How to Create a (Great?) Startup Office Space While Being Absurdly Cheap

http://dontrepreneur.com/2009/12/14/how-to-create-a-great-startup-office-space-while-being-abusrdly-cheap/

by dcharlton • 17 years ago

30 48 17 years ago

dontrepreneur.com

tptacek8• 17 years ago

This article was totally reasonable and interesting until I got to this part:

Employee office chairs – $60 to $80 (must be ergonomic!)

Your office chair – $150 to $200 (it is worth it)

Huh? Now I'm left wondering what else is wrong with this guy.

dcharlton13• 17 years ago

Fair enough – the intent was to say as the founder you should splurge on yourself a little – not to say you're providing others with inferior stuff. I was able to find great chairs at an affordable price. When I can afford Aeron chairs for everyone, I would do that!

I removed that part because it takes away from the point of the article.

tptacek8• 17 years ago

I think that first sentence is profoundly wrongheaded. It's not just unpleasant, it's also penny-wise and pound-foolish. It is very hard to keep employees happy over the long term. Turnover is extremely expensive, and expensive in insidious ways. Employees already think that the founder is getting all sorts of perks that they aren't getting. Making that clearly apparent to everyone by giving yourself better digs is a terrible business move.

I just tracked you down on LinkedIn (we're only 3 hops away!). This is your first company. I'm not on my first company. Let me spare you a lesson I am still gradually learning the hard way: whatever day-to-day pains and frustrations your team is dealing with, you should be sharing.

Take the extra money for the Aeron chair and buy a couple of six packs for the office. I may have just saved you several tens of thousands of dollars with that bit of advice.

dcharlton13• 17 years ago

Employees in this office will have plenty of perks – including $100 travel reimbursement per month, plus free lunch every day. I would not want to hire someone bogged down into such minute details of chairs when the entire space is obviously meant to make it as comfortable for them as possible.

mattking• 17 years ago

One of the more horrific color choices I've seen in a while.

ams6110• 17 years ago

Yeah pretty vivid. I'd have gone with much more muted colors to avoid the day-care center look.

tptacek8• 17 years ago

I like that it's colorful, even if the colors are kind of hamhanded; it's good for your office to have an identity. I wish we could paint our offices (we could, but we need to be able to trade up to bigger offices on very little notice).

mattm3• 17 years ago

Me too. The last office I was in was all grey and white. I would prefer lots of colours even if they are all mismatched. It's better than looking like a prison.

DTrejo2• 17 years ago

Instead of painting your office, you could print posters.

Assuming you can find a cheap printing place, there are tons of high resolution creative commons images on flickr and elsewhere.

My university has a super cheap copymat, it may be that a university near you has similarly cheap prices.

weaksauce• 17 years ago

Have you taken a look at how much it would cost to repaint your office beige when you needed to? It could be worth it in the productivity gain department to paint your offices interesting colors and then contract out when you need the bigger space. Though don't skimp on the chairs to paint the office.

dcharlton13• 17 years ago

I think also I should not have punched up the saturation in the photos!

apowell• 17 years ago

What's a decent ergonomic chair for under $100?

dcharlton13• 17 years ago

Bizchair.com around the holidays had some great deals.

tsestrich3• 17 years ago

Interesting article, particularly in regards to the tax credit for office spaces (I happen to be in Pittsburgh, might be useful knowledge for the future).

I guess I don't agree with everyone else here, but I think it all came together well and I actually enjoy the color choices

jsb• 17 years ago

Agreed - Also in Pittsburgh here. Looks like he was able to get office space on the North Side that qualifies for that tax credit. Not a bad area at all - just a short walk along the riverfront park to PNC Park/Heinz Field!

dotBen• 17 years ago

We did something similar with Citizen Space I in San Francisco (CS has since relocated to the ground floor of the same building in a different space, with decor less to my liking).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laughingsquid/294769682/

As you will see from the photo we were able to create a very slick space for little money - mainly using Ikea furniture.

I believe we worked out that our budget for 6 people was less than 3 Aeron chairs.

BenS3• 17 years ago

The best startup office tip I have heard is buying sheets of 'Solid White Tileboard' from home depot. It is a material used in commercial shower installations that works well as a white board. 8x12 sheet is ~14 dollars.

tptacek8• 17 years ago

That's pretty expensive, isn't it? (I assume those are inches, not feet).

BenS3• 17 years ago

No, that is feet.

anamax• 17 years ago

They're feet - whiteboard is cheap. (I don't have any experience with whiteboard paint.)

A whiteboard room may be the best investment you can make.

tsestrich3• 17 years ago

Not able to find that on the Home Depot website. Do you have a link by any chance?

BenS3• 17 years ago

I wasn't able to find it on the site either, but it was in their lumber department. I read about it on a couple blogs: http://www.johnmurch.com/2007/10/20/diy-whiteboard-on-the-ch...

dcharlton13• 17 years ago

I found out about his after I purchased white boards

dkokelley• 17 years ago

I did that once and hated the results. I glued it to a wooden backboard and it's very obvious where there is glue. Maybe it's just my poor craftsmanship, but if I were to do it again, I would look for some cheap glass (old shower doors on craigslist) and paint the back of it white.

colinplamondon• 17 years ago

I don't get what the point of hiring more employees if you don't outfit them with the most productive tools. Great machine, great monitor, great chair- 5-6k max.

dcharlton13• 17 years ago

Of course you get the best hardware - this article was meant to show that even a non VC backed company could get an office up and running. Were the other tips helpful?

Tawheed3• 17 years ago

Looks more like kindergarten than an office space. Where are the crayons?

Tawheed3• 17 years ago

I wish he'd speak more about what prompted him to get an office space. Is it because he's hiring more people? Did he consider virtual collaboration models instead of a 'real office?' Did he just want to get out of the house?

dcharlton13• 17 years ago

I am beginning to bring on part-time help and needed an office space so we could collaborate. Plus the business needed to feel more "real"—this is a hard concept to explain but what happens in your house can sometimes feel more like a hobby.

Tawheed3• 17 years ago

Ah - got it. Just curious, but are you basically getting most of your part time help from locals to Pittsburg? Any particular reason why you're not sticking to virtual? Also, did you consider a co-working facility (not even sure if they have any in Pittsburg, but they sure are cropping up everywhere)

frankus• 17 years ago

I'm working at a fairly established small programming shop, and the boss basically set a budget and let us choose our own desks and chairs.

Because I wanted a fairly fancy chair and didn't really give a crap about having an "executive-looking" desk, I splurged on the chair a bit ($299 on sale for $249), got a fancy n-way adjustable keyboard tray second-hand ($100), and a Fredrik desk from Ikea ($149).

Chair: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/510830/Realspace-PRO-9...

It's super comfortable and adjusts in height, seat depth, back height, armrest height and position, etc. The only downside is that it could use another half inch of seat height (and I'm not even six feet tall)

Desk: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60115989

I can't say enough good things about this desk. I've got the first of the two top shelves about six inches above the desktop with two 19" monitors on it. With bigger monitors I would take it down one notch, but there would be room for dual 27" screens. I did have to put a couple of spacers to mount the keyboard tray, as there's a cross-brace that's in the way.

Here's my setup: http://img39.yfrog.com/i/fobj.jpg/

dcharlton13• 17 years ago

awesome suggestions

tptacek8• 17 years ago

We did this too and I advise against it. There are desks that people will find that will screw up your space in unpredictable ways. Get everyone the same desk.

(For what it's worth, we eventually standardized on the same Ikea Frederick desk you like).

Scott_MacGregor• 17 years ago

Very nice job on a $4,500 budget. I am impressed with your results.

It stands to reason that everyone is different and some people will not care one way or the other about this, some will hate it and think it’s dumb, and some will think it’s heaven on earth. I think when you hire if you look for the type of person who truly appreciates this type of environment as much as you do you will have a much better team for yourself. I think that someone who finds this workspace as invigorating as you do will excel in this environment more than they would in a drab one and may end up producing at a higher level than someone who does not.

This color scheme and attention to detail is not for everyone, but it is for you and your company--it sets you apart. It really seems to set the tone for your company culture right now and I think you should stick to your guns on this plan as you grow larger and try to hire those who share your appreciation for it. Build a GOOD TEAM.

daemin• 17 years ago

Someone once (okay, I forgot the article this was in) recommended that for an engineering/programming office it's a good idea to get a pool (snooker, billiards, etc) table for a recreational area. This helps lessen eye strain as there are many different coloured balls at differing distances that one must focus on and thus relaxes the eyes.

Also if you have reasonably even matches players it's quite fun to play.

How to Create a (Great?) Startup Office Space While Being Absurdly Cheap

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