Who to Call When Your Start-up Grows
At some point in your start-up’s life you will need to find a place to operate the company. You may be on the hunt for office space from day one or you may defer the decision until you raise money or successfully complete a milestone. The following group of individuals should be on your bench, ready to help you when you need them.
Real Estate Agent
Sure, you can drive around and try to find open office space by looking for signs, but you will miss a lot of unadvertised opportunities. Early on, it is important to find space that is relatively inexpensive, move-in condition with a short-duration lease so you aren’t locked in when your company really grows.
Finding a Real Estate Broker who has their hands in the sublease market will open up a huge number of low risk opportunities that will fit your company perfectly.
Used Office Furniture Sales Rep
Never, never, never buy new furniture. You wouldn’t believe the amount of high quality used furniture you can find. There are a huge number of used office furniture companies out there. Most of these will be able to help plan your space, deliver, and install your furniture at pennies on the dollar of what it would cost to buy new.
You may even find some of those late 90’s stalwarts; Aeron chairs and pool tables real cheap!
IT Consultant
Chances are that you are going to be fairly busy running your company and developing your product. IT is time intensive and has a deep learning curve.
Bringing in an independent consultant (or IT consulting company) will allow you to step away from the thankless job of building and maintaining your network as well as performing laptop support for your employees. As an extra bonus, a good IT company will have offsite storage options (always back-up your data) for both your company’s servers and employee laptops.
Computer Reseller
You can always order each new laptop you need from an online computer company (in the past I’ve always ordered in batches of 4, that way I always had one on hand in case of a “surprise” new hire), but I believe working with a small reseller is a much better way to go.
Building a relationship with a smaller reseller allows you to create a few computer “specs” that they keep and gets you the right machine with one phone call or e-mail. In addition, the right reseller will provide valuable add-on services like next day repair on your machines (btw, I’ve never experienced a hardware issue that wasn’t an emergency to the user.)
Electrician
Why do you need an electrician? Well, a good electrician who has experience working with small business will be able to wire your new space for the additional electric load and network. Running network wire is as enjoyable as going to the dentist or getting a bikini wax (at least I imagine).
Even if you plan to run your business out of your garage for the next year, it pays to add these people to your network before you need them. Office moves are a fact of life when it comes to start-ups, I’ve done it with just about every company I’ve been with. Make your life easier and find a good group of professionals to help.
Hi, my name is Bob Holman and I am a finance and administration professional who specializes in working with start-ups. | 
Hi Bob! During my research I came across your most recent blog post – Who To Call When Your Start Up Grows?
As a start up company, I have faced this dilemna on quite a few occasions. Luckily, friends or contacts always seemed to come through at the last minute with an available desk or cubicle within their space.
I have not posted a comment on your blog in the past, but thought I would mention a new venture that I just launched which speaks directly to this dilemna and might be helpful to your readers.
OpenOfficeSpace.com facilitates the interaction between companies burdened with carrying the cost of their unused office space and small businesses/entrepreneurs looking to streamline their expenses.
Our service is completely free for both parties. The actual idea was spawned as the sublease on my current commercial space was coming to an end, coupled with the significant increase in available sublet inventory due to the economy.
I am really glad that I came across your blog as I will definitely be subscribing to your feed.
Thank you.
Dave
Dave – Thanks for commenting!
I love your idea and think your new venture is starting-up at the perfect time. In Massachusetts, where I am, there is a huge inventory of space. Unfortunately, property owners are still thinking in terms of long term leases. A real turn off for small companies. Subleasing is definitely the way to go during the “formative” years.
Bob
Thanks Bob.
Unfortunately, it seems that we still have quite a while to go before the economy hits bottom. It is likely that at least some of these property owners will soften their stance on long term leases out of sheer necessity.
If they had to choose between allowing sublet relationships and a tenant giving back a space altogether one would think the former would be more attractive…I guess only time will tell.
BTW – Your site is officially the first great resource for small businesses and entrepreneurs we are following on behalf of our blog.
Dear Bob,
I think your blog is absolutely fantastic! As an entrepreneur at heart, I enjoy helping entrepreneurs get started with an impressive office. Have you ever thought about a turn-key, flexible, short-term commitment, wired office space?
A turn-key office space would give you and clients the opportunity to not have to worry about a real estate agent, long term leases, electrician, heating, phone handsets, reception services, scanners, faxes, copiers, phone numbers, and prestigious addresses.
At NYCOfficeSuites, I specialize in helping start-ups and small companies get started with a very cost-efficient office space with everything all ready set up. Your clients can have a short-term office which gives the impression of a grand company. We can set them up on a 3 month agreement, instead of a year lease. They can rent a small office and use the conference rooms when needed to make the first impression they want on their clients and they do not have put large amounts of money into their real estate costs.
I hope this helps and lets them focus on their business as I focus on their office space at their budget exuding to their clients years of success through our conference rooms and grand entrances.
To get started, you can have a New York City office in the Grand Central District for $289/month and just use the office when needed or for $895 a month, your clients can have 24/7 access.
Kind regards,
Tara Leifer
NYC Office Suites
Totally agree Dave, Thanks for following. I have built out the framework for the next 50 posts and am committed to making this a nice repository of information for anyone building a business.
Hi Tara, Thanks for posting. turn-key office space is a legitimate option for the right kind of business. I worked out of one in New England when the rest of the company was in Atlanta and it saved me a lot of time and effort.
Hi Bob,
I appreciate your compliments. Do you blog anywhere else about office space? I would love to read what others are saying. It is always great to educate people on saving money when it comes to their overhead.
Have a great night!
Tara