Steve Sonnenberg

Steve Sonnenberg is the Co-Founder & CEO of Awardco — the leading employee recognition and rewards platform, powering over 8 million employees across 140 countries. Awardco was the first in its industry to partner directly with Amazon Business, replacing the markups and limitations of traditional recognition with a modern, software-first approach.

Steve built Awardco from nothing. After his first startup collapsed in 2011, he borrowed $5,000, bought the Awardco.com domain, and started over — bootstrapped, working a day job at Qualtrics while building on the side. By 2021, Awardco reached a $900M valuation, and in 2025 raised a $165M Series B, achieving unicorn status.

He is a Forbes Business Council member, a UVU Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, a BusinessQ Hall of Fame inductee, and was ranked #22 on Glassdoor's Top CEOs (SMB) list with a 98% employee approval rating. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife and four children.

Writing

Becoming a Curious Explorer Awardco Blog
Awardco's Series B: Powering the Future of Recognition Awardco Blog · 2025
Recognition, Managers & Culture Inc. Leadership Forum
The Case for Flexible Employee Rewards Employee Benefit News
Building Recognition Programs That Work ERE Recruiting

Press & Interviews

How I Turned a Side Hustle Into a Billion-Dollar Business CNBC · 2025
The Superpower That Built a $1 Billion Business Yahoo Finance · 2025
Value-Driven Recognition Rebel HR Podcast
Making Something From Nothing Authority Magazine · 2022
UVU Distinguished Alumni: Curiosity, Failure, Rebuild UVU · 2024

Awardco

awardco.com Official site
LinkedIn @stevesonnenberg

Recognition

Glassdoor

#22 Top CEO, U.S. SMB — 98% approval rating

BusinessQ

Hall of Fame — Entrepreneur of the Year

UVU

Distinguished Alumni Award, 2023

Inc. Magazine

Fastest-Growing Company, 3 consecutive years

MWCN Utah 100

Fastest-Growing Company in Utah, 2020

Forbes

Forbes Business Council Member