Just a search, engines do not solve....Rofo has more
Jason Kincaid said in his Techcrunch post -'One of the most irritating obstacles encountered by growing startups is the hunt for affordable office space. Startups with a dozen employees generally aren’t interested in leasing vast tracts of space, which makes them unattractive clients for business Realtors, so they’re typically left to fend for themselves.'
You may believe this is true in our little corner of the commercial world if;
a) you just call the listing brokers with space that doesn't fit or you just call the tenant brokers that are fat and happy only working bigger deals
b)or, your company is not ready to be decisive or you are calling everyone in town to have many do the work of one
c)or, you and a broker have yet to connect on a meaningful level that might create an awareness for you that its more about negotiating and understanding the process than just about finding available space.
A tenant representative commercial broker that understands that Medtronic, Caribou and Best Buy too were start-ups once upon a time should see value in a young company. They should be willing to a least discuss their needs and maybe offer up a little advice.
Rofo maybe a beginning step toward introducing the connection or at least getting some of this value out to the young companies.
Rofo (which stands for “Right of First Offer“)has intuitive search and selection steps paired with reviews, Google Map and Virtual Earth features.
Rofo's real potential, in Adam's mind, is with the advice section. Being ex-brokers at the helm, the content is great advice for people new to the process and with an added feature of posting questions, the advice can only get more specific. Still as it sits today, people don't know what they don't know and rofo advice starts to introduce these topics in a intuitive, easy to use format. Now, we just need the Minneapolis Warehouse District listings and the rest of the commercial space in Minneapolis/St. Paul be listed on their site. When Adam traded email with their founder, it sounded like it may happen in '09.
Until then, call a tenant rep broker. They will save you time and money!
posted by adam commercial @ 2:08 PM
2 Comments:
What a GREAT article! It's so true that too often start-up companies are pushed aside without getting the deserved attention they need in order to elevate their business to the next level. I help identify office space within a global network of office space that is 100% ready and turnkey so that the growing start-up companies can focus their energies on just that...growing. I myself work with tenant reps because they often will bring new clients to me because I'm a viable option for many reasons. Working with tenant reps is the best way to really get the best value for your time spent searching for space. My experience has been that tenant reps are truly dedicated to customer service and have the customer's best interest in mind. Unless the person in command of securing office space has nothing else to do with his or her time, then working with a tenant rep is the answer EVERYTIME. They can ask the questions that need to be asked and ensure that the client's needs are truly understood and solved.
Agreed! Great article, it seems that our idea of business has grown too fast, too large, too big box, too greddy. With the shrinking of the economy, light is finally starting to shed on the smaller guy and more niche problems and solutions.
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