Is the tech bubble popping? Ping pong offers an answer
wsj.com
wsj.com
Instead, employees will bring in their own toys like card games and basketball hoops, because that's what they like.
The culture happens because the employees themselves have the latitude and money to make it happen. The foosball table that they are all trying to mimic happened because some ceo/founder at a successful company always wanted one and brought one in for himself. Now it's offered as some kind of perk even though nobody likes the game. The perk should be extreme latitude and high pay. The culture will happen all by itself.
Engineers, product guys, engineering managers, department heads, everyone together, usually four up plus some onlookers. Not artificial at all.
We play the card and table games at each others' homes, usually after sous vide steaks or barbecue.
Our hangouts are nothing like Billions. :-)
I really hope it was tongue in cheek quote out of context.
Actual cutting edge tech companies order foosball tables.
(Not sure that is a thing but it should be).
"Venture capitalist Michael Cardamone, the tournament’s co-organizer, approves of young companies buying tables with venture funds. “You absolutely should,” he says. “It’s part of building culture.”"
Little things like free food and ping pong tables actually offer a massive return on investment.
> Startups pay up to $2,300 for a high-end Butterfly-brand table.
Your point stands, but the pricing is quite different.
That's a rather strong assumption.
As a whole, though, I think people, especially in our industry, aren't stupid. Free food would certainly be a more competitive retention factor (than ping pong) -- barring that your company's biggest competitors in terms of hiring aren't also offering free food.
But, given these things are so difficult to deliver on, let's just throw them kids' games, energy bars and craft beer on tap.
"Hey, we have a dysfunctional CEO, a runway shorter than the one at Hong Kong airport, and a legacy codebase that reduces the most experienced developer to a gibbering wreck. But look - we have foosball and whiskey tasting nights!"
Juvenile, shrug - I guess I like a juvenile working environment.
1) Playtime is for after hours, with friends and family. Ping pong's a fun game but it's noisy and disruptive when you're trying to get work done.
2) Don't care about your free food, I have a strict diet and don't usually eat lunch. Ditto free booze which is frankly a dumb idea (see 1). Free non-alcholic drinks is fine.
Yes, provided everything else about the company is working. People are productive. The product is showing signs of fit. People believe in the founder(s)' vision and in the CEO's direction. Under these circumstances, things like ping pong tables and free meals can offer amazing ROI.
But when your first few business moves are shopping for fancy digs and filling the space with ping pong tables, your priorities are questionable. Morale can't be bought with trinkets. Morale is earned with a strong sense of collective mission and product traction. The rest is icing on the cake.
This distinction is often lost on people, who rush off to buy foosball tables as though the mere presence of such will trick employees into being happy and productive. It's a very '90s attitude: "People want to work for a startup that looks startupy." Well, sure. But the best people want to work for a startup that has a real shot at success, first and foremost.
In previous company, it was a pool table and game room with Rocket League. In one before that, foosball. Regardless of the game, having some game that is played regularly by coworkers together really helps to build positive relationships and create a team. Definitely worth investor's money.
No kidding. My father's company wouldn't instill a culture where the expectation is to work 80+ hours a week and then try to (inadequately) offset it with shitty little perks like a ping-pong table.
Interestingly, It's kinda like academia in that way. Academics romanticizing research as being some kind of virtuous or nobel pursuit to justify their shitty wages and lack of personal time. (source, I am an academic)
I guess we all become devout monks of our own domain at some point in our careers until we realize the bullshit "culture" that was perpetuated, ultimately in the employer's interest.
In my experience, it's true. It does build culture. In our case, Foosball is a place were employees can bond with each other that transcends business boundaries. Marketing and engineering people both like Foosball - same can not be said for a lot of other extracurriculars.
We even hold tournaments during company time that at least 3/4 of the company chooses to play in.
When you are spending at least 1/3 of your time every day with the same people, I think it is healthy for you to occasionally do something together that is not work. I assume the people here who head straight home also have never gone out after work for drinks with their co-workers or gone to a sports game with them, or anything like that. Foosball and ping pong provide an opportunity to do that.
In fact, as a manager I often challenge my team members to a game of foosball when I get a sense something isn't right and it gives me an opportunity to chat with then 1:1 without feeling like an intervention.
Should you buy a $1300 foosball table when your company is not making money? IMHO, absolutely not. But if you have a good sales month, go for it. I'd rather be in a company where people get to know each other than one where everyone sits quietly at their desk all day and leaves just as quietly at the end.
Then again, I hold a different world view than some other people. I think that a FU money exit is unlikely for most, and getting a four hour a day job without a pay cut is unlikely for most, so if you're going to spend 1/3 of your life at work, a fair measure of success is if you can actually be happy while you are in the office.
1: http://www.amazon.com/Seating-Professional-AirGrid-Adjustabl...
Aerons are phenomenally comfortable for the long-hour use. But you do have to pick one that's your size for that to work.
Absolutely worth every penny.
Mark Cannice, a University of San Francisco professor, issues a quarterly index of venture-capitalist confidence. “I put more faith in venture capitalist insights and confidence,” he says, “than I would in ping-pong-table sales.”
[1] http://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/08/stock-market-...
Oh shit we've been doing it wrong. When PacketZoom moved to it's current office space (with a bit of spare room), we plonked down ~$130 for something like this bad boy.. http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productI... and put it on top of an ikea table we inherited from the previous occupants. Perfectly good playing surface with decent bounce and no obvious defects after a year of use:
Interestingly, I rarely played when I was in a business role, but ever since I switched to a tech role I've played every day. I bought two paddles as well, it's some kind of metamorphosis.
To me the ping pong table and exposed surfaces in startups reflect wood paneling in law firms. It's symbolism rather than functionality. Symbols do matter.
I mean there's a limit to how many ping pong tables Twitter wants to load into their office.
https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=startup%20bubble%2C%...
make of it what you will.