The Curse of a New Building
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The Curse of a New Building
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Re: The Curse of a New Building
#2So is it a case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't"? How do startups expand when they really have outgrown that little hole in the wall without losing the startup culture that allowed the initial success?
Is the curse of the new building unavoidable?
Re: The Curse of a New Building
#3[deleted]
Re: The Curse of a New Building
#4So is it a case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't"? How do startups expand when they really have outgrown that little hole in the wall without losing the startup culture that allowed the initial success? Is the curse of the new building unavoidable?
The title is misleading.
The article is really about excess spending.
Yes, if you spend excessively you're damned. No, you're not damned if you don't spend excessively.
Re: The Curse of a New Building
#5So is it a case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't"? How do startups expand when they really have outgrown that little hole in the wall without losing the startup culture that allowed the initial success? Is the curse of the new building unavoidable?
The title is misleading. The article is really about excess spending. Yes, if you spend excessively you're damned. No, you're not damned if you don't spend excessively.
It's about more than excessive spending:
"The new building telegraphed to our employees, “We’ve arrived. We’re no longer a small struggling startup. You can stop working like a startup and start working like a big company." We started to believe that the new building was a reflection of the company’s (and our own) success. We took our eye off the business. We thought that since we in such a fine building, we were geniuses, and the business would take care of itself."
Even if you had a modest new building and didn't give every engineer his or her own office you still might observe this.
But I think probably by making a serious effort to preserve the culture and values of the company that existed pre-new-building you could avoid the "damned if you do" piece.
Re: The Curse of a New Building
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
The title is misleading. The article is really about excess spending. Yes, if you spend excessively you're damned. No, you're not damned if you don't spend excessively.
It's about more than excessive spending: "The new building telegraphed to our employees, “We’ve arrived. We’re no longer a small struggling startup. You can stop working like a startup and start working like a big company." We started to believe that the new building was a reflection of the company’s (and our own) success. We took our eye off the business. We thought that since we in such a fine building, we were gen…
This is absurd:
"Now every engineer can have their own office."
NOT INEVITABLE--EXCESSIVE SPENDING
"The new building needs to reflect that we’re a successful and established company. Lets “do it right” and have a lobby and reception area that projects a professional image."
NOT INEVITABLE AND IMPLIES EXCESSIVE SPENDING
"Lets get comfortable chairs and great new desks for everyone. None of this used stuff."
NOT INEVITABLE, BLATANTLY EXCESSIVE SPENDING
"Now we can pick out carpets that look good and feel good and we can have clean walls with great artwork and murals. "
ETC
"Lets make sure that we have plenty of conference rooms. We need our own cafeteria so employees don’t have to leave the building."
ETC
Re: The Curse of a New Building
#7So is it a case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't"? How do startups expand when they really have outgrown that little hole in the wall without losing the startup culture that allowed the initial success? Is the curse of the new building unavoidable?
The title is misleading. The article is really about excess spending. Yes, if you spend excessively you're damned. No, you're not damned if you don't spend excessively.
It's also about bad management.
I've been through office moves as well and it's obvious that this is one of those things that can kill a project or even a while company when everybody with the best of intentions starts negotiating with everybody else over where the coffee machine goes.
And there are many other examples where if you allow open negotiations it will end in ruin. It's like management 101.
Re: The Curse of a New Building
#8This happened to me when our company moved at the height of the 1st dot com boom and ended up burdened with space that caused us to close (rumor said about $1mill / 100 people). It certainly was months of disruption. In my neighborhood I can think of Sun, Netscape, Bay Networks and SGI that had this happen. The big move is at least an indicator to look twice.
Re: The Curse of a New Building
#9I'd also like to say that this also happens with churches. Every church I've enjoyed didn't own their own building. Rather, they just rented space from the local high school, etc. These groups were extremely focused on building tight-knit communities, and were pretty free to adapt to changing circumstances. Conversely, I can think of a few churches with buildings, where the primary focus of the staff was maintaining enough donations to pay the mortgage.
This sort of phenomena applies to other communities in addition to technology businesses.
Re: The Curse of a New Building
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's about more than excessive spending: "The new building telegraphed to our employees, “We’ve arrived. We’re no longer a small struggling startup. You can stop working like a startup and start working like a big company." We started to believe that the new building was a reflection of the company’s (and our own) success. We took our eye off the business. We thought that since we in such a fine building, we were gen…
This is absurd: "Now every engineer can have their own office." NOT INEVITABLE--EXCESSIVE SPENDING "The new building needs to reflect that we’re a successful and established company. Lets “do it right” and have a lobby and reception area that projects a professional image." NOT INEVITABLE AND IMPLIES EXCESSIVE SPENDING "Lets get comfortable chairs and great new desks for everyone. None of this used stuff." NOT INEVIT…
You're missing my point. I definitely agree that excessive spending can be a drain and will affect corporate culture, and you've pointed out some great examples above. But I think what makes this post interesting is the fact that there might be psychological implications to moving into any larger building, even if it doesn't have tons of amenities.