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You probably know people who have very good taste.
If you were to ask them to write you a guide to developing great taste, they would probably struggle. Struggle because taste is one of those hard to describe phenomena that words cannot do justice. Some people would even resist the premise that you can teach taste, and say things like: “Taste is not like math. You are either born with an understanding, or you’re not.”
I do not agree. I think it’s possible to learn to cultivate taste, and that perhaps the best way to do so is to work alongside people who can appreciate the details. You can learn through osmosis.
If you’d like to be able to comprehend the beauty of fine art, work in a great art gallery. If you’d like to be able to detect the nuances of carefully seasoned foods, work in a great kitchen.
And if you’d like to have great taste at work—great taste in design, great taste in people, great taste in writing, etc.—you should work at a great startup.
It can be hard to find a startup with great taste. Most startups tend to be pretty mediocre. That’s why we thought it’d be a good idea to speak with Michael Grinich and the team at WorkOS.
WorkOS builds tools and services for developers to help them implement authentication, identity, authorization, and overall enterprise readiness. They’ve raised $100m and have customers including OpenAI, Cursor, Perplexity, and hundreds of others. And they are hiring for 20+ roles (across GTM, People, Engineering, Design).
Beyond delivering a useful solution to an important problem, WorkOS is known for a focus on excellenceCheck out their website. Check out their API docs. Check out their podcast. Check out their upcoming conference. You will immediately notice the thoughtful details.
How have they built a culture with excellence? How have they scaled taste? All that and more in this Next Play Spotlight covering what it’s like to work at WorkOS.
Major thank you to the WorkOS team for sharing behind-the-scenes details and supporting Next Play.
If you imagine a “detail-oriented culture,” you may picture an organization with lots of internal oversight. Exhaustive processes and checks to make sure no unintentional decisions slip through the cracks. That’s a bit like how an investment bank works. Work starts with the lowest level associate who builds a model. Then you have a senior associate check the model before passing it to their vice president. That process repeats up the chain of command until eventually a partner gives their stamp of approval.
WorkOS takes a very different approach. Instead of micromanaging the work, they instead focus on 1) setting a high bar and 2) hiring great people, and empowering them however possible to help them achieve success. The rest of this Spotlight describes how that plays out in practice in more detail.
It is unlikely for any organization to have higher standards than its CEO.
Michael Grinich, the founder and CEO of WorkOS, has an impressive background. He previously went to MIT and founded Nylas.
When you ask people at the company about Michael, they typically mention two things: 1) his commitment to the business and 2) his uncanny ability to pay attention to the important details.
On commitment:
“He cares so deeply about every aspect of the business. He has a strong awareness of how things are unfolding in this space, and how we as a company can meet the moment to make the most impact. He's so tuned in.”
“A lot of the culture and engineering practices at WorkOS are a result of Michael having been an engineer himself, and I think this is distinct from a lot of startups where the founders aren't deeply technical. Michael has a long vision for the company, but often will reevaluate his assumptions as the environment changes, which I think shows good self-awareness.”
On intentionality and paying attention to important details;
“Has a high bar for craft and quality, while also making sure our roadmap is focused on what customers actually need.”
“He knows what he wants in the product and is very open and blunt about it, which helps keep the team focused on the right goals as we ship quickly.”
“Michael is intentional in how he approaches everything — from building the business, to shaping product strategy, brand and hiring. For example, the word "auth" is intentionally not in the WorkOS name because we're not just an authentication company. Our story is bigger than that.”
“He's very active and involved in what we do day-to-day. He's made it known that he views our Developer Success efforts as integral to our success as a company and doesn't hesitate to chime in with clear, direct input when he sees an example of where we've met, or missed, the mark.”
“Michael is hands-on with just about everything at WorkOS. He trusts folks to do excellent work, but he also isn't afraid to give direct feedback to anyone. He's deeply technical, cares a lot about developer experience, and has a good sense for where the industry is headed and where WorkOS should fit in.”
It’s not just Michael—when people talk about the leadership team at WorkOS, they mention similar traits:
“Leadership at WorkOS is sharp, hands-on, and deeply invested in both people and product. They’re great at giving context and direction without micromanaging, and they set an ambitious bar that inspires the team to level up.”
“Pragmatic - they keep the company and team laser focused on priorities and not worrying about what's in the future but what we can build tomorrow.”
“They’re not just decision-makers; they’re active participants. Whether it’s diving into metrics, joining customer calls, or workshopping ideas, our leadership team is in the trenches with us. They challenge assumptions, encourage experimentation, and create space for people to do the best work of their careers.”
“Leadership at WorkOS is decisive, direct, and competitive. They lead the company like a professional sports team — evaluating competition, identifying weaknesses, and investing in strengths. They’re constantly building the team that builds the company.”
The early team has successfully set a high standard, such that when new people join the company, they say things like this:
“The bar at WorkOS is high and it's apparent in every detail of what we do.”
“The pace is fast and the bar is high here. It can almost feel jarring at first if you're not used it.”
“The interview process showed me straight away that WorkOS held a very high bar and made me want to work there even more.”
High standards show up in many places.
Everywhere from event planning:
“We consistently strive to "earn the wow" and one of the ways we've displayed that more publicly in recent times, has been through our MCP Night events. I follow along in the planning channels and the level of consideration and detail to every aspect of that event is incredible, from the content and contributors right down to the logos on the napkins.”
To all hands demos:
“My favorite story is from an All Hands a few years ago. There was a demo from someone on our design team who realized that the scroll bars on our docs page were a little bit janky, e.g it didn't really scroll to the right spot smoothly if you scrolled down the page quickly. Everyone expected a fairly straightforward demo for a scrollbar, "this was janky", "I added some animations to make it a bit smoother as it approaches the right spot".
However, instead we witnessed one of my favorite demos of all time. To truly fix the problem, he wrote custom physics using newton's equations for our docs scroll areas. He hand wrote acceleration and decceleration physics for the scroll areas and then ran through the demo by explaining the equations. By the end of the demo, everyone was absolutely sure that the scrollbars were indeed not janky anymore.”
As the company has scaled, they’ve made an effort to retain their standard of excellence.
“To this day, Michael personally meets with every single candidate, reflecting his commitment to maintaining an exceptionally high bar for talent. He believes—and I agree—that one of the greatest perks of any role is getting to work alongside the most talented and inspiring people.”
Once you’re in, they extend lots of trust to you. They really want to set you up for doing your best work.
“WorkOS is a place with low oversight and high expectations. People are trusted to own their work and given the freedom to make decisions, but that also means the bar is high. The culture rewards initiative, curiosity, and self-motivation. If you like autonomy and moving quickly, you’ll thrive here.”
There is very little bureaucratic process.
They trust you to be able to handle ambiguous problems:
“I think folks who need a strong set of direction to complete tasks would struggle. If you need to be told exactly what to do next, you wouldn't be a great fit.”
“There's a lot of people who thrive in an environment with clear structure, goals and milestones. They can execute at a high level when the criteria for success is well defined. But at WorkOS, they might struggle with formulating the plan and then executing on the work simultaneously.”
“We work best with people who are comfortable in a dynamic environment — jumping in where needed, contributing both as an individual and as part of a team, and wearing multiple hats to help us move quickly. Because we’re fully remote, we value proactive communication, initiative, and a collaborative spirit. Those who prefer a lot of formal process, highly structured management, or a role that’s purely managerial without hands-on contribution may find our environment less fulfilling.”
“Most successful folks at WorkOS like charting their own path, and take initiative in ambiguous environments.”
That does not mean they look for people who never want to make mistakes. In fact, it is closer to the opposite mentality. They want people who are willing to try new things and even fail every so often as part of the learning process.
“Don't overthink/over engineer/over process - just jump in and start doing/learning.”
“We work with high agency and urgency and thrive by shipping things fast. Very little process - just focused on building.”
They just expect you to communicate transparently as you work. Flag issues. Ask others when you have questions. Act like an owner.
“Lots of companies preach about ask questions and asking them publicly but WorkOS means it - it's part of the culture here and we're all better for it. There's no concept of staying in your lane. The advice I'd give to hires is pretty basic - own it, ask it, implement it.”
“There's a push to be direct and transparent, say what needs said. Leadership and onboarding calls this out so that folks can be ready for it and recognize it as a means to be more successful more quickly, not something to feel badly about. It allows us to make mistakes, own them, fix them, and keep going without wasting any time.”
“One of our operating principles is "radical transparency," and it's something I wish I focused on more when I first started at WorkOS.”
“Proactively ask questions—open slack channels are encouraged, as is public discussion for learning.”
The result of this proactive communication is strong connection between teammates. While the team is remote, multiple people mentioned just how united the team feels.
“WorkOS is more obsessed with team cohesion than any place I’ve worked.”
“We work remotely but I feel more connected to my coworkers here than at any other remote company I've worked for - both within my Developer Success team and the broader company. We work hard but also have a lot of fun. We have weekly donut chats with two other randomly paired employees and they're highly prioritized. When I went to my first company onsite, I felt like I already knew the people I was meeting face to face despite being new to the company.”
Excellence alone is not enough to lead to building a great business. That’s because it’s one thing to have high standards. It’s another (and perhaps more useful) thing to apply those standards towards solving important problems.
Everyone at WorkOS is rowing in the same direction—working towards bringing value to their customers.
“Our north star is Developer Joy, or having a developer-first mindset and always doing right by the developer. Whether it’s someone exploring our docs for the first time, integrating their nth feature, or reaching out for support, we obsess over delivering the best developer experience possible.”
“Value developer happiness ("Developer Joy"): delight internal and external developer users with thoughtful, high-quality interactions and fast support.”
They learn to build an understanding of their customers’ needs by using the product themselves.
“Spend as much time as possible actually using the product, integrating it into demo apps, and going through product onboarding guides. There's a huge opportunity to leverage the beginner's mind to mine for friction and confusion. We are always trying to do this but we build so much context that it's easier to stand in our customers' shoes earlier on.”
“Dogfood and use the product as much as you can! The quicker you develop a deep understanding of a product, the quicker you can empathize with someone integrating our product.”
Magic really comes when you take those product insights and apply high standards and taste to them. You can really push beyond the status quo and deliver your customers with a uniquely fantastic experience.
“The people who thrive here are intentional builders, not just executors. We value those who think beyond traditional playbooks. Success here means actively seeking customer feedback, investigating what other successful companies are doing, and using insights to challenge assumptions.”
If this sort of environment is the type that resonates with you, WorkOS is hiring (North American Timezones) for 20+ roles (across GTM, People, Engineering, Design). You can apply here.
And if you are looking for more interesting opportunities, check out Next Play.
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