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Why we exist – our Why:

We are building Hotjar to inspire change through empathy,
so together, we can change our world for the better. 

Our vision of the future – our Just Cause:

We imagine a world where all businesses give you an experience you [love │enjoy │desire │seek │deserve].

The Hotjar Dream... and our vision for the future

The Hotjar Dream

In today’s business status quo, ruthlessness and exploitation seem to be a regular part of getting ahead, customers are often just numbers on a spreadsheet, and employees are frequently treated like cogs in a machine. 

We’ve come to expect that businesses will put generating profit for shareholders before anyone and anything else. For many entrepreneurs, this doesn’t even seem like a choice, it’s assumed that this is how they should run a business. 

But over the last few decades, we’ve started to see a shift. Startups all the way to fortune 500 businesses started putting customers at the center of how they built and innovated. 

More recently, we’ve seen examples of public companies going beyond the customer, making a people-focused working culture a top priority. And taking it even further, purpose-driven businesses have started including the planet as a stakeholder of the business (think Patagonia).

This shift was the main driver for starting Hotjar back in 2014. The founders identified a need for affordable and intuitive tools that help businesses understand their users and customers. Their dream was to provide these tools to anyone around the world, no matter how big or small they might be. And in doing so, change the way we all build and improve experiences, by putting people at the center of every product. 

This dream comes from a core belief at Hotjar; that long-lasting business success starts by putting people first. 

Which means truly listening to—and being compassionate with—customers and stakeholders. Then put your full force behind acting on what you’ve discovered by investing in the product and service improvements they need.

It’s easy to think that running your business this way means choosing dreams over profits. But this is a fallacy built on the assumption that there is only one way to do business.

The fact of the matter is, choosing this mindset is better for business. And the companies already moving in this direction are living proof of that.

This is true not just because the best way to compete—and win—is to focus on being as close as possible to your customers, but because there’s also a major shift happening in how people are thinking. In all aspects of their lives, people are done accepting a status quo that doesn’t serve them, and they’re starting to push back against companies that don’t have a people-first approach.

At Hotjar this dream of enabling long-lasting business success by putting people first is the thread that ties together who we are as a company and what we offer as a business.

We work relentlessly so that all teams have access to the tools and technology necessary to fully and effortlessly empathize with their customers.

We are building Hotjar to
inspire change through empathy,
so together, we can change our world for the better. 

Our vision of the future

But our purpose doesn’t stop here. At Hotjar we believe that businesses should treat their team with the same level of respect and kindness that they would treat their best customers. 

We understand that the way a business treats its team is ultimately how we’ll treat all our customers.

Whether you are buying a product on the web or you’re a member of our team, at Hotjar we believe you should be heard and feel valued. 

And it doesn’t stop at the team.

We imagine a future where business is no longer synonymous with exploitation. Where success is not measured in profits alone but rather in the contributions to all stakeholders; the team, customers, partners, the community, and the planet. 

It’s time to change what business stands for. It’s time to set a new standard.

In team meetings and boardrooms we hear of the desire to be ‘loved by customers’ and for the ‘brand to be loved’. Businesses want their teams to ‘love the culture’.

And there’s something a bit off about it. To start with, it’s entirely one-directional. It puts all the pressure on the customers or the employees to feel strongly, and lets the business off the hook. 

And because it’s all take and no give, it’s not actually love, it’s manipulation. Which is one reason why businesses using the word love feels wrong. It ties into the trope of: ‘It’s like a family working here’, which actually means ‘We’ll ask unreasonable things of you and expect you to take it’.

This doesn’t mean love is a bad goal. Love’s a great goal. A wonderful true north to aim towards. If you’re thinking about the job you spend the majority of your time working at, or the companies you interact with every day, shouldn’t love be on the cards?

But love needs to be earned. 

Which means flipping the usual way of thinking on its head.

To receive love we must instill a culture where the business treats its customers and team with love. It requires empathy, compassion, and action. 

It’s not about giving stakeholders everything they want, but rather figuring out what they truly need. It involves finding the right balance between giving and receiving, since a business without profits would have no resources to translate love into value.

This new way of doing business, this new world, is a future we want to live in. And it’s one we can help build. But only by setting ourselves a goal so ambitious it feels uncomfortable.

This is our big, bold, and ultimately unachievable vision for the future. 

We imagine a world where all businesses treat you with love.

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