Livemocha
For employees of the year-old startup Livemocha, it's excitement over the product that makes this one of the coolest places to work this year.
They're running an online language learning network that connects native speakers around the world who help one another practice their speaking and writing skills. The service is free and is offered in 11 languages, including Russian, Mandarin, Hindi, Portuguese, Icelandic and Italian. Employees say members are motivated to teach each other by the natural debt of gratitude they feel for what they've gained.
Needless to say, the small Bellevue office is a model of diversity, with employees from India, China, Japan, Iran and the Ukraine, to name a few. In addition to a vibrant corporate culture, they have a very robust Ping-Pong culture -- the table reportedly gets extremely heavy use every day.
The results that Livemocha staff see from their product -- successful language acquisition, new friendships and contacts in foreign countries, 1 million users who have joined in only a year, and even a marriage between two members -- are a huge inspiration for folks here to stick around and see how the burgeoning business grows.
*Listed in alphabetical order
