2010 Rising Stars Awards: Coolest Small Company For Young Professionals: Dynamic Network Services Inc.

The epitome of "Geek Chic," Dynamic Network Services Inc. (Dyn Inc.) in Manchester is a playground for techies. This is a youth culture (85 percent of its workforce and 75 percent of the management team are under age 40), from the cool lounge with arcade games, a dartboard, ping pong table,and TV with Blu-ray DVD player, to the company's Segway for employees to zoom around on.

But while the toys are a cool way to take a break, they're far from the coolest aspects of this vibrant company. The entire culture is geared toward exciting and engaging employees.

Dyn Inc. provides "the plumbing" of the Internet, including domain registrations, network management and e-mail services, for millions of customers including Twitter and Zappos.com. As such, it knows the employees it wants to attract must have a passion for technology, want to play as hard as they work, value flexibility and want a company that will invest in their career.

The company works with employees to create schedules that work for both the employee and the company, with employees working with managers to set non-traditional schedules. Some employees come in at 7 a.m. and leave at 3 p.m., while others arrive at 10 a.m. and leave at 6 p.m. All employees can telecommute one day a week so long as they have a good performance record and a job that can be done remotely.

Schedules are not the only thing that is flexible. They can also choose how to be rewarded for a job well done. So long as an employee receives a rating of "meets expectations" or better on their performance review, they can choose from Paid Time Off hours, an increase in base salary, a lump sum cash bonus, or some combination of the above.

The company also shares the success that employees made possible. Dyn has a quarterly company performance bonus that is distributed to employees based on their past job performance and current level of compensation. Dyn also invests in employee development by providing $4,000 a year per employee in tuition reimbursement and encouraging employees who attend seminars to share what they've learned with managers and colleagues alike.

Jeremy Hitchcock, CEO and CFO, says Dyn Inc. has developed a culture of innovation and individual empowerment that attracts and retains top talent. "Silcon Valley isn't successful because of their tax value," he says. "It's because they have a culture of tinkerers and developers ... It's how are you attracting these people and what are you doing to keep people molivated," he says, noting Dyn recently attracted new employees from Utah, Seattle and Tennessee.

The Dynamic culture also comes with great perks: a casual dress code, full company-paid health care and company outings and events such as tubing in winter, Dyn "Wii-nter" Olympics, and an annual "Geek Week" to celebrate all employees' inner geek--complete with prizes and one person winning the title "Biggest Geek." (No really, they consider it an honor!) Every full-time employee receives a full day of "Dyn Cares PTO" time for volunteer work. The company also hosts Socialist' Sandwich Days each Tuesday. "It's a culture of operating in shades of gray--what's actually work and what's just fun," says Kyle York, vice president of sales and marketing. "It's all about intermingling the two."

But what really matters to employees is something less tangible: They love coming to work "I think another thing young professionals care about is authenticity," says Graham Chynoweth, vice president of operations and general counsel. If you're a company that derives value out of motivated employees, you really have to commit to keeping people and ideas fresh. That's what we try to do."

It seems to be working. "You feel like flying out of bed every day to get to work, to be with people you want to be around," says Scott Smith, a business development representative who moved to Manchester from Utah to work for Dyn Inc. Chris Gonyea, who works in customer support, sums it up this way, "Everyone here has similar interests (we are almost all geeks), everyone here is incredibly smart, and excellence is demanded by everyone."