companies like Cash App, MyFitnessPal, Dub, Barstool Sports, and more.
Their office space is right off of the beautiful south park in San Francisco. Employees regularly take breaks, walks, or calls out in the park to get some fresh air and steps in.
The choice of building and interior design work was spearheaded by CEO Sam Lambert. Sam has an eye for design, and has personally put a lot of effort into making the office a great place to work, meet with customers, and enjoy. The space has a bright, minimalist, and contemporary vibe.
Half of the main space is composed of the lounge and TV viewing area. The other half is set up with bring-your-own laptop workstations with standing desks and monitors. Everyone at PlanetScale is equipped with a laptop, and many either work 100% remote or only come in a few days a week. This makes for great flexibility.
Fatih Arslan, a software engineer at PlanetScale, previously shared his WFH setup with us in edition #265 and it has been one of the top visited posts every week since.
Jason Long, a product designer at PlanetScale, also shared his setup a year before Fatih in edition #160.
They also have two meeting pods for quick and private zoom sessions.
Their lobby area has a collection of comfortable furniture - a pair of Scandinavian chairs and a plush green couch - arranged on a natural jute rug. The wooden flooring and clean walls throughout the whole office keep everything feeling open and airy. A great spot to both have deep technical discussions with coworkers and to relax after hours.
The lounge at the back of the office serves multiple roles: A space for private meetings with <= 4 people, additional workspace for employees traveling from out of town, and a social space during events. This space has a lower ceiling for a more intimate feel, and has a glass wall to allow natural sunlight in throughout the day. They have many iconic furniture pieces in this space, including an Eames chair, Wassily chair, and a klipsch audio system for hifi music enjoyment.
And the events mentioned above? I can only hope to be invited to one someday...
Finally, they've equipped their conference room with a zoom conferencing setup to make it easy to have hybrid meetings with people both around the table and around the world. They're using a Logitech MeetUp, Mac mini, and TV to power the tech in this room.
Some of Sam's (CEO) favorite items in the office are the speakers because of his love for music, the "break fake rules" sign which he endorses, and the items and wall art in the lounge because people often comment on the Porsche art, sparking conversation. The cabinet in the same room contains a collection of items he's been given or awarded over the years.
Fun fact: they recently added stadium-grade public wifi for the surrounding south park so that their employees (and anyone else enjoying the park) would have access to wifi while being able to enjoy spending time outside.
How's that for culture?
