When your start-up begins to take off, your mind needs to move your venture out of your basement. One of the biggest challenges of building a company literally is finding a suitable workplace. Here are several useful tips to keep in mind when searching for the ideal workplace for your start-up:
Buying Vs. Renting
In Toronto, like in many other parts of the world, there are mainly two options available to you when you look for commercial working spaces: buying or renting. What suits you best mostly depends on your budget and your company’s requirements.
As a start-up, look for a place that is as cheap as possible without seriously compromising the company’s ability to function. This might be difficult in a big city like Toronto. In that case, you can consider looking for a Toronto office for rent to keep costs down.
Renting is great when your company is just growing and you want something small in the short term before the business has enough money to build a place. Buying is great as an initial investment, or if you need a solid physical address to run the business. For example, buying is the best option for physical stores that require a permanent location in Canada. Consider your company’s needs and then decide which is best.
Find a Flexible Workplace
As start-ups ideally grow, you need to find a workplace that can easily adopt to this growth. That’s why flexible or agile workplaces are the preferred option for new companies. A flexible layout can easily accommodate a growing company without posing serious logistical issues for the management. Such spaces are great for improving productivity and efficiency as well.
Facilitate Teamwork and Communication in Design
A flexible layout should also allow for your employees to work together. Start-ups thrive on ground projects and teamwork. Therefore, it’s essential to build a co-working space where employees can easily communicate with each other, brainstorm ideas, and convert those ideas into action. This should be largely done in design with an open layout. Such designs are very popular in Canada in the last couple of years.
Location Accessibility is Important
You may find the perfect place for your company, but it won’t be useful if the new place is situated far away from your customer base or employees. Do give serious thought to the location of the workplace. Mainly, it should be easily accessible to employees. If you want customers to physically visit, then the workplace should be where the customers are. Otherwise, find a good commercially friendly location where business operations are convenient. The Financial District, Liberty Village or Bloordale Village are just a few of the best options in Toronto. Also, the Fashion District offers plenty of local amenities.
Consider Neighbourhood Facilities like Parking
When you are looking for a suitable workplace, it’s easy to focus solely on the interior and forget everything on the outside. When you are office hunting, don’t forget exterior facilities like parking, bike racks, access to public transport, and the like. Being in the vicinity of shops, restaurants, and eateries would also help.
Don’t get a place where employees would have to park three blocks down. If many people are cycling to work, it would be helpful to find a place on a street with bike lanes and racks. Likewise, think about transportation and other facilities that the workplace needs in the immediate vicinity. From this point of view, the Financial District is one of the best choices.
Finding the right workplace for your business can be tougher than expected. Therefore, use the above suggestions to get a good start in your search.
