SquareBoat in 2017: The year that was
This year at SquareBoat didn’t pass by yet and it never will. It is one of those years which set the tone for the years coming ahead.
1. Our team grew twice in size
The year of transition as we call it, started with SquareBoat being a warm and cozy 12-member team. As the year progressed, team SquareBoat doubled in size to a 24 member team now.
2. We launched some amazing products
- Helped iDreamCareer (an online tool to help students make the right career choice) in rewriting their entire product from scratch and making it infinitely scalable to handle thousands of assessments per day.
- Built OxfordCaps, a platform to help students find accommodation near their colleges. Founded by alumni of IIM-C and INSEAD, it launched in Singapore and got seed funded this year.
- Built the Alexa skill for LBB. This skill lets users make use of LBB’s platform with voice commands.
- Revamped UI of ShiftKarado, a Star Worldwide Group company, into make a better looking and more user friendly design in order to increase its conversion rate.
- Revamped the design and workflow of Inlingua (New Delhi)’s website, in order to make information more easily accessible, better user’s onsite experience, and increase conversion rate.
3. We moved to a spanking new office
However good may the last office be, we had to change it as we outgrew our pants. As the team grew double the size, the office did too. With colourful desks to bean bags, and TT table to PlayStation, this one had everything that a startup could ask for.
4. Our labs products went far and wide
a. Hackr.io, our in-house product, which shows online tutorials for different tech courses grew by more than 6 times.
b. Spectrum, a tool to monitor web servers of our products in real time got featured in publications like ET and ETCIO.
5. Tech talks and new initiatives
We started with some new initiatives like internal tech talks, birthday celebrations, and employee appreciation schemes like ‘Quarterly Top Achiever Award’. This not only boosted confidence but also increased team work among team members.
a. Internal tech talks
Every week a team member researches about an upcoming technology and briefs out the entire team about it. This made us aware of latest technologies in web development, while also helped our team members develop a holistic skill set.
b. JSLovers
Our team member Amit Gupta, gave a tech talk about “Introduction to ECMAScript 6” at 91Springboard office in Gurgaon. It was attended by about 50+ developers from Delhi and Gurgaon along with members of the JSLovers group.
c. Quarterly top achievers awards
This year the team saw exceptional performance from team members, with two of them winning the Quarterly Top Achiever Award, including Saurav Rastogi and Saumya Rastogi.
6. SquareBoat turned 4
Time flew and brought us to the point when SquareBoat turned 4. By now, we have launched a lot of products, developed our own in-house applications, and formed a 24 member team under the founder Gaurav Gupta. We celebrated with a group dinner together at ‘The Grill’ in Gurgaon.
7. Our annual trip to Kerala
Soon after welcoming Gods to our office, we went to the God’s own country itself. The Kerala trip had it all, from chilling at the beaches to doing adventure sports. We already knew how friendships are formed, but now we learned how they are strengthened.
8. Hackathon 2017 saw some amazing ideas come to life.
Conducted in December, Hackathon 2017, saw the best come out of the team members. Some of the interesting products include, Clementic, which converts simple text into a picture stream to enhance learning in kids, and Legitimate, which builds trust in online contests over blockchain. The winner of the Hackathon was our developer Anil Kumar for his product XArrest.
It’s about time that we bid adieus to this year and race towards the next one, and all we wish for is for the pace to not slow down. We look forward to another year of togetherness.
