Playground (tryplayground.com) Company Culture & Values 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Cultural Alignment

Playground’s culture is built around our core values of entrepreneurship, craftsmanship, and empathy. Plus, we have a lot of fun together!

Entrepreneurship. We operate with high agency and ownership. Everyone is expected to think and act like an owner, moving independently, making thoughtful decisions, and pushing work forward without waiting for permission. We use clear decision-making frameworks to unblock quickly and maintain speed as we grow.

Craftsmanship. We care deeply about our product and we hold a high bar for quality. We don’t settle for mediocrity — whether we’re building product, improving internal systems or serving our customers. Continuous learning and skill development are part of how we stay sharp and deliver excellence.

Empathy. Above all, we lead with empathy. This shows up in how we collaborate internally and in how we serve the children, families, and educators who rely on our product. Playground began as a tool built for our founders’ mom during COVID, and that deep commitment to our users and care for their day-to-day remains at the heart of our culture today.

Ultimately, we’re a high-performing team that also has a lot of fun together. From shared lunches to celebrating wins and milestones, we believe strong relationships make great work possible.

Team Dynamics & Collaboration

We’re in person for a reason. We believe the best collaboration happens face-to-face, so we encourage teammates to walk over to one another to problem-solve and work through ideas in real time rather than relying on long email or Slack threads. When collaborating across offices, we default to quick Slack huddles for live conversation to maintain that same speed and clarity.

Beyond informal communication, each team runs regular stand-ups to share updates and unblock work. Company-wide all-hands meetings and weekly leadership updates ensure everyone stays aligned on performance, priorities, and progress.

We’re also intentional about connecting customer feedback to product development. We have processes for capturing insights from customers and customer-facing team members and sharing them directly with our product team, so we can continuously improve and evolve in ways that truly meet customer needs.

Overall, collaboration at Playground is fast, direct, and deeply cross-functional, grounded in dialogue, alignment, and shared ownership.

Playground (tryplayground.com) Employee Reviews

I am beginning my 4th year at Playground. This is the most fun that I've had in my whole career. Playground's leadership team doesn't just tell me how valued I am, they live it! I truly feel to my core that I belong here. That can't be faked. Our product is second to none, however it is the individuals who make up this leadership team who set the tone for an unflappably pristine and robust workplace culture. If I have it my way, I will retire right here, sitting under the big blue Playground sliding board.