About HipChat

Our goal

We started HipChat because we were frustrated with pointless meetings, long email threads, and taking forever to make a decision. Like many people, we tried to use AIM to collaborate, but it just wasn't good enough.

During the development of HipChat we held very few meetings, sent almost no email, and every decision we made was in HipChat. We even set up temporary walls in our office to simulate co-workers in different places.

We are boot-strapped for cash.

Behind the curtain

We created HipCal. Plaxo liked it, so we went to work for them. We created Plaxo Pulse. Comcast liked it, so we went to work for them. HipChat is our current baby.

Chris Rivers

Chris was born and raised in Massachusetts before attending college at RPI. A programmer at heart, he enjoys working with the whole stack of web development (from HTML in the browser to C and PHP on the server). In HipChat, he has recently had the opportunity to take a deep dive with Flex and AIR by making the downloadable client. In his spare time, you might find him skiing, reading on his Kindle, or playing console and PC games.

Garret Heaton

Garret is a web developer and all-around techie who grew up in the sticks of New Hampshire. He started programming in 1999 in order to make add-ons for the game Starsiege: Tribes. Recently, Garret created the PHP frameworks for both HipCal and Plaxo Pulse. He currently runs HipChat’s systems and chat services. When not working, Garret can be found skiing, playing video games, and writing clean code (and making sure you do too).

Pete Curley

Pete grew up wrestling lobsters along the coast of Maine. He started designing sites in 2000, using as many lens flares as possible. Pete has developed his skills into an all around Product/User Experience/Interface rockstar. He championed and designed Plaxo Pulse, the first and frequently copied feed aggregator of it’s kind. All designs, interfaces, videos, or adorable cartoon characters you see are made by him. When not programming, Pete is dragging kegs to and from the kegerator, playing with his dog Lily, or skiing.