As you’re free to imagine, this little stunt certainly got their attention.

40% off TNW Conference!

In fact, over 50% of their engineering and product design team are still based in Groningen today.

Why US-based unicorn HackerOne keeps their dev team in Groningen

The story of HackerOnes founders is the typical tech fairytale come true.

Some who visited fell in love with the city and moved permanently.

Working across time zones requires everyone to become good at written and asynchronous communication.

HackerOne’s Groningen office

Its important to let people take time to become good written communicators, Abma says.

This helps build context, breaks down silos, and allows teams to create better solutions.

For a city of just 235,000, Groningen has an extremely cosmopolitan vibe.

Canal view in Groningen

I think its good for Groningen to just be Groningen.

For Isuru Ranaweera, Senior Software Engineer at HackerOne, moving his family to Groningen was an easy transition.

Additionally, I feel safer here, making it a good place to raise my child.

Zahra Putri Fitrianti, Software Engineer at HackerOne

Another bonus is that the city is very green, with plenty of trees.

As an expat, settling here was easier compared to my friends who have settled elsewhere in the Netherlands.

Housing is available and affordable, which I found beneficial when migrating to a different country.

Vismarkt Groningen

The commute is also easy as you dont really need a car.

I also like staying away from the chaos of big cities.

Groningen in particular has two great universities located in the city that attract students from across the globe.

Andrea Hak

The city has a sense of tranquility that helps me be productive at university and work.

If they can make that transition, it would show the building blocks are really in place.

It doesnt need to be the next Silicon Valley.

There are a lot of downsides to that kind of ecosystem as well.

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