Ahhhh. It's hard to beat a mid-winter getaway to a sun-soaked local. Warm rays shining down, a frothy pińa colada in your hand and your toes in the sand...and code.
HubSpot has partnered with Techstars' CheckiO, a company designed to put developers and engineers coding skills to the test by completing challenges in a whimsical browser-based world. HubSpot will launch a custom corporate space – with an island theme – within the CheckiO game world site designed to attract top development talent.
CheckiO graduated from Techstars' spring 2013 class, already calling companies like O'Reilly and GitHub their clientele. At the time, the 10-person team was looking to raise $750,000. A few months later in December, CheckiO scored just that sum in a seed round, led by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh's VegasTechFund.
Also participating in the round were local angels Bob Mason, Brightcove Co-Founder, Jay Batson, ex-CEO of Acquia and Bill O'Donnell, who is currently working on building Fort Point incubator Blade with fellow former KAYAK exec Paul English.
CheckiO has since relocated from Boston to the sunny state of Nevada to be closer its lead investor. While Nevada may get some rays, however, it certainly doesn't compare to HubSpot's oasis on the platform.
Noted John Nagro, HubSpot's Director of Engineering:
HubSpot's development team is growing at a rapid pace, and our goal is to continue to build one of the best engineering teams in the country. To do that, we need to attract top talent, which can be a significant challenge. What we like about CheckiO is that it's gamified and fun but still represents the types of problem-solving challenges that we actually want new team members to help us solve.
Having a HubSpot Island on CheckiO alongside companies best in class companies like Dropbox demonstrates our unmatched commitment to recruiting best in class developers who want to ship code frequently, innovate often on behalf of our customers, and be part of a team revolutionizing how people market their businesses.
There's nothing quite like a floating creamsicle-colored air balloon carrying a smoldering meteor.
