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Key Takeaways Applied Intuition, an AI startup valued at about $15 billion, still expects employees to wipe down their own desks.
Workers are also asked to remove their shoes at the office entrance, a practice CEO Qasar Younis says reinforces a particular kind of disciplined, focused culture.
Younis argues that there’s a direct connection between cleaning a workspace and producing well-written code.
Applied Intuition has a $15 billion valuation, but its office culture doesn’t allow for anyone to get too high and mighty about their stature. All employees are expected to wipe down their own desks and leave their shoes at the door.
On a Sunday episode of Lenny’s Podcast, Applied Intuition cofounder and CEO Qasar Younis explained that he requires staff to clean their own workstations as part of a weekly “cleaning zen” session, rather than relying on a large janitorial crew. The weekly habit is inspired by his time living in Japan, where students routinely scrub their own classrooms.
Qasar Younis, co-founder & CEO, Applied Intuition. (Photo By Paul Devlin/Sportsfile for Web Summit Qatar via Getty Images)
Applied Intuition was co-founded in 2017 by Younis and Peter Ludwig. The startup builds simulation and software tools that help automakers and defense players develop autonomous systems for vehicles, farm equipment and aircraft. The company has raised hundreds of millions of dollars, including a $600 million Series F in 2025, which pushed its valuation to $15 billion.
Visitors to the office sometimes assume that the company pays for an army of cleaners because the place looks so pristine, but Younis said it is actually the engineers doing the work. Applied Intuition employs over a thousand engineers alone, he added.
“I think it’s important not to get wrapped up in your own narrative of ‘I’m a Stanford software engineer, and I do AI.’ It’s like, clean up your desk,” Younis said on the podcast. “Our employees are also aware of their surroundings.”
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