Picture this: You’re a Developer and you are killing it. Your brain is overflowing with ideas for decentralized Apps (dApps) and software. You live and breathe 1s, 0s, scripts and command lines. You are the code and the code is…you.

Then someone comes along and says, “Hey, we have this cryptographic blockchain network, XYO, and we want you to create the most insanely innovative apps and use cases. And we’re going to give you a quiet space, away from Hacker Headquarters, so you can walk in every day, sit down in front of your monitor, crank up the Rolling Stones best of, and create something beautiful, practical, and seamless.”

Would you do it? Not. even. a. question.

This is the “inspired by a true story” story of our new venture: xylabs. Two Developers, one office, and the time, freedom and space to build incredible new things.

Technically, the Carlsbad, CA-based office of xylabs is an innovation center. But that’s a little bit tame for our tastes. xylabs is more like a full-blown skunkworks, where thinking outside the box is the norm, not the exception.

Straight from Wikipedia:

“A skunkworks project is a project developed by a small and loosely structured group of people who research and develop a project primarily for the sake of radical innovation. “

That’s right. Radical innovation.

So, who are the two lucky Devs running xylabs? John Arana and Joe Bader.

Both John and Joe worked with Arie, Scott and Markus in the past. They’re a known commodity and are both insanely talented, having helped run skunkworks for the trio at past companies.

Both Joe and John bring different things to the table. John is a developer who has a lot of background in product — he knows requirements, user experience and overall design.

Joe, on the other hand is a rapid prototyping fiend. He’s workshopping a lot of different ideas right now, interacting with Bluetooth devices and building the foundational blocks for applications that will be powered by XYO Network.

Though John and Joe will occasionally visit the XY Hacker Headquarters to work with the San Diego Dev team, they will mostly be just a phone or chat message away in the Carlsbad office. We’re thrilled to open up xylabs with them, and we’re looking forward to seeing what develops!