It took an hour and half to get everyone checked in at the door of Evernote’s new offices in Northwest Austin Thursday night.
A guy in the parking garage said it was easier to get into a ZZ Top concert than Evernote’s new offices, said Rich Warwick, its vice president and general manager for Austin products.
More than 470 people registered to attend Evernote’s open house, he said. Warwick made some brief remarks at the event, which ran from 6 to 9 p.m.
In August, Evernote announced plans to create a satellite office in Austin. It moved into the fourth floor offices at 6504 Bridgepoint Parkway.
At the event, a couple of bars offered frozen margaritas, beer and wine. A buffet featured Mexican fare like fajitas, beans and rice.
The green-clad tables hosted packets of peanuts sealed with green sticks featuring the Evernote elephant logo and a note “I’m not being rude. I’m taking notes in Evernote.” The Jessie Torrisi & The Please, Please Me band entertained the crowd.
Evernote’s office also includes a virtual window to its Mountain View, California headquarters. Through high-definition video conferencing, people in the two offices can virtually bump into each other in the hallway.
“You can literally talk to the person just like they’re standing there,” Warwick said.
Warwick said he had to hire a team and ship a product by Christmas. And the company is on track, he said. Evernote is hiring software developers and other employees for its Austin office. Their main product is Skitch.
Skitch, a free app for Macs and Android platforms, created for artists and designers, helped Evernote design its new office.
“I could literally communicate what would take me 20 minutes to type out in an e-mail, it took me less than a minute using Skitch,” Warwick said. The app helps people communicate their ideas visually.
Skitch’s creators, Cris Pearson and Keith Lang moved from Australia to Austin to head up the product’s development team. Skitch is Evernote’s first acquisition.