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How to Create a (Great?) Startup Office Space While Being Absurdly Cheap

dontrepreneur.com

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Re: How to Create a (Great?) Startup Office Space While Being Absurdly Cheap

#31

Post by DTrejo »

tptacek wrote: post #12
mattking wrote: post #3

One of the more horrific color choices I've seen in a while.

I like that it's colorful, even if the colors are kind of hamhanded; it's good for your office to have an identity. I wish we could paint our offices (we could, but we need to be able to trade up to bigger offices on very little notice).

Instead of painting your office, you could print posters.

Assuming you can find a cheap printing place, there are tons of high resolution creative commons images on flickr and elsewhere.

My university has a super cheap copymat, it may be that a university near you has similarly cheap prices.

Re: How to Create a (Great?) Startup Office Space While Being Absurdly Cheap

#32

Post by mattm »

tptacek wrote: post #5
dcharlton wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair enough – the intent was to say as the founder you should splurge on yourself a little – not to say you're providing others with inferior stuff. I was able to find great chairs at an affordable price. When I can afford Aeron chairs for everyone, I would do that! I removed that part because it takes away from the point of the article.

I think that first sentence is profoundly wrongheaded. It's not just unpleasant, it's also penny-wise and pound-foolish. It is very hard to keep employees happy over the long term. Turnover is extremely expensive, and expensive in insidious ways. Employees already think that the founder is getting all sorts of perks that they aren't getting. Making that clearly apparent to everyone by giving yourself better digs is a…

"Let me spare you a lesson I am still gradually learning the hard way: whatever day-to-day pains and frustrations your team is dealing with, you should be sharing."

This is a great lesson. People only fix problems when it affects them directly. If you are sitting in a better chair and a developer says that his chair doesn't suit him, you will take it as whining. After all, there is nothing wrong with your chair.

However if you are sitting in the same chairs, you will experience what it is like. After a few weeks, you may realise that these chairs are horrible for your back.

I lived in Kenya before where the roads are terrible and full of potholes. To avoid this problem, the President had special shock absorbers installed on his limousine. After all, he is President. He must deserve it and splurge on himself. Now when he goes anywhere he doesn't experience the same things others do. Since there is now no problem for him, there is no incentive for him to fix the roads.

Don't be a leader who only solves his own problems.

Re: How to Create a (Great?) Startup Office Space While Being Absurdly Cheap

#33

Post by tsestrich »

tptacek wrote: post #27
BenS wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that is feet.

That is crazy-ass cheap. URL?

This seems to be the same, but at Lowes. Correct me if I'm wrong: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&prod...

Re: How to Create a (Great?) Startup Office Space While Being Absurdly Cheap

#34

Post by dcharlton »

tptacek wrote: post #26
dcharlton wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think not hiring because you can't afford $200 chairs is silly-I can either hire you now or wait until I can afford 600 chairs. There are part time employees out there too! I was specifically referring to the fact that as an employer I am doing the best I can to get good chairs within a budget. These chairs are extremely comfortable and happened to be affordable. I went to IKEA looking for chairs—and hated all of t…

I think you're missing my point. Chair quality is a red herring. It's "visibly splurging on the founder" that's going to kill you.

If you stopped by our office I think you would say there isn't any splurging anywhere-we aren't VC backed

Re: How to Create a (Great?) Startup Office Space While Being Absurdly Cheap

#35

Post by dcharlton »

mattm wrote: post #24
dcharlton wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Employees in this office will have plenty of perks – including $100 travel reimbursement per month, plus free lunch every day. I would not want to hire someone bogged down into such minute details of chairs when the entire space is obviously meant to make it as comfortable for them as possible.

I would much rather have a comfortable chair than free lunch everyday. Free lunch would save me some money but a good chair will save health problems down the road and make me feel better while working. Why don't you trade the free lunch for better chairs? I recently went ergonomic chair shopping and find it extremely hard to believe you can get a decent chair for $60-80. The price range was 10x that where I looked.…

This is a great idea that fits our budget

Re: How to Create a (Great?) Startup Office Space While Being Absurdly Cheap

#37

Post by dcharlton »

colinplamondon wrote: post #30

I don't get what the point of hiring more employees if you don't outfit them with the most productive tools. Great machine, great monitor, great chair- 5-6k max.

Of course you get the best hardware - this article was meant to show that even a non VC backed company could get an office up and running. Were the other tips helpful?

Re: How to Create a (Great?) Startup Office Space While Being Absurdly Cheap

#38

Post by dcharlton »

BenS wrote: post #19

The best startup office tip I have heard is buying sheets of 'Solid White Tileboard' from home depot. It is a material used in commercial shower installations that works well as a white board. 8x12 sheet is ~14 dollars.

I found out about his after I purchased white boards

Re: How to Create a (Great?) Startup Office Space While Being Absurdly Cheap

#39

Post by dkokelley »

BenS wrote: post #19

The best startup office tip I have heard is buying sheets of 'Solid White Tileboard' from home depot. It is a material used in commercial shower installations that works well as a white board. 8x12 sheet is ~14 dollars.

I did that once and hated the results. I glued it to a wooden backboard and it's very obvious where there is glue. Maybe it's just my poor craftsmanship, but if I were to do it again, I would look for some cheap glass (old shower doors on craigslist) and paint the back of it white.
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