A TechSpace lease, called an agreement at the 4-year-old firm, starts at three months and runs for a year at most, according to chief marketing officer Rob McQueen. Tenants, referred to as members, choose office space based on the number of workstations they require, and make selections from a menu of fee-based services.
"We lease the building the then we sublet flexible space to the members," McQueen tells GlobeSt.com. "As members, they not only have space and services here, they have the same for all our other locations."
New York companies that signed with TechSpace in July include Wireless Information, MAAM Publishing, Matchboxes.com, Dekoy Design, the Brainslushy Group, Empact Solutions and Kendall Tarrant.
Aside from boilerplate amenities such as shared reception, mailroom and business center, TechSpace provides fee-based recruiting, insurance and payroll services. The firm claims companies can move into TechSpace and be fully operational in less than a day.
"Offices start at $1,250 per month for two to three people," McQueen says. "That includes eight hours of conference-room time; over that you pay as you use." A two-line Nortel phone system costs $50 per month. T1 hookups also are available on a monthly basis for $150. The average company at TechSpace has five employees and stays 11 months.
In addition to providing plug-and-play offices for its members, TechSpace offers build-out services for member-companies that grow out of the shared-office concept.
According to McQueen, TechSpace Solutions, the firm's construction arm, currently is drawing up a contract with Ugo Networks to build the electronic entertainment company's New York headquarters at 395 Hudson St. And Boston-based TechSpace member Otec, the technology recruiter that provides staffing services for TechSpace, hired the Solutions group to do the build out on 4,000 sf of office space in that city. "We're doing everything from design to construction for Otec," McQueen says.
McQueen attributes the firm's continued success to founder and CEO Debra Larsen's determination to stick with her original short-term subleasing concept, unlike the daredevils behind many tech "incubators." The temptation to latch onto their tenants' early successes left many such budding entrepreneurs papering their walls with worthless stock-option agreements. TechSpace, however, has signed 113 new member companies this year.
"The reason we're still around is that we always charged cash," McQueen tells GlobeSt.com. "We weren't interested in any stock options. You come in, we'll work with you. You only have to put up two or three months security and you don't have to give us any of your company. Now that the market is down, we're still 100% occupied in New York.
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