CREJ - Building Dialogue - September 2015
With the speed to market demanded on these organizations (and their respec tively expeditious business practices), - the work environment must keep pace with an aligned solution. Let’s get in a startup state of mind, where “All you need is an idea and an Internet connection.” Billion-dollar brands are being built in vastly different ways from the offices and factories of years past. This is the domain of the 21st century startup, a label liberally applied to the ventures created by tech-savvy, industry-disrupting, rule-breaking visionaries and employees. What was once a noun to describe a purely technology business, startuphas taken on a broader definition for a breed of lean, collaborative and agile companies. “Startup” is not a measure of a business – it’s a business state of mind. Courtesy of technology, today’s startups achieve great feats with speed unlike any time before. Yet for all their intensity, velocity and digitally unshackled freedom, these companies still face the challenge of creating high-performing, adaptable work environments that enable productivity critical to navigating unpredictable growth on their road to commercial viability. Often pieced together under hectic circumstances and short time frames, startup workplaces frequently lack the flexible, modular and organizational solutions that allow the uninterrupted productivity they require to flourish. Perennially faced with limited resources, a startup’s quest for workplace greatness is equivalent to any other enterprise; however, they are uniquely met by a variety of challenges according to the startup’s rapidly shifting stage and size. Founders Only • Founders are likely working out of the home, a shared space in an incubator or co-working facility, or renting a space within another office. Early Crew • The early crew often is leveraging a combination of revenue and further investment dollars to fuel its mission. Once a small band of early founders, this group is transforming into a company that faces key growth issues. Here, planning for flexibility, expressing cultural identity, and creating a warm, “second home” office space become a focus. • Behaviors also begin to shift at this stage. For instance, Meetings, which used to be handled by just talking out loud to adjacent colleagues, are now planned events. Full Team • For the first time, companies in this phase may have the opportunity to hire a formal designer to assist with space planning. As one founder stated, “ … now in our fourth office, we finally had time and space to plan.” The expertise of an interior designer and architect team delivers much value to address to the burgeoning departments distinct functional needs and the increasing contribution of cultural decision makers. Great Expansion • Those serendipitous interactions that happen when everyone knows each other occur less and less. “When you’re 10, 20, 50 people, you can get away with being a little ragtag. But now we’re bringing in potential investors, experienced leaders, young, creative employees, and the space needs to work seamlessly and look sexy and put together,” said a flash sale retailer’s facilities director. • There is an awareness on the tangible returns on investment for the environment, just as state-of-the-art laptops and smartphones deliver a return to the business in terms of output. However, sticker shock is no less evident: “We’ll toss a $600 iPhone on the table at a bar, but we’ll skimp on the chair we sit in for eight hours,” observed a venture capitalist. Regardless of stage, the environment is critical in several areas: encouraging productivity, stability, collaboration, culture and identity, comfort, and the acquisition/retention of talent. So, how do startups future-proof their environments in a business climate that may jump from four founders to 20 employees in one year and explode to a team of 75 a year later? The Future-Proofing Checklist: Best Practices For Primary Workspaces • Plan for more desks than the current head count to accommodate short-term growth and keep productivity high during personnel additions. • Test tighter floor plan scenarios and be transparent to anticipate future density. • Create variety in an open plan space with vertical boundaries like bookshelves or other storage moments to create semi-privacy, provide aesthetic height changes and lessen noise transference. At Shared, Activity Spaces • Provide a variety of choice in furnishings at an optimal quantitative mix of collaboration, conference and private space as needed. • Use multiple individual table desks to create a conference table. When in a space crunch, these conference tables can be pulled apart for desks for employees, which likely takes temporary precedence over meeting space. Overall Office Space • Create areas where employees and burgeoning departments can express themselves while complementing common areas with “company moments.” • Balance the functional aspects of office furniture with an eclectic identity • Don’t shortchange personal storage in light of a paperless mantra. Future Proofing: An Investment in Productivity While each startup has its own unique path to growth and glory, future-proofing around known office environment challenges helps energetic organizations navigate the business of their business with less drag and more velocity on their path to greatness. Through research, Knoll explores the connection between workspace design and human behavior, health and performance, and the quality of the user experience. We share and apply what we learn to inform product development and help our customers shape their work environments. To learn more about this topic or other research resources Knoll can provide, visit www.knoll.com/research/index.jsp Sources: 1. Colorado Startup Report, Knoll and BuiltInColorado, 2013 2. Future-Proofing the Startup Office, © 2013 Knoll, Inc. 3. The Workplace Net.Work, © 2015 Knoll, Inc.