When a Startup Should Call a Commercial Real Estate Broker, and What the Broker Does

A startup should call a commercial real estate broker before its first tour, and usually at one of four moments: the team passes about 15 people in coworking, a funding round closes, the hiring plan outruns the current space, or a building's agent asks for the budget. From there the broker turns headcount, timing and budget into a written requirement, surveys the market, runs the tours, compares landlord offers and negotiates the terms, first in a letter of intent and then in the lease. In most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee. Below about 15 people, coworking usually still costs less.

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Send me floors for 15

Updated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group

Four moments when a founder should bring a broker in

The coworking bill passes about 15 desks. Manhattan coworking runs roughly $800 to $1,400 a desk a month, and the bill climbs with every hire. Between 15 and 20 people the specific deals decide; beyond about 20, the private floor is usually the cheaper option.
A round is about to close. That is when the hiring plan starts to need desks, and a search takes about a quarter from first tour to first day. Tour while the round is closing and sign once the money has arrived. From Series A to Series B covers sizing a floor for the headcount that follows.
The hiring plan outruns the room. If the offers going out over the next 12 to 18 months add up to more seats than you have, the search is already late.
A building's agent asks what you can spend. This one applies to everybody. Whatever a listing agent hears about your budget, your deadline or your enthusiasm goes to the owner.

Calling before the first tour is practical, not ceremonial. A broker brought in after you have named a number to the other side has less to work with.

From brief to keys: the broker's work for a startup in one pass

The broker writes the requirement down: people now, people a year and a half out, the move-in date, the monthly budget and the neighborhoods. Then comes a survey of what fits, including subleases and space that has not reached the listing sites, and a shortlist of three to five floors that can be toured in one afternoon.

After the tours the broker arranges a test fit on the finalists, asks each landlord for a proposal and puts every proposal on the same footing, so you compare what each one costs over the term and not what it asks. The best offer becomes a letter of intent, then a lease negotiated alongside your attorney. How to choose a tenant rep broker covers how to pick the person.

What a startup gives up by dealing only with a building's listing agent

A founder can call the number on a listing and lease the space without help. The listing agent on the other end works for the owner, and that costs a startup three things.

You see one owner's buildings, not the market.
The agent holds the building's recent deals and you do not, so you cannot tell a fair offer from an opening position.
Nobody on your side prices the offer over the term or reads the guarantee before you agree to it.

Going direct also saves less than founders expect, since a landlord's pricing usually already allows for a commission.

Where coworking still wins for a team under 15

Under roughly 15 people, a coworking membership is usually the cheaper total, with no lease to carry and desks available in days. A broker who tells a team of nine to stay put for another two quarters is doing the job properly. When to leave coworking lays out the signs that the balance has shifted.

The block on this page is set to a team of about 15, the point where the comparison starts to turn.

Floors that fit a team of 15

Live from our listings · 6 of the 8, smallest first

A team of 15 plans on about 2,625 square feet at 175 a person. 8 floors on our book sit in the range that fits, 2,625 to 4,725 square feet, asking $44 to $115 per square foot per year.

Floors: 8
Sizes: 2,937-4,109 sq ft
Asking rent: $44-$115 / sq ft

Every available floor, filterable by size →

The full guide

This page is the short answer. The long one, with the numbers worked through, is here:

We are ten people. Is it too early to talk to a broker?

It is not too early to ask, and the honest answer may be to wait. A short conversation now tells you the headcount and the date at which a floor of your own starts to cost less, so the search starts on time.

We already toured a building without a broker. Can one still step in?

Usually, yes. Tell the broker which buildings you saw, who showed them, and anything you signed or agreed by email. Those facts settle what can still be negotiated there and how a broker would be paid on that building.

Who pays the broker when a startup signs its first lease?

In most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee, so a first lease usually brings no broker bill for the startup. A sublease is the common exception: there the outgoing tenant usually covers the fee. Ask how it works on your deal before you start.

Does a first office have to mean a long lease?

No. Twelve-month leases on a private floor exist, though two and three years are more usual, and the shorter the term the higher the rent per square foot. Short-term leases for a startup HQ compares the routes.

Talk to a broker

Want this answered for your team?

Tell us three things: team size, timing, budget. A first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours, with the asking rent on every floor that publishes one.

Within the houra broker reaches out during business hours, no automated triage
On your sidewe work for you on your search, and the landlord usually pays our fee
Open pricingasking rent published for 46 of 49 floors, size and address for all
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