Expansive Office Space for Scaling Startups: A Floor Big Enough for Next Year

Taking more than you need now, on purpose

At 175 square feet per person, 75 people need about 13,125 square feet and 90 need 15,750. A startup at 62 heading for 90 that leases for 62 is likely to be searching again mid-term, with a lease to dispose of.

Leasing for the larger number means carrying space early. A year of surplus usually costs less than a move inside the term, provided the hiring number is the one the board approved and not the stretch case.

What to do with the surplus: sublet it or hold it

Surplus works best as a discrete area with a clear boundary, since scattered empty desks cannot be sublet. A subtenant turns part of a fixed cost into a recoverable one and hands the space back when you need it.

The lease decides whether that is possible. Three terms matter: consent that cannot be unreasonably withheld, the landlord's share of any sublet profit, and recapture, the landlord's right to take space back instead of consenting. Check that offering part of the floor cannot trigger recapture of all of it. The assignment and sublet clause explains each, and your attorney should confirm the wording.

A sublet reduces the cost and does not remove it. You stay liable to the landlord, and if the market has softened the shortfall is yours.

Contiguous space, and rights on the floors next door

The alternative to carrying surplus is holding an option on it. A right of first offer obliges the landlord to bring named space to you before marketing it. An expansion option lets you add named space at set times on set terms. Both are easier to win in a larger building, which has to be able to hold the space for you.

Contiguous matters. Growth onto the adjacent floor keeps one address, while a second location splits the team. Ask for these rights at the letter of intent, while the landlord still wants the deal.

Keeping the cost under control at 60 to 90 people

• Report the total obligation, term times annual cost, alongside the monthly figure. It is the number a board asks for.
• Match the term to how far you can forecast. A lease longer than the runway plus one raise outlives the money meant to pay for it.
• Price the sublet scenario before signing.
• Size the improvement allowance to the space you may eventually occupy, surplus included.

Planning an office between funding rounds works a full example. Beyond the search, Nomad's construction management team can run the buildout and its facilities management team can operate the floor afterward, which at this size is a job in its own right.