The Startup Slumber Party: How Living With Your Cofounders Can Save Your Company
[Philip Lelyveld comment: this interesting approach to a startup is part permanent retreat, part extended college experience, and part sweat shop.]
What happens when an 11-person startup team decides to cohabitate? "I actually think the company would have failed if we didn’t live together," says CEO Nanxi Liu.
Almost all the employees are engineers under 25, a heavily sought-after demographic for corporate recruiters, head-hunters, and other startups looking for technical founders. While many startups struggle to keep their teams together, Enplug decided to align their personal lives with their work so much that togetherness is a non-issue. In doing so, they've taken on the risks of being too cramped, too personal, and too vulnerable in front of their teammates--a gamble they say has paid big dividends for their nascent company culture. “We’ve all been poached at least once," says CEO Nanxi Liu. "Our CTO was offered a corner office by a gaming company. He told them, I actually have a great office: It’s my house in Bel Air.”
See the full article here: http://www.fastcompany.com/3005041/startup-slumber-party-how-living-your-cofounders-can-save-your-company