Last week was arguably the best week of the year if you’re part of the Pinata Team. Our in-person gatherings, such as hackathons and team offsites, are essential as a fully remote and globally distributed company. This year, we ventured to Omaha for "Team Omaha," a nod to both the birthplace of the Reuben sandwich and Pinata itself. It was a first-time visit for many, sparking excitement to connect with our origins.

Organizing a team offsite is no small feat, yet the rewards far outweigh the effort. We spent a week deepening bonds, exchanging knowledge, and, of course, hacking 💪. Hosting our offsite improves team cohesion, communication, and our collaborative work culture. An in-person gathering allows team members to build stronger relationships, share insights, and align on our company goals, ultimately contributing to improved teamwork and productivity when we return to working remotely.

Months before heading to Omaha, we asked the team what they wanted to accomplish. Some themes were meeting more of their teammates, better understanding our company vision, and brainstorming. We accomplished all of this while having fun and making some great memories along the way.

Let the Feasting Begin

Monday marked the beginning of our Omaha adventure, doubling as a travel day and brainstorming sessions for our work on Farcaster, alongside preparations to keep our day-to-day operations running, such as customer support.

Once everyone arrived, we met up Monday night for our first team dinner. Omaha has no shortage of local cuisine. Aside from dinner, we caught up with our teammates and played several games, the team favorite being Telestrations.

I met 6 new people! And ate 84,580 calories. - Lisa

Favorite memory from the retreat?

Telestrations! - Marge

By the end of the round, a drawing of Justin quickly turned into a beaver. It’s a good thing our art is our product.

All Work and All Play

We started Day 2 with a session led by Steve on marketing to developers. One thing that is very important to us is for everyone to understand our customers, whether that’s through customer support, talking to the Product team, or dogfooding — more on dogfooding later. Steve also showcased his extensive writing ability and taught us about the importance of documentation. Next, Marge brought out everyone’s competitive spirit with trivia and design games. We even learned a few words in French!

After lunch, Lindsey captivated the room with her session on the vital role of community engagement. She illustrated how each customer interaction is not just a service moment but a building block in the architecture of our community's trust and loyalty. Lindsey builds and educates our community externally, too, through her insightful content. Lastly, Justin's company updates and comprehensive look at our vision wrapped up the day, aligning and energizing the team for what lay ahead.

Hacking Away

We wouldn’t be Pinata without hackathons. We spent the first half of Wednesday in an internal hackathon, challenging us to innovate within constraints and contribute to projects that utilized Pinata's capabilities. The outcome was shipping six new projects in just three and a half hours. This was a perfect example of how we dogfood. No matter your role on the team, there are always opportunities to use our products and improve the developer experience. Check out one of our projects on Warpcast - Steve built an app that lets you upload a video and create a rich preview frame.

After the demos, our judges selected the winning team. Congratulations, Lindsey and Brian! We spent the rest of the afternoon discussing what we learned from the hackathon and how working with constraints can lead to creativity that we can apply to our roles.

The team hackathon was an incredible experience, and it flew by so quickly! My teammate Brian and I spent a lot of time brainstorming before we developed our "Hot or Not" concept, which featured AI-generated characters instead of real people. We integrated this idea into a Farcaster Frame, ending with a unique "Creep Badge" NFT, leveraging Pinata for image storage, gateways, and Steve's minting guide for execution. Winning came as a huge surprise given the array of impressive projects, but we're genuinely very proud of our achievement! - Lindsey

You Break It, You Build It

Our final day kicked off with an engaging roundtable discussion featuring our Engineering team. This session gave us valuable insights into the team's strategic decisions and current projects. Moreover, it was incredibly interesting to learn about the diverse journeys our team members have taken to become developers and to hear about the aspects of their work they are most passionate about.

For our final session, Justin and Kyle led an ‘Ask Me Anything’ - or AMA - session. During this session, anything Pinata-related was fair game. We discussed the past week and our strategy for the next few months. Kyle and Justin reiterated our vision, giving us insights we’re applying now that we’re back.

Closing Thoughts

As we look back on this year's offsite, the shared experiences, learnings, and laughter enriched our team morale and invigorated our commitment to Pinata’s mission.

If we had to describe the entire offsite in one word, it would be:

“Pivot!” Meaning, ship it or pivot. - Mark

We learned about everyone’s role on the team and how our work intersects, including our diverse skills and personalities. We learned how to work within constraints and use constraints to spark creativity. We left approaching challenges differently and having more visibility into the work of other team members.

What’s your favorite thing about this year’s retreat?

Being able to share my hometown with everybody. - Matt

All the feels 🥹 and an amazing week with our team.