Has anyone else noticed the similarities in all these snaptalent interviews? I understand that snaptalent is trying to provide a quick, entertaining read, but from what I can see, every startup they have profiled is unique because of their entrepreneurial environment, their heated battles on Nintendo Wii, Guitar Hero, or ping-pong, and their love of a nice cold one at the village pub after work. It would be nice to see some more probing questions which would help differentiate each startup they interview.

That's what I'd want, somebody doing chin-ups next to my desk while I'm struggling with some pesky coding issue.

I know I'm not in the in crowd for saying this, but open concept offices suck, no matter how cool they may be. Joel is definitely bang on with this. Hasn't anyone read Peopleware?

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BionicOffice.html

I would hurt myself if I had to work behind a wall. At my office, it's open concept. I'm the only guy doing anything remotely related to tech work (Other staff are sales, shipping, products, etc) and it's nice to not only be able to sit back and talk a bit when you need a break but also to know what's going on in the company from others perspective.

In my opinion, an open office especially in a smaller environment keeps everyone in the know about the company and builds a stronger unity towards the primary goal

That may work if you're the tech guy at a non tech company, and your work comes in short spurts.

But if you're a coder, essentially dong applied math for 8 hours a day, piece and quiet make a big difference.

I wouuld say you would be more productive with private offices but the culture and the camaraderie within the office would probably be better with an open concept.

With respect, it's productivity that's going to pay the bills, with a few exceptions obviously.

This type of stuff seems to be more "we're cool like back in the dot com" than it is about getting the product out the door.

Proof that rents in the Bay Area have plummeted! Seriously, that looks like a lot of space for 9 - we'd break arms for that in Europe.

When a tool comes out that pre-maturely analyzes a startup's value, and the office is filled with toys and distractions -- then the only thing left is to wait... wait for it... POP

Plus there's the ping pong.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=305515

The lady is kinda cute. Way to boost productivity.

Their productivity boost is proven by the unquestionable correlation between physical attractiveness and IQ. We all know that software engineers would be working in Hollywood except they get more money from startups.

kinda? you probably don't have that kind of girl where you work.