Startup culture is how we get some of the most innovative products in the market. It’s not always big corporations giving us the best ideas, and sometimes that’s for the best. What could be challenging for startups, however, is transitioning. Some of them start operating in the comfort of the owner’s home and they didn’t need that much manpower, so it was not a problem.
Then, demand grew. While you’re busy running a business, finding a new office may be showing slow progress. You don’t have to slow down business operations just to get things in order. You can do these instead:
Rent a Temporary Office
Most offices for rent come with a long lease term, and they will probably require a bigger deposit for you to secure the space, especially if it is on Wall Street. Startups aren’t exactly swimming in money, so that might be a hurdle. If you’re getting a loan to pay for that kind of rent, the least you can do is find the right spot. Now, that still means being without an office for the meantime, unless you consider an office for rent that is all-inclusive and may be fitted for a shorter lease term. These spaces usually have everything you need, which means you won’t have to worry about preparing it for work to start regularly. You can dive into work on day one.
Hire Teams Offshore
If the nature of the business relies on the people more than the location they work in, no one can blame you for wanting to keep costs low through sourcing elsewhere. Having an office in a place with lower labor costs will keep a business running and can even improve their performance without them having to pay for an expensive office. The downside to this is you cannot really say you are a New York company if the entire business is in Asia. However, if you have the main office for your startup and you’re looking to open a new department, you can set it up in the new location. They will have everyone in the department with them so that collaboration will not be an issue, and company meetings can be done via teleconferencing.
Expand in Stages
You want the business to remain open while you’re figuring out your next move, but it doesn’t have to be fully open. Some areas may not be as important as others, and a quick rearrangement of operation schedules may free up some time to allow one department at a time to expand. That means hiring more people or moving to a bigger office, where they can get familiarized with the processes internally. As the stage of expansion progresses, new members should be onboard properly so that at the full-scale “reopening” of the business, they will be ready to carry their own weight.
Having a business to run is stressful no matter how small it is. Don’t rush into business expansion until you’ve got everyone fully committed and ready for higher expectations and demands.
