Yoodli Ranked #2 on Washington’s Best Workplaces 2026 by Puget Sound Business Journal

Yoodli has been ranked #2 on Washington’s Best Workplaces 2026 by the Puget Sound Business Journal in the small company category (25-49 Washington-based employees), with a score of 94.61.

The annual Washington’s Best Workplaces awards recognize companies across the state where employees report the highest levels of trust, transparency, and engagement. Rankings are based directly on anonymous employee survey responses, which makes this recognition especially meaningful to us. It came from our team.

The ranking was announced at the 20th annual Washington’s Best Workplaces celebration, hosted by the Puget Sound Business Journal on August 20, 2026, at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. Representing Yoodli at the ballpark were Sage Quiamno (PR/Comms Lead), Melanie Zhang (Software Engineer), and Abby Hegland, Sasha Karnig, and Sydney Silver (Account Executives), celebrating alongside 99 other honorees from across the state.

A Culture Built by People Who Struggled with Communication

Yoodli was founded by people who have personally struggled with communication. Overcoming a lisp. Freezing in a job interview. Feeling anxious speaking up as the only woman in the room. That shared experience shapes everything about how we work, and it’s why our mission of helping people communicate with confidence isn’t abstract to anyone on the team.

It also means we practice what we preach. Every Yoodli employee uses our own experiential learning platform to rehearse presentations, feedback conversations, and high-stakes moments in a private, judgment-free environment, powered by AI roleplays. It’s the same Learn → Practice → Do loop we deliver to our customers.

What the Ranking Measures

The Puget Sound Business Journal’s Best Workplaces program surveys employees directly on workplace culture, leadership, and engagement. A few things our team highlighted:

Transparent leadership. Company context is shared openly and frequently, and feedback flows in all directions. People are encouraged to challenge ideas and help shape how we operate.

Real investment in growth. Learning and development budgets, intentional cross-functional exposure, and career conversations that are separate from performance reviews.

Values in practice. Humility, bias for action, and winning together aren’t wall art. They’re how we operate day to day.

In Our Team’s Words

“Yoodli is the kind of place that makes you want to do your best work. The mission is real, the people are exceptional, and the leadership earns trust rather than just expecting it.”

“You’re not just executing someone else’s playbook. You’re building it. The team is small enough that your work shows up everywhere in how we go to market, how we talk about what we do, and how we show up for customers.”

A Big Year for the Yoodli Team

This recognition caps a period of significant momentum. In the past year, Yoodli raised a $40M Series B led by WestBridge Capital, grew revenue 900% year over year, was named Cognitive Communications Solution of the Year in the 2026 AI Breakthrough Awards, and earned a spot on Training Industry’s Top 20 AI Coaching and Learner Support Tools list.

The team has grown, too. Since the Best Workplaces survey was conducted, Yoodli has expanded from 43 Washington employees to more than 80 people and moved into a new office at Pier 70 on the Seattle waterfront. As we grow, Seattle remains our employee hub, and the culture our team was recognized for remains the priority.

“Most founders move to the Valley to start a company. We went the other way and started from scratch in Seattle,” said Varun Puri, CEO and co-founder of Yoodli. “Seattle is different, people care. GeekWire, Madrona, Ai2, they’re actively building the local startup ecosystem. Seattle companies tend to be more focused on business fundamentals, and I appreciate that more every year.”

Join Us

We’re hiring across engineering, sales, customer success, marketing, and product, with most roles based in Seattle. If you want to help build the category of AI experiential learning, explore our open roles at https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/yoodliinc.

Thank you to our team for building this culture together, and to the Puget Sound Business Journal for the recognition. Read the full Washington’s Best Workplaces 2026 feature at the Puget Sound Business Journal.