David Cummings on Startups

Sublease Adventures: Touring the Executive Floor

Written by

David Cummings

in

,

Several years ago we were playing the real estate roulette sublease game where every 18 – 24 months we’d go shopping around to find an affordable and flexible lease suitable for our startup. In the first seven years of my entrepreneurial journey, we were in five different offices (one of the reasons the Atlanta Tech Village was started).

Well, we were out in the market looking for a new office and there was an option across the street in a nice building. Looking at the floor plan and the existing layout, it was unlike ones I’d seen before in this part of town due to several large, open rooms. Perfect, I thought, as we wanted to have a more open, shared environment.

Excited, we headed over to review the space. We met the listing broker and he explained that this was a beautiful space previously used by a publicly traded pharmaceutical company. Oh, and it was their executive floor. Coming from the startup world, I hadn’t ever seen an “executive floor”, but I quickly understood what that meant.

Here are some characteristics of the executive floor:

  • Massive private offices in the neighborhood of 300 – 500 square feet each
  • Closets and fine built-in shelves in each of the excutive rooms
  • Mahogany wood paneled walls in the main conference room
  • Large reception area for the floor followed by smaller, private reception areas for each of the large offices
  • Internal, over-the-top bathrooms that were much nicer that the standard building bathrooms

Basically, it was the antithesis of how startups operate. Ultimately, we were able to negotiate a sublease-type rate due to tough market conditions and stayed in our same space. It was an experience to tour an executive floor and see how some other companies operate.

What else? Have you seen an executive floor and what are your thoughts on them?

Comments

3 responses to “Sublease Adventures: Touring the Executive Floor”

  1. lance (@lance) Avatar
    lance (@lance)

    When I was at MindSpring we had a completely open environment. I sat about 20 feet away from the CEO and 10 from the president. The latter would literally get under his second hand desk when he wanted to have a private conversation. No executive assistant gatekeepers. Employees would walk up and talk about whatever was on their mind and we learned a lot of ways to make improvements as a result. We merged with EarthLink and did a darn nice renovation in the building where that company is presently headquartered. We had an executive wing. It was right off the lobby, separate from all the other employees. Being off the lobby it was key carded. Employees were afraid to go in there. Dramatic decrease in folks coming to talk about an issue that needed leadership attention. When you get to be bigger things change but the executive team has to stay accessible.

    Reply
  2. Del Ross Avatar
    Del Ross

    Classic old-school design. A company I know very well has had the same office design since the early 90s. Exterior walls/windows all blocked by private offices with the interior spaces filled with high-wall, gray cubicles lit by overhead fluorescents. The cubicles were upgraded 8 years ago – went from beige to gray. The company has thought about switching to a design that would put glass-walled offices on the interior and low-walled cubes on the outside with natural lighting/window access for everyone, but predictably the resistance comes from many of the office-dwellers. The most recent reason for not changing is that “office design trends change all the time, and we believe that the open office approach is becoming dated and unpopular.

    The company also has an executive floor which is vastly different from the rest of the building. Wood-paneled cubicles for the administrative staff, better carpeting, huge offices with private bath facilities. It is a “business casual” company, but everyone keeps a blazer in his/her cube or office in case there is a meeting on the executive floor. The funny thing is that the floor is mostly empty as the office occupants are rarely in-office, with an average of 70% travel being very common.

    Reply
  3. Michel Avatar
    Michel

    David,

    Your post reminded me of a visit we had recently in NYC at Mayor Bloomberg’s office, referred to as the “bullpen”. The energy of the open space and people in the room was amazing. Not sure if you’re aware of it, but here is an article about it and how others feel about it. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/nyregion/bloombergs-bullpen-candidates-debate-its-future.html?_r=0

    Thanks so much for sharing this.

    Michel

    Reply

Leave a reply to Michel Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More posts