What its like to work in the betahouse

When I started at Jazkarta, we had no office. Or rather, no official office. We worked from Starbucks, Espresso Royale, hotel lobbies, the Boston Public Library, and of course from home. It felt great, but really made difficult for doing things like printing documents, having a conference call, meeting with a client, or filing papers. Also, public wifi often sucks. I still work like that on occasion, and had a very productive few weeks in November/December where I went back to working mainly from a coffee shop for 12+ hours a day.

However, shortly after starting at Jazkarta we realized that we needed to get a real office. I don’t remember how Nate got in touch with them, but we were brought into the betahouse in the Summer of 2007. The day we moved in there was a party! It made a great impression on me.

So what’s it like to work in the betahouse (always lowercase btw)? It is simply amazing. I’m not sure that there’s any place in Cambridge/Boston that’s better to work. I have several friends that work for other startups, or for random thinks like investment banks. Some of them have technically ‘nicer’ offices, but nothing can touch the betahouse. 

What is so unique about working in the betahouse?

• It’s collaborative co-working. That means that multiple people and companies with different projects and goals are all together in one room. It also means that 90% of the people there aren’t in your “company structure”. There’s no “boss”, which makes for a very relaxed and productive environment.
• It’s relaxed. As long as you’re wearing pants (or a kilt) then it’s fine. There’s no corporate net-nanny filter. Anything short of 2girls1cup is probably o.k.
• We work hard and play hard. Everyone here is willing to (and does) put in long hours, do whatever it takes to get their task done, and serious about success. None of us are the types that want a basic 9-5, a set list of tasks, or massive corporate structure. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for us. This also all means that we all know how to have a good time. When we party, we party with the best of them, and when we want to work, we can get literally anything accomplished.
• The talent in the room is amazing. I feel honored to work with these people. Also, if someone in the betahouse doesn’t know them, then they are problem either not actually in startups/tech, or they are Bill Gates.
• We have a kickass sound system. A nice sub + decent speakers + a mixer + Airport Express + iPod/iPhone dock makes for a killer time. Oh and we have a projector of course too, and sometimes an Xbox 360.
• We have a killer kitchen.
  • Co-lunching rocks too
• Everyone around here knows that it’s a serious place to work. You seem to get a bit of respect from people just through working here.
•  The coolest people around Boston/Cambridge all seem to stop through at some point and say hi. You meet a ton of neat people, and get some great contacts.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 8:53 pm and is filed under technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.