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December 11, 2008

How I Found the Right Office Space

Posted by Howard Greenstein at 4:57 PM

I typically write here about tools to help entrepreneurs better promote, market, communicate and sell in their businesses. But as the economic slowdown creeps up on many businesses, it is worth exploring a web tool that lets entrepreneurs find flexible office space inexpensively.

In keeping with the theme of my posts, the site also uses social tools to promote and improve the product. AlwaysWater, a web solutions agency in Hoboken, NJ, had such a need to find space, and out of their need grew a service they're offering to help others do the same.

Their new site, SuiteMatch.com is currently operating in NY, Chicago and San Francisco. It lets companies quickly and easily offer extra space for sublet. A clean interface lets those with space pick a neighborhood and address, describe their space and amenities, and upload photos. Posting is currently free, but SuiteMatch will charge a small fee in the near future.

Soloists, remote workers, or small groups can search for offerings based on number of desks, costs, square feet, and a list of amenities. They can peruse the pictures and descriptions of the space, and a map on the page clearly displays the location of the building, as well as coffee, food, bars and gyms in the neighborhood.

At the time of writing, a space for two in San Francisco's Union Square was going for $500 a month; a furnished space for two near NYC's Bryant Park was listed for $1650; and a small share for one in Chicago's Wicker Park would cost you $366.

If a space seems appealing, the potential renter can connect with an offering firm via SuiteMatch's site. If a customer finds a posting misleading, they can flag the listing and SuiteMatch will investigate, but they don't do proactive discussion with offering firms regarding the legality of the sublets.

John Vitelli and Barry Mazza , the partners in AlwaysWater, said they tried to find space on Craig's list initially. "Everything is on Craig's List," said Vitelli, but that's also a problem because "everything is on the list. It is too dense. SuiteMatch is for a small niche of people, and it just does one thing very well."

When asked about expansion plans, Mazza said that instead of using their own knowledge to plan the next city to expand into, they're asking their audience for feedback online. SuiteMatch is on Twitterand Facebook. Both accounts are reasonably new, but the Twitter account promotes new spaces as they become available – a good way to 'watch' for space without visiting the site.

Additionally, they're offering their customers a way to engage in conversation and offer feedback about their service. After considering building their own solution, they decided that GetSatisfaction was a quick way to add this functionally to their business. Site visitors can click on a "feedback" tab and add comments, or add to the discussion about which cities they'd like to see next.

"SuiteMatch is for simple connections between people who need space and people who have it," said Vitelli.

83 Comments

Posted by: Greg at December 12, 2008 9:20 AM

That is awesome! I wish they would open the Salt Lake City, UT region soon.

Posted by: Victor at December 12, 2008 9:47 AM

I've been to their site and the layout and format is 100x better than anything I have ever seen or used for a service like this.

Posted by: Barry Mazza at December 12, 2008 11:12 AM

Thanks for post Howard!

@Greg - We will add Salt Lake City to our list of possible cities to expand to. If you sign up for our newsletter on SuiteMatch, we will notify you when new cities come online.

@Victor - Thank you for the kind words.

Posted by: Gary at December 12, 2008 1:38 PM

Ditto for Durham/Raleigh/Chapel Hill area in North Carolina!

Posted by: Howard Greenstein at December 12, 2008 4:08 PM

Great to see people jumping into the comments and asking for the service to come to their town.

Posted by: dan at December 13, 2008 2:31 PM

I can't believe this isn't available in Los Angeles.

Posted by: Richard Hooker at December 14, 2008 11:00 AM

After reading your post, I was impressed enough to add Suite Match to my blog's tip sheet. But then I went to the site. As the saying goes, "you only get one chance to make a good impression." What I found were two entries for San Francisco and only two for Chicago (both from the same person). New York has a bit more (about 45). And if you're thinking of subletting space, the post doesn't give us any idea of the traffic to the site. Don't get me wrong. It's a great idea (but so was MPMan); however, the site currently has very, very little use for entrepreneurs outside of New York until there's a substantial user base. The blog post here should point out that there isn't much there yet, and that entrepreneurs outside of New York still need to use the standard ways of finding or sub-leasing office space, including Craig's List. Right now, it's probably not ready for prime time, but it's worth a look-see if you're in the market for sublets in New York City. I'll be watching, though, to see if it can make the transition from a smart idea into a genuinely useful site.

Posted by: Frederic Abramson at December 15, 2008 11:27 AM

I agree with Richard Hookers post in that the descriptions regarding the office space are rather sparse. Little information is provided regarding what businesses are subleasing the spaces. Listings should also should provide information re: possibilities of cross referrals.

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