The days of garage or spare bedroom start-ups may be coming to an end in the UK. Many start-up founders are seeing more value in having a dedicated office space that speaks to the clients they serve, as well as the talent they wish to attract.
Having more resources and support behind your start-up is vital to the growth process and upgrading from the bedroom to downtown may be on your mind. If you’re still on the fence about renting or purchasing a dedicated office space for your start-up, the following may help ease any concerns.
Upgrading your start-up office upgrades networking potential
Getting potential investors and clients together in a non-intrusive pitch way can be difficult if your HQ has a car parked in it. This makes upgrading to a dedicated office space a must.
In fact, many of the best networking events in London are thrown at start-up offices. For example, First Event threw a networking event to christen their new London office.
“First Event wants to show that it’s a major player, making a London office the natural choice,” Joe O’Connell, Client Services Director at First Event said. “Traditionally we are better known for incentive travel, but we want to work more on the corporate side. We have an existing client base in London who we will now be able to be more engaged with. Watch this space!”
A dedicated space also allows you to invite potential clients to the office for a meeting to hash out details. This is especially helpful in certain industries, like marketing for instance. When a client walks into a vibrant, creative marketing agency office, it can close the deal.
Create a start-up office that attracts top talent
As your start-up grows, you’ll need to expand your team to meet demand. However, you want to attract top-notch talent with the skills to grow your business even more. It is definitely difficult to attract the best and brightest candidates when working out of your home.
Having a dedicated start-up office with top tech and a vibrant company culture is the bait on the hook you need to get top talent in the door and sticking around. For example, create a space with technology that speaks forward-thinking start-up.
You also don’t need to break the budget. Online sites serve up plenty of deals. For example, nSpire offers Toshiba, HP, Acer, Lenovo computers at an affordable price start-up founders can budget. Do a bit of due diligence and make your start-up space look the part to land great candidates.
A dedicated start-up office enhances collaboration
To improve efficiency and productivity of your team, you need to provide a creative and comfortable space for them to collaborate and connect. Or in the case of those start-ups launched from a bedroom, you just need space.
Having a dedicated space gives your team pride in their office, as well as the work they produce. Yes, you don’t need to go overboard, but having a start-up that pulls at the creative and efficient heartstrings can be good for you, your team, business, and bottom line.
For example, the start-up Second Home developed a start-up space in London that is all about creativity, collaboration, and connection. “Tucked away inside a former carpet factory in trendy east London is a futuristic office space that London’s most innovative companies all want to join,” James Cook of Business Insider wrote.
A dedicated start-up office that enhances collaboration also increases team morale. Who doesn’t like going to work in an office that is creatively powerful? Your team is also more likely to talk about where they work too, which makes them a high-level advocate for your start-up.
But don’t forget to take work/life balance seriously
Many start-up founders may lose touch with work/life balance after upgrading HQ to a dedicated office space. This is common. Instead of rolling out of bed and getting that quick run in, they may prepare for the day and get the commute started.
However, work/life balance should remain a priority for founders and their teams. How? Implement work/life balance into the new office space. This could be a yoga room, a game and/or movie room, or simple lounge areas for you and your team to relax.
This is not an odd concept either. Google has nap pods for their employees and staff passes for furry friends like employees’ dogs. You don’t need to go as far as Google but implementing a nice work/life balance into the daily routine is important. It’s also something you can’t do for your team in your parent’s tool shed.
Are you ready for a dedicated start-up office?
Knowing when to upgrade to a dedicated office space is the biggest obstacle. If it’s you and your best friend manning the start-up, then renting or buying office space isn’t ideal. But if you need to scale your business needs, it may be time to upgrade HQ. What does your start-up look like? We want to know!
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