Tenant Representation Companies for Startups: Test Them With One Brief

The cheapest way for a startup to compare tenant representation companies in NYC is to send two or three of them the same short brief and grade what returns. The brief is three numbers: headcount now and a year from now, the date you need to be in, and a monthly budget. The reply shows more than any pitch does: how fast the company moves, whether it names real floors with addresses and asking rents, and whether it read your brief or sent its standard list. A tight budget makes the sharpest test, because the lower end of the market is where shallow knowledge shows first.

Rather have a broker answer it for your team?Tell us team size and timing. A broker reaches out within the hour during business hours.

Run the test on Nomad

Updated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group

The brief: three numbers, sent word for word to each company

Headcount today, and where you expect it to be in 12 months.
The date by which the team has to be working from the new office.
A monthly budget, stated as one figure and not a range.

Send it to two or three companies on the same day, in the same words. Do not give one of them extra context on a call, or you will be grading the conversation and not the company. Tell each that others have the brief as well.

Five things to grade when the shortlists come back

Speed. Note the hour each reply arrived. A day is good. A week means your search would wait in a queue.
Real floors. Every entry should carry a street address, a size and an asking rent. A list of building names with a line about pricing on request is not a shortlist.
Fit. Check each floor against 175 square feet a person at your 12-month headcount, and against the budget. Count the ones that miss.
Kinds of space. See whether a sublease or a prebuilt floor appears beside the direct ones. Their absence suggests the company searched one source.
Spread of owners. If most of the list belongs to a single landlord, ask why before you tour any of it.

Why a tight budget is the hardest brief to answer well

Any company can fill a list near the middle of the market. At the low end fewer floors qualify, they are scattered across neighborhoods, and a sublease or a furnished floor is sometimes the only way to reach the number. A company that does not work that end pads its reply with floors over budget and a note that the number is unrealistic.

The honest reply to a hard brief is often short: these are the floors that fit, and this is what a later date or another neighborhood would add. The floors below are the lowest price band we publish. The live block shows how many there are and what each asks, and it is not a long list.

Nomad's standard on the same test

Send us the three numbers and hold us to this. A broker reaches out within the hour during business hours. A first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours, with the address, the size and the asking rent of every floor on it. Add one question to the email for every company, us included: what would you want signed before a tour? Grade the answer with the rest. Our floors are all in Manhattan. Get a shortlist describes what arrives.

What a shortlist cannot tell you about a company

Two things: how it negotiates and how it handles a buildout. For the first, ask to see a proposal comparison from a past search with the names removed, and check that every offer was priced on effective rent. For the second, ask who manages construction and how many projects they have finished. Nomad has 300+ offices delivered, and the buildout guide explains where schedules slip.

Floors asking under $50 per square foot

Live from our listings · cheapest first

3 of the 46 floors with a published rent ask under $50 per square foot per year, from 2,978 to 8,308 square feet.

Floors: 3
Sizes: 2,978-8,308 sq ft
Asking rent: $43-$44 / sq ft

Every available floor, with asking rents →

The full guide

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

Is it fair to send one brief to several tenant representation companies?

Yes. It is the ordinary way to choose, and good companies expect it. Say so openly, give each the same deadline, and tell the ones you do not pick.

What if a company answers the brief with questions and no floors?

One or two clarifying questions are a good sign, since neighborhoods and must-haves do sharpen a list. A long questionnaire or a request for a call before any address is shared is a gate. Headcount, timing and budget are enough to name real floors.

Should the test brief use our real numbers?

Use the real ones. An invented budget gets you a shortlist you cannot use and a comparison that proves nothing. The point of the test is that its output is the first step of your actual search, with the company that answered it best.

How should we weigh a fast reply against a careful one?

Fit first, speed second. A reply inside a day that ignores your budget is worse than one a day later that respects it. When two replies fit equally well, the faster company is showing you how the next four months would feel.

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
300+ officesdelivered in New York, 2M+ sq ft leased

Or call 646-688-3158