Ever wonder what it’s like to work for a hot internet startup? Are you picturing office spaces with modern design and unconventional rules, filled with young entrepreneurs in their casual clothing? Well, you’re probably not that far off, but we got the chance to visit some of our favorite web companies last week as part of the Walkabout NYC startup open house, and see what it’s like firsthand. Come on in and take a peek at the best offices we saw:
Etsy – www.Etsy.com
A social commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items as well as art and craft supplies
Our first stop on the trip was to the Brooklyn-based Etsy, where the artistic style does not stop with the products they sell. The employees’ passion for interesting and unique handmade crafts literally spills over into their office space, which is adorned with some of the coolest creations you’ve ever seen. Don’t believe us? The staff has a thing for feltidermy, which is the practice of taxidermy, just with cute plush animals made from felt. Proudly on display was both a fully-mounted deer head, and an in-progress frog dissection. How adorable!
The appeal of Etsy does not stop with the products they have on display, though. Their quirky nature is present in the way they operate the company as well. Have you ever wish people would just email you instead of ringing your phone off the hook? Well at Etsy, they will. Land-line phones are old school tech, and employees do not have them at their desks. If they actually need to place a phone call, they can use one of three company phone booths, each decorated in their own unique style. It must be a tough choice whether to call from the plush booth or the evil villain’s lab!
Even the names of rooms at this office are fun. Every room at Etsy is a combination of a band name and a type of food. You might be taking those phone calls from the rooms “Slayer Cake” or “Lil’ Kimchi”. Need to use a conference room but don’t want to have your meeting drag on forever? Head to “Oreo Speedwagon”, the conference room where no chairs are allowed. Get your business done and get back to your desk if you feel like sitting!
On occasion, the company even opens up their doors for a community craft night, where visitors and employees alike can take a seat in the Etsy lab and help create some new crafts as part of that week’s theme. We could have stayed all day, but with several more companies to visit, we took a quick hike over the Brooklyn Bridge to Soho, where several more companies where waiting.
Squarespace – www.Squarespace.com
A fully hosted, completely managed environment for creating and maintaining a website, blog or portfolio.
You may recognize our first Soho stop from their advertisements on Revision 3 or Leo Laporte’s TWiT network, where they tout the incredible reliability of their servers, and their real-time website style editing tools. The first thing that stood out about this company is that they are a community among themselves. The office space is not large, but the first thing you will notice as you enter the door are the couches and two large TVs with PlayStation 3 consoles connected to them. Rather than escaping the office on their lunch breaks, this crew orders in and games with each other. It must be so much easier finishing up your workday when you get to let our frustration by fragging your boss.
Behind this area sits the entire Squarespace workforce. One of the points of pride for this company was that all of their support is done in-house. While they have employees throughout the country, we saw some of that support staff busy working away at resolving trouble tickets late on a hot summer Friday afternoon, so kudos to them!
Harvest – www.getHarvest.com
Simple online time tracking, time sheet, and reporting software
Just upstairs from Squarespace was Harvest, a business software company with their own unique startup flair. Since they share the same floor plan as Squarespace, just picture less PS3s and a cooler kitchen! The first thing that jumps out at you is the unique art on their walls. Prior to occupying this space, it was held by blip.tv, who left their desks when they moved out. Harvest had the desk tops mounted on their walls, and you can see an artistic blend of great ideas and crazy sketches.
The other thing worth noting about Harvest is that they run a great community after-hours event called “Hobby – A Celebration o Spare Time Recreational Pursuits”. About once per month, Harvest brings in three guest speakers with unique hobbies who get to present their passion to the crowd in detail. This sounds incredibly interesting, and I already know I’ll be at the next one! For more details, check out the site here: http://www.getharvest.com/hobby
OMGPOP – www.omgpop.com
Fun online multiplayer games. Play games, meet people, hang out.
We were welcomed by community manager Joseph Alminawi and his crack squad of interns to give us a quick tour of the OMGPOP offices. While small, the room was bright, and the company had made great use of its space. Of all the companies we visited, OMGPOP had the biggest focus on illustrated art, and their walls were adorned with new sketches and concepts, all in their signature visual style.
On the way out, we got to try out some of their games at a demo console, and walked away with some pretty cool OMGPOP stickers. The group consensus is that this company by far has the coolest logo out of everyone we visited.
Meetup – www.meetup.com
The world’s largest network of local groups: Do something • Learn something • Share something • Change something
We snuck in just as Meetup was closing it’s doors to visitors, and boy where we glad we did. Meetup blew us away in one specific area: everyone who works there is a user of their own product, and they truly believe in what they have set out to do. It’s not often you see so many people driven to make their product succeed, but Meetup has accomplished that. Their walls are covered, in some cases floor to ceiling, with group photos of the various meetup groups they host on their website, and their ceilings are an array of hung t-shirts from even more successful meetup groups. All of this serves as a constant reminder of the customers they serve, and it works.
We got a great tour of their entire office space, and the first thing that grabs you is the over sized Meetup logo that greets you at the door:
We were able to have some good conversation with the staff, including a discussion of all the perks afforded to Meetup employees. The management there believes in giving back to its employees, and with every additional thousand meetup groups comes another office perk, whether it been a weekly fruit tray, summer Fridays, a Rock Band lounge, or a monthly gift card to Whole Foods. Some of the unique quirks about this office included a fleet of razor scooters used to quickly roll from one end of their long office to another, and a very cool rear-projected map of the USA, where user RSVPs pop up in real-time.
Overall, the Walkabout NYC event was a worthwhile experience, and we will look to participate in this again if it is offered at next year’s Internet Week NY. Meetup was our last stop on this trip, so we’ll leave you with the behind-the-scenes shot of a Meetup employee brainstorming new product features:
Our office space seemed large when we had half the staff a year ago. You’ll have to come by our new office next month.
p.s. I totally want to steal Meetup’s Godzilla!