By Jonathan Wasserstrum, founder and CEO of SquareFoot
Shared workspaces and remote teams are having a cultural moment. It’s too early for any of us to know whether this change in expected behavioral norms is ushering in a new era for the workforce, or whether we’ll see the pendulum swing back in the other direction at some point, but one thing is clear: Executives must grapple today more than ever with a greater emphasis from employees on flexibility outside of a typical 9-to-5 assignment.
Coworking definitely has a time and place in a company’s origin and evolution when it makes sense both financially and resource-wise. However, like everything else that small business owners must have a another close look at every once in a while, it’s worth entertaining and exploring at a later point in time what other possible workspace solutions might suit you better as you embark on the next stage of growth.
Getting your own space might seem daunting to some, but if you’re leaving a coworking space you’re probably going to get better value for your money and wind up saving some costs, too, by eliminating the premium you’re used to handing over in the name of getting those shared resources like IT services and the complimentary coffee covered without worry. You’ll have many options for office space in Denver to choose from when you’re ready, so the flexibility you’re leaving behind when you vacate a month-to-month lease is met by increased access to, and awareness of, spots in your area that might prove more convenient for you and your growing team. As you begin your search, you can choose first where ideally you’d like to set up shop and then find a suitable space to match your needs specifically in that area.
But what if you’re not prepared yet to take on a lease of your own? Well, there are a number of ways to find a middle option, somewhere between coworking space where you have little sway and leeway and a space of your own where you take on all of the responsibility. You can use PivotDesk, which was founded in Boulder and is now owned and operated by SquareFoot, to find an available office that has unused deskspace waiting to be paid for and occupied by another company in need. Think of it like Airbnb for office space — you can drop into those desks while sharing someone else’s office with them and reaping the rewards and benefits of pairing up with someone else. The advantage here vs. using a traditional coworking solution is that you have a say in who you work next to and near, and you know that it’ll only be one other company that sits next to you and shares the space instead of a slew of people from a lot of different places coming and going. You can find some stability well before you realized it was even available to you.
From the larger company’s perspective, it can pay off. When a company is first exploring its options for office space, it’s often wisest to take on a space bigger than what your needs are at the given time. Companies should be able to reasonably anticipate how big their staff will be in two to five years. When they make those hires, there should be room for the new hires to sit and get situated with the rest of the team. But that real estate expense can weight on a CEO paying for empty desks until they’re actually necessary. In the interim, it’s best to fill those spots with tenants who can make proper use of the space. When the time does arrive for the bigger company to grow, they can negotiate with their tenants to move out ahead of it so that there’s a seamless process in place for all parties involved. If that second company wants to find a new office to inhabit, and share, they can find another similar opportunity by returning to PivotDesk, or look into finding a space of their own in their next era.
So it’s not only independent contractors and entrepreneurs who are thinking about more flexible options. Companies as well are responding to this call by thinking differently and more creatively to give every type of company, at every stage, the right solution to fit their needs at a given time. Although it’s possible to get the job done for a day or a week at a home office or a local coffee shop, you’re probably better off with a dedicated, well-maintained place, whether you’re the lone occupant or share it with a hand-selected roommate.
SquareFoot Founder and CEO Jonathan Wasserstrum has worked for over a decade in commercial real estate. SquareFoot is a new kind of commercial real estate company that helps companies win at finding their next (and next) office, providing transparent access to inventory, brokerage services, and a flexible space offering. SquareFoot brings together technological innovation and human expertise to solve clients’ needs.
