Property Leasing Advisory for Startups: Should an Early-Stage Team Lease Yet?
Property leasing advisory for startups begins with a question many brokers skip: should you lease at all yet. For a team smaller than about 15, a coworking membership is usually the cheaper option overall, and our advice may be to wait. Past about 20 people, a private floor usually costs less per head. In between, the specific deals decide. When the answer is yes, the usual first step is a furnished private floor on a flexible term, usually occupied two to four weeks after signing. In most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee.
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.
Should we lease yet?Updated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group
The honest threshold for an early-stage team
The comparison is arithmetic, and it has three zones.
- Under about 15 people: coworking, at roughly $800 to $1,400 a desk a month with everything bundled, usually costs less in total and can be left on short notice. Our advice here is often not yet.
- About 15 to 20 people: no rule holds. The quote for your desks and the cost of a specific floor have to be put side by side.
- Above about 20 people: a private floor usually costs less per person, because a lease is priced on area and a membership on heads.
We run it with your numbers: 175 square feet per person at the floor's rate, plus electricity at roughly $2 to $4 per square foot per year, against your all-in desk price. Flexible lease or coworking shows the working at several team sizes.
When our advice is to wait, and what changes it
A team of eight with a membership that works has no need of a lease, and we will say so. Four things move the answer before headcount does:
- Work that needs a door you control: customer data, hardware, or clients who visit.
- A hiring plan that passes 15 people within the year.
- A membership bill that climbs with every hire.
- A date, such as a funding announcement, by which the company wants its own address.
If none applies, the useful work is preparation. Note when the membership can be ended and how much notice it needs, and write down the headcount you expect in 12 months. On a floor that is already furnished, count on six to eight weeks between the first tour and working at the desks, and treat that as the shortest notice a move can take.
The step between a membership and a long lease
The middle step is a furnished private floor on a flexible term. The floor and the front door are yours alone, the furniture and wiring are in place, and the term is typically 12, 24 or 36 months. A shorter term carries a higher rent per square foot.
Flex by Nomad is our version, with cleaning, pantry restocking and on-call support included. The floors below are the furnished and pre-built floors we list, with their sizes and asking rents.
Lease terms an early-stage company should watch
- The guarantee. A young company is usually asked for a personal guarantee, and in New York the common form is the good guy guarantee. Read the notice period and the conditions for release.
- The security deposit or letter of credit: how many months, and whether it steps down after a record of on-time rent.
- The sublet and assignment clause, which is the way out if the plan changes.
- The term, and any right to renew or expand.
Your attorney should confirm what each clause means in your lease. We carry the business terms and negotiate them before the lease is drafted.
How an early-stage team starts with us
Send three details: headcount, timing and a monthly budget. A broker reaches out within the hour during business hours, and when a lease makes sense a first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours. If the numbers favor another year of coworking, that is the answer you will get.
Furnished and prebuilt floors available now
Live from our listings · 6 of the 24, cheapest first24 floors we list are furnished or prebuilt, so a team can move in without running its own buildout. They run from 2,500 to 19,097 square feet, asking $44 to $135 per square foot per year.
- Floors
- 24
- Sizes
- 2,500-19,097 sq ft
- Asking rent
- $44-$135 / sq ft
- 115 West 30th Street, Partial 4th Floor 3,500 sq ft $55/sq ft Chelsea furnished
- 1235 Broadway, Entire 4th Floor 9,500 sq ft $62/sq ft NoMad furnished
- 17 State Street, Partial 26th Floor 6,606 sq ft $79/sq ft FiDi prebuilt
- 110 Greene Street, Partial 5th Floor 3,750 sq ft $95/sq ft SoHo furnished
- 104-110 Greene Street, Partial 11th Floor 5,375 sq ft $110/sq ft SoHo furnished, move-in ready
- 503-511 Broadway, Penthouse 5,552 sq ft $125/sq ft SoHo furnished
The full guide
This page is the short answer. The long one, with the numbers worked through, is here:
Related topics
- A Real Estate Brokerage Firm Whose Record a Startup Can Check First
- What Real Estate Brokerage Firms Do Beyond Finding the Space
- Real Estate Brokerage Firms After the Lease Is Signed: Dates, Documents, Upkeep
- Real Estate Brokerage Services for a Business That Has Outgrown Its Office
Is a six-person startup too small for leasing advice?
No. At six people the advice is usually to stay in coworking and plan the move for later. Knowing the headcount at which a private floor starts to pay lets you time that move.
Do we pay anything for advice that ends in a decision to wait?
Brokers earn their commission once a lease is signed, and in most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee. Advice that ends in waiting produces no lease, so put this exact question to any broker, us included, before the first working session. If you want continuing advice with no lease in view, raise it at the start, so both sides know the terms before the work begins.
Can an early-stage startup lease a private floor for one year?
Yes. Twelve-month leases on private floors exist, though 24 and 36 months are the more common terms. Expect a higher rent per square foot on the shorter term, and expect the floor to be furnished or pre-built and not designed for you.
How fast can a small team move from coworking to its own floor?
Two to four weeks from signing is usual when the floor is already furnished or pre-built. A floor that needs a custom buildout typically takes 10 to 16 weeks, which is one reason early-stage teams start with a furnished one.
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
