When you think of great company cultures in Boston’s innovation scene, which ones come to mind? HubSpot and SCVNGR pop into my head, so when we were tipped off earlier this week that a paintball battle was brewing between the two, we couldn’t resist doing some more digging.

While their offices are a block away from each other and their teams are, “really great friends on MySpace,” it turns out the HubSpot and SCVNGR comradeship actually began on a plane ride from Phoenix to Boston. Michael Hagan, SCVNGR’s Chief Rockstar, and Adam Enbar, then a student working on his MBA and now a HubSpot Inbound Marketing Specialist, sat next to each other on a flight. Enbar ended up doing a project on SCVNGR during his last semester, and a half-joking remark post-presentation led to this Sunday’s battle.

By all accounts, some serious bragging rights are on the line for these two rocking Boston companies. Will HubSpot or SCVNGR take home the W? Judging by the answers to some of BostInno’s questions below, I’d place bets on SCVNGR. However, HubSpot’s inbound marketing prowess means they’ve probably already attracted a secret weapon for game day…

Check out some of the smack talk below, and cast your vote below on who you think is going to win this Sunday’s Boston startup battle:

BostInno: How did the HubSpot vs. SCVNGR paintball game come about?

Enbar: After my final field study presentation to Michael and his team, we were discussing the Nerf gun situation at SCVNGR (they’re everywhere!) and my new job at HubSpot (it was a few weeks before I started). I challenged them to a paintball match (half jokingly), and when I mentioned the idea to Brian Halligan, our CEO, he told me to go for it.

(BostInno: Tilting our brims once again to that good silvery coif…)

Hagan: SCVNGR takes world domination very seriously. It’s not just a goal, but a lifestyle. We are taking over cities around the country with SCVNGR Rewards and we thought, why not establish dominance in everything competitive while we’re at it? Paintball seemed like a great next step. Challenging a company more than twice our size would be the only way to make the battle seem fair, so Hubspot was a logical opponent.

BostInno: Who’s talking the most smack?

Enbar: Well, Michael seems to think they should only bring half as many people as we do in order to give us a fair chance. That being said, Michael’s used to shooting Nerf guns.

(BostInno: Ooh, snap!)

Hagan: I wouldn’t call it talking smack as much as I’d call it setting clear expectations. Allowing them to prepare mentally for the slaughterhouse that will be unleashed on Sunday is a neighborly thing to do. I’d call it being friendly.

BostInno: Who’s the ringer on each side?

Enbar: Can’t tell you that until after the game :-).

Hagan: There are a ton of Harvard grads at Hubspot, so if it were a coffee making competition, we’d be in trouble.

(BostInno: Ouch!)

Hagan: But we’ve got Ironmen, Ninjas, Marathoners, Division I athletes, Rockstars and Lawyers. So I think we’re pretty diversified to handle anything they’ll throw at us.

BostInno: Does whomever snipes Dharmesh Shah or Seth Priebatsch (founders) get a special something?

Enbar: I don’t know about special rewards, but I’m fairly certain both Seth and Dharmesh will make for giant targets on game-day.

Hagan: As you know Seth is a ninja and will be very difficult to shoot, combined with the fact he has the ability to run a sub 5-minute mile, he’ll likely remain paint free for the day. We all know Dharmesh and their team are experts at inbound marketing, so I guess we’ll see how they handle inbound fire!

(BostInno: Zing!)

BostInno: How important are organizing events like this to your company cultures?

Enbar: Based on my four months of working with Michael, and my few months at HubSpot, it’s clear that culture is extremely important to both companies. SCVNGR and HubSpot both subscribe to a work-hard, play-hard mentality that makes both awesome places to be — both professionally and socially.

Hagan: Being a gaming company, we take fun as a serious business and so everything we do as a company has a level of competition and fun baked in. (Except for when we go skydiving, which is just for the adrenaline rush. Now if we could only combine that with paintballing, then we’d really be on to something!)

The teams will be at Boston Paintball this Sunday

Who do you think is going to win this startup battle? Cast your vote in the poll below!

(polls)