The Hyperchip team was amazing. Like in any startup there were many young people, some of them fresh out of university. Hyperchip was a place were work and life were walking hand in hand.

There were also very experienced people, coming from other large companies with many years of software or hardware engineering in their pockets.

The teams were growing fast. Every week a few more people were hired and then there was the team support in integrating and training them, including via "lunch and learn" sessions

There were also funny characters, from all walks of life. I still remember one of our SME, biking to Hyperchip in sandals and shorts in the dead of winter, and bringing with him his favorite keyboard he only could use.

There were long hours, not forced on anyone but a natural result of the team  cohesion and solidarity. And it was not only work during these long hours, people were also playing, chatting, relaxing a bit.

There were no cubicles, everyone was working in open spaces and communication was free, sometimes a bit too loud, requiring at times wearing headsets. 

There were some offices, for people higher in the hierarchy but there was an open-door policy and the leaders were mostly on the floor talking to engineers and developers, dawn to late evening.

Every morning there was an address over the (IP) phones - essentially a "state of the nation" kind of update on were we were with the product development and market push. 

Initially Hyperchip was housed on the second floor of an old industrial building, accessible via a steep staircase. The teams were growing and at some point the space became too small and crowded.

Therefore there was the big move into an old building formerly belonging to a monastic order and now fully renovated, bright and a wonderful place to work.

The cafeteria, a former refectorium, was the place for the company meetings as well as for playing mechanical hockey or sipping a cold beer in the late evening hours, trying to clear one's mind.

The rooms were bright with large, sunny windows, generally open to the south. At times we had birds flying through the windows and the upper floor rooms.

All was arranged according to Feng Shui principles and at some point there came a team of Feng Shui auditors who inspected the place and made recommendations. 

There were no politics at Hyperchip, at least not at the level of engineering teams. Everyone was on a mission, in the "same boat", pushing for achieving a common goal.

Overall working and living at Hyperchip built strong bonds between people - it was a powerful experience never to forget.