Beer, sweat and honor_ How Austin tech trains for the Austin Startup Games _ Bui

Beer, sweat and honor: How Austin tech trains for the Austin Startup Games | Built In Austin
http://www.builtinaustin.com/2016/01/13/2016-austin-startup-games[1/19/2016 12:00:27 PM]
Beer, sweat and honor: How Austin tech trains for the
Austin Startup Games
Colin Morris
on Jan 13th, 2016
The Startup Games
began in 2012 as a way to celebrate the core
characteristics of Austin’s tech scene: Camaraderie amidst competition, a
healthy respect for playtime and a desire to nurture the community
through charity.
But . Just. Keeps. Winning it.

According
to the event’s website, there are 13 other teams registered to

compete at Fair Market on January 23. And based on our interviews with

nine of them, SpareFoot is the team to beat.

SpareFoot sharpens their shot at the beer pong table.

For
three years in a row, the company behind the online marketplace for

self storage has dominated events like beer pong, flip cup and foosball,
SpareFoot
profile members companies news events jobs Post a Job Search Search

earning nearly $63,000 in first place prices for Kure It, a kidney cancer
research and fundraising organization.

Scores to settle
“I
don't think there are any teams that don't want to see SpareFoot lose or
injure themselves based on last year's showing,” said Damian

Borichevsky, ’s VP of client services.

The OneSpot team

“Between
the non-employee ringers and the stunning lack of humility in
their game, who actually does want to see them win?”

Those ringers weren’t typical teammates, either.

The day before the competition, SpareFoot joked in a press release
that it
had hired Hafþór Júlíus “Thor” Björnsson, the Icelandic bodybuilder
known for his role as Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane on Game of
Thrones, as senior VP of Icelandic business.

“[Icelanders]
are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to compare prices at
both of our
self-storage facilities,” Björnsson was quoted as saying.

Björnsson’s
involvement was no joke, though. He carried the torch to mark
the beginning of the games, striking fear—and apparently resentment—
OneSpot

into the hearts of the event’s other contestants.

And
for good reason. One week later, Björnsson broke a legendary record
by carrying a 32-foot-long, 1,433-pound log on his back during a

Norwegian competition for the world’s strongest viking. (The video is
worth a watch.)

For some among the mob of angry adversaries, the rivalry is even more
personal.

co-founded, hosted and won the first Startup Games in 2012.

uShip sported custom game face at last year's event.

“We are going to take back the first place trophy from SpareFoot,” said
uShip events coordinator Meredith Cranch.

Another one of the event’s founding contestants, Boundless, has its eye
on the top podium as well as an old friend.

“Our
biggest rivals are definitely SpareFoot and uShip, since we’ve all
been around since the first Games,” marketing manager Stephanie Freyer
told us. “We also maintain a friendly competition
with
since they spun off of Boundless—they actually used to be a part of our
company before starting their own operation in 2012.”

uShip.com
OutboundEngine

The Boundless team

But when asked whether has any scores to settle, Freyer
copped to a common complaint.

“Who
doesn’t have a score to settle with SpareFoot,” she asked. “They
tend to be annoyingly awesome at every event.”

Maybe
not every event. SpareFoot’s Juan Torres, an enterprise sales rep
and SpareFoot’s team captain in the games, recalled losing a hard
fought
bout with Freyer’s team.

Boundless

The final bracket for last year's beer pong championship. Photo courtesy
of Boundless.

“Our
strongest event is beer pong––we’ve medaled in the event every
year and won gold three times. It's the most intense event. We have
internal tournaments for each event, but we do have employees who
specialize in beer pong, flip cup, and foosball,” he explained. “There was
an epic triple overtime beer pong final last
year where we lost to
Boundless. We are going to reclaim that title this year.”

Meanwhile, OutboundEngine has gained strength with its independence
from Boundless. Senior sales manager James Lipton was cagey about
strategy in his interview, but he too has his rivals.

Henrik Johansson channels his inner viking at last year's darts
competition. OutboundEngine Senior sales manager James Lipton
accuses him of using human growth hormone to cheat at the event.

“Henrik
Johansson at Boundless was clearly using human growth
hormone in darts last year,” Lipton said. “And we are still awaiting a third

party review of a last minute score recount that gave SpareFoot the

victory in trivia last year. Last we heard, the Attorney General’s
office is
still investigating. But we always say revenge is a dish best
served cold.”

Lipton said OutboundEngine has grown quickly as a company since last
year.

“While
I won’t say that the Startup Games has been the only reason for

that growth strategy, well… let’s just say we feel like we’re well prepared
this year,” he said.

OutboundEngine team members sharpen their shot at beer pong during
Startup Week 2015.

Newcomers
The target on SpareFoot’s back is so big that even the newcomers are
taking aim at it.

co-founder and chief
operating officer Ryan Farley said
several of his employees used to
work at SpareFoot.

“We're
looking forward to going up
against the champs in a
competitive but good-spirited way,”
he said. “Our CEO, Steve
Corcoran, is banking on personal
success in Pop-A-Shot. And we've
done a lot of practicing in Flip Cup,
so look out.”

Nicole
Brooks, a marketing
manager at OwnLocal, said the
Startup Games events were
woven into her company’s culture long before it decided to compete.

LawnStarter

The OwnLocal team indulges in one of the company's time-honored
traditions.

“If
you walk into OwnLocal's office on a typical Tuesday afternoon, it

wouldn't be uncommon to see a group of people playing Mario Kart in the

lounge, or going eye to eye on our branded beer pong tables,” she said.
“Venture a block away and you would find more team members at Buffalo
Billiards playing pinball and shuffleboard. Playing these games together is
something that comes naturally for us as a company because we
genuinely enjoy being around each other, on the clock or off.”

An OwnLocal contestant prepares for one of the games' more strategic
events.

Perhaps
the most enigmatic strategy to be employed this year is that of
Home Improvement Leads, a company so eager to forget last year’s third

place ranking that it changed its name. This year, the team is competing
under its new name, , and has new muscle to match.

“We
entered the games at the last minute last year and managed to take
4th place, so this year we are aiming to knock SpareFoot off their throne,”
said CEO Jason Polka.

Modernize

Team Modernize, FKA Home Improvement Leads.

Eager to change the subject, he added: “We have some pretty hardcore
Ping Pong enthusiasts.”

The Charities
Modernize
is playing to benefit Girl Start, a nonprofit focused on STEM
education
programs to inspire girls to enter careers in engineering and

technology.

“As a tech startup, this is
a cause close to our hearts — we’d love to see
more females
dominating the tech industry,” Polka said.

Each
company chose a charity close to the heart of their culture. For

Civitas Learning, a company that develops technology for improving

student outcomes, it’s the Center for Child Protection.

SpareFoot
chose a cause with personal meaning, too. Kure It is a cancer
research organization founded by Barry Hoeven, a California-based
veteran of the self-storage industry, when he was diagnosed with kidney
cancer in 1998.

LawnStarter
chose National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Boundless
is playing for Meals on Wheels and More. uShip picked Communities in
Schools, which
helps children to stay in school and achieve in life.
OwnLocal is playing for Austin Bat Cave, which runs writing programs and
workshops for children.


The list goes on, which can be a
challenge for a team choosing where to
focus their efforts on making an
impact in the community.

“It was very difficult to choose just one, as there are so many admirable
charities in the Austin area,” said Heather Harrison, a quality assurance

engineer at OutboundEngine, whose employees voted to support the
Austin Children’s Shelter. “But we are extremely proud of and excited to
support our choice.”

Even with tensions mounting, the games still reflect the culture of the

community where they were created. The teams are driven to win at the

games by the same ambition and passion that drive them to compete at

work. And that’s what makes it personal.

Freyer says all of this is more than just a mantra in Austin tech, especially
at Boundless.

One
of Boundless’ core values is “embrace the fun,” she said. “It
purposely wasn’t identified with the cliché
‘work hard play hard,’ and it
actually doesn’t mean the same thing. It’s really about seeing the fun in
what we do for
a living. It’s not about working hard all day and partying all

night – it’s about coming to work every day and recognizing the fun in
everything we do, and the fun we have with the great people we work
with.”

Photos courtesy of participating companies.

Have a tip for us or know of a company that deserves coverage?
Email us via tips@builtin.com.

OutboundEngine
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SpareFoot
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LawnStarter
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Modernize
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OwnLocal
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OneSpot
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Civitas Learning
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uShip.com
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Beer, sweat and honor_ How Austin tech trains for the Austin Startup Games _ Bui

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Beer, sweat and honor_ How Austin tech trains for the Austin Startup Games _ Bui