For Lori Fitch, there was never any doubt: “When I was looking for office space for our start-up, it was clear from the outset that we would move into a business centre.” The 28-year-old American founded a company in Hamburg with three friends that develops system solutions for large warehouses. Today, industry giants such as Amazon, DHL, Walmart and Kellogg’s are among their clients.
“Those stories of founders in unheated garages or sheds with rickety little wooden tables – they’re mostly myths that sound nice. The truth is: these days you need premises that are professional, functional and can be terminated at any time – in case things don’t go as hoped and funds run low,” explains Lori Fitch, who now has her company based in a Hamburg business centre, “and business centres offer exactly that. I’m constantly having to present improvements to our software and programmes; our market is extremely fast-paced, and there’s fierce global competition. When I invite people from DHL or Amazon to my office, I want the setting to be just right. Customers should feel at ease, and we have great meeting rooms here that I can hire by the hour. That’s an investment that’s ‘billable against account’ for me – meaning I can clearly define it within the development budget and have a budget set aside for it.”
The flexibility to increase or decrease the office size at any time is also of the utmost importance to Lori Fitch: “When we install our software at a client’s premises, at least one of us is always on site for weeks at a time rather than in our own office. I can then simply save on space by giving notice on the office for the entire period – and therefore not paying for it – whilst my colleague is away. To begin with, the four of us shared one room – now we have two rooms for the four of us. If necessary, three of us can share one office; that works wonderfully.”
Their products are now in such high demand, however, that the qualified programmer is thinking about expanding: “I simply put out feelers in my home country, the USA, and managed to secure a meeting with Walmart, for example. When I was there, I realised that they’re still doing far too much the old-fashioned way. It can be streamlined, saving them a lot of money. We’ve developed a programme for them, and word is getting round about its quality. Things can move very quickly, meaning you need new staff. At the Business Centre, you can quickly accommodate extra staff and rent additional space. That would be unimaginable on the open property market.”
Dr André Helf, CEO of the Collection Group, understands Lori Fitch very well: “We hear these arguments from a great many young start-ups. They are, of course, very welcome customers in our Business Centres.”
###