Satellite Startup Offices Because You Like the City

In the past month I’ve heard two different entrepreneurs mention satellite offices they already have for their business. We don’t have any satellite offices so I’m always curious to learn pros and cons from others. In both cases the entrepreneurs said the driving force behind the locations (one in Denver and one in NYC) was that they loved the area. That’s right, these entrepreneurs have offices in different cities driven by their personal enjoyment of the location. Of course, the locations are justified by additional reasons: one wanted a location to service clients on the west coast and one had a big client already in the city.

The general idea isn’t that it’s right or wrong to make potentially important business decisions based on your personal lifestyle choices but rather that as an entrepreneur you can do that. Entrepreneurship, when successful, opens up opportunities to control your destiny and fulfill personal desires that might not have otherwise been expected.

As a side note, there’s a similar example with venture capitalists. A good friend has a fraternity brother who’s a VC in the midwest that invested in a company that’s in the hometown of his wife 600 miles away. I’m sure the investment passed the firm’s standard investing criteria, but I also know that the location helped with this VC’s personal interest in the deal.

What else? What are your thoughts on satellite startup offices because you like the city?