Most tech start-ups host company-wide “all-hands” meetings every four to six weeks. At Hopin, however, they take place every Friday at 2pm. The star of the show is Johnny Boufarhat, Hopin’s 28-year-old founder and CEO, who holds messianic status among at least some of his employees.
The virtual event platform’s unofficial motto is “let’s fucking go” and while Boufarhat is talking, employees often post “LFG” in the meeting chat. Others share fawning messages such as, “oh my god – I love your beard, Johnny”, a former employee recalls. “It’s really sycophantic. All the British people would be in a separate chat going, ‘oh my god, cringe’. It was for the most part the Americans who were in awe of him.”
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