Monkey Inferno Startup Studio
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A story about how Michael Birch, after selling Bebo for $850M, created a startup studio called Monkey Inferno in San Francisco.
"Michael buys 7 condos, smashes down the walls to create one huge office. It was the same office where the Beats by Dre headphones were designed. He leaves one as a condo, puts a bar in there, puts a whole ping pong kitchen entertainment area, and then huge office space where we all worked.
He builds this place with mirrors that were one-way - if you were inside the restroom you were looking at a mirror, if you were outside the restroom you could see into the restroom. Or the other way - if you're looking at the restroom it would look like a mirror, but if you're inside you could see out.
The walls were mirrors that were one way. This guy had a good sense of humor and sense of style with different things. I'd never seen anything like this. It was a crazy place."
The studio had about 16-18 engineers, and as Sam Parr described it, "it was like a tech billionaire's country club" or as Shaan refined it, "not even a country club - it was like his man cave."
Shaan Puri
Host of MFM
Shaan Puri is the Chairman and Co-Founder of The Milk Road. He previously worked at Twitch as a Senior Director of Product, Mobile Gaming, and Emerging Markets. He also attended Duke University.