About Our Name

Our name is a reference to the chinstrap penguin, which is a feisty and resilient species of penguin found mainly in the South Pacific and Antarctica. We chose our name as an homage to Linux (whose official mascot is Tux the Penguin), which is undoubtedly the most important open source project in the world and arguably the most important innovation in the history of technology.

“Chinstrap” is also a play on “bootstrap,” which refers to the act of building a company without outside funding. “Chinstrapping” is the act of building a technology company around an open source project.

Our mascot is Cossmo, whose name is a play on “COSS” and “Modus Operandi” (i.e., a passion for COSS is our MO).