Tatango is taking transparency to an entirely new level. The mobile messaging startup has outfitted its Bellingham headquarters with four video cameras in order to chronicle every paper cut, pin drop and keystroke at the year old company. It was pretty boring when I tuned in to the live stream Monday night. Just a couple guys sitting in front of some flat-panel computer monitors. When I jumped over to check out CEO Derek Johnson's office, all I saw were empty chairs. Hardly riveting stuff.

But given the youthful and dynamic personalities at Tatango (the eight employees are all under the age of 25), I am sure it will pick up. Tatango.TV will also get more interesting once audio is added, which is expected soon. Around 10 p.m. last night, I was able to watch Johnson in action (he was in his office by that time) and ask him via the live chat function how he's going to get any work done when people like me can bug him at all hours.

Johnson joked that he's good at multi-tasking, adding that the community manager will monitor the live chats.

In this era of Twitter, Facebook and Justin.tv, there's certainly no shortage of information. But does the world need live, unedited startup coverage 24 hours a day?

Johnson answers that question quite succinctly in a message on the Web site: "Why the hell not. If people want to watch us, let them watch us."

Tatango's vice president of marketing Andrew Dumont said it is not so much about the live content as it is about embracing transparency. Investors and potential investors will be able to monitor the company, or easily share ideas with the team. But not everything that goes on at a startup is meant for public view. In fact, many entrepreneurs go to extra lengths to keep software code, business models and financing activities extremely quiet.

I asked Dumont whether those things would be compromised given the 24 hour video stream. He admitted that it is a bit of a concern.

In order to keep things somewhat private, the company has installed switches so that employees can turn off cameras during sensitive meetings. It also has set up "safe zones" -- including the offices of the CTO and Vice President of Engineering -- where employees know they can do business out of public view.

There's also the issue of employee privacy, something that  Dumont admits doesn't really exist at Tatango. 

"People work at Tatango for an experience that can't be found anywhere else, they come into the job knowing that we're all a little crazy," he said. "We haven't had any negative feelings from any employees on the idea of Tatango.TV, and I don't foresee any issues down the road. We all enjoy being in front of a camera (maybe even a bit too much sometimes)."

Even so, Johnson isn't sure the experiment will work. In a YouTube video announcing the idea, Johnson says: "By the way you guys, this could be the stupidest idea we've ever had at Tatango."

What do you think?