Obsessed with the problem, serious about recovery

Let's be honest about startups: they reward obsession.

The people who move fastest here are the ones who can't stop thinking about the problem in front of them. They wake up with a fix in their head. They test the product with the strangest prompts they can find. They argue about a button over lunch because they care how it feels to the person using it.

We wouldn't want it any other way. But we've also learned that obsession on its own doesn't last. Obsession compounds only when you can sustain it.

Obsess over the problem

Every week, the whole team tries to break what we're about to ship, on purpose. Not to tick a QA box, but because, as our co-founder Zain Ul Abedien puts it:

When someone uses something you made, they are giving you their time. That is the greatest gift a builder can receive.

That's what obsession looks like here. It isn't long hours for their own sake. It's caring, unreasonably, about getting something right for the person on the other side.

Go deep, not wide

The people who do their best work at ImagineArt are hyper-focused. One problem, full attention, until it's solved. Busy isn't the goal. Shipped is.

That's how a small team ships five integrations in a single week, or onboards more than 34,000 new users in a single day without the system falling over. Depth beats a hundred half-finished things.

Look after the machine

Here's the part most startups get wrong. If you're going to go this hard, your body and mind are the most important tools you have, so we expect you to look after them.

Sleep. Move. Eat properly. Take your leave. Step away when you're stuck, because the answer often shows up on a walk, not at your desk at 3 a.m.

We try to cover the real needs behind that, not the decoration:

• Health cover for our team, including health insurance and a medical allowance in Pakistan, and a group medical plan in San Francisco
• Paid annual leave and paid sick leave, which we expect you to use
• A yearly retreat to actually switch off. This year it was three days in Kumrat Valley
• Fuel allowance and meals in Pakistan, because commuting and lunch are real costs, not perks

The mix we hire for

When we meet candidates, we're looking for people with both sides:

1. You're obsessed with a problem, and you can show us something you built because you couldn't leave it alone
2. You can focus, going deep instead of spreading yourself thin
3. You take care of yourself, because you plan on doing this for a long time

As our CTO Abdullah Rafique says, "The day you stop giving yourself hard challenges and settle into comfort is the day you stop growing." We'd add one thing: give yourself the energy to keep taking them on.

If that's you, we'd love to meet you.

Frequently asked questions

What is the work culture like at ImagineArt?

Intense and focused: people own problems end to end, ship fast and test their own work hard. The company also expects people to look after their health and take their leave, and covers real needs like health insurance, meals and paid sick leave.

What benefits does ImagineArt offer in Pakistan?

In Islamabad, benefits include competitive pay, health insurance, a medical allowance, EOBI, free meals or a meal allowance, a fuel allowance, paid annual and sick leave, AI tool subscriptions, a MacBook, a learning budget and a referral bonus.