Team culture

Exploring Wine Country with Atomic’s engineering team

BoomPop Team ·12/22/2022

Atomic is a venture studio and fund based in San Francisco that partners with visionary founders to create high-growth, innovative startups. They hosted a BoomPop Offsite in Napa to bring their internationally-distributed engineering team together in person.

We spoke with Atomic’s Principal Engineer, Allan Claghorn, to learn more about the event and its impact on his team.

Bridging the remote distance

According to Claghorn, Atomic’s unique business model means his engineers spend most of their time helping to build and test software for a variety of portfolio companies. “My team doesn't really spend too much time working with each other. We have unique roles where everyone's working on different projects and there's not really much overlap, “ he explained.

Aside from the nature of their work creating distance, the team is also spread out geographically. Team members live across the U.S., as well as in Mexico and Canada. With an annual offsite budget sitting unused, Claghorn decided to finally bridge some of that distance between teammates.

Atomic’s event took place in one of the most popular offsite locations—California’s Napa Valley. “BoomPop presented three different offsite ideas with a preliminary itinerary for things that we could try. After discussing it with the team and seeing who wanted to do what, we decided the Napa offsite was the best option for us.”

Creating an engaging and memorable experience

For some of Claghorn’s team, it would be their first time traveling to Atomic’s home base in the Bay Area. “I think a lot of people didn't really know what to expect, and some of the people were a little anxious or maybe dreading having to come do this thing,” he said.

That kind of trepidation is common among teams who’ve never had an in person gathering before, and it often adds a higher degree of pressure to the planning process. That’s why the goal of Atomic’s event would be oriented around connection first, not work. “We had this budget to spend some time together and have some fun, and that's exactly what we ended up doing.”

When it comes to memorable moments, simply getting to know each other better is what stood out the most. “We actually spent a lot of time just hanging out at the hotel, like next to the pool or at the fire pit outside,” Claghorn said. The first big meal the team shared together—a family style experience at The Charter Oak—was a major highlight, as was their private cooking class, and a journey on the Napa Wine Train. “When I was a kid, I always wanted to ride that train in Napa,” he said. “Going on that train and experiencing it with all my coworkers, it was kind of literally a dream come true.”

Through a focus on fun and organic moments of connection, the event succeeded in bringing the team closer. “Up until the offsite, none of these people had really ever met each other, at least in a big group setting like this, and it really gave us the opportunity to get to know each other a lot better,” Claghorn said. “I think it was a huge boost in the team's bonding and morale.”

Simplifying the offsite planning process

When it came to planning, Claghorn felt confident about the idea of organizing an event—what was more difficult was getting everyone aligned on what the event would be. “I had all these proposals and there wasn't a whole lot of motivation to actually pick something.”

Once he sought out help from one of BoomPop’s planners, they helped narrow down the options to make those choices easier. “I think just having a better menu of options to choose from helped my team pick something, and without those options we would have ended up doing something less interesting.”

Streamlining the planning process by providing simple, highly curated options was crucial for making the Atomic offsite a success. “I'd use BoomPop again just because they did a lot of the decision making for us in terms of things to try, and gave us better options than I could have found on my own.”. Rather than spend time going back and forth on what would make the perfect event, an expert planner built it for them—letting the team relax, step back, and focus on enjoying a rare opportunity to spend time together in person.