The home office

Starting a company means spending only on what you need to advance the cause of the business.

Setting up an office is one of the most costly, and for many early stage start-ups, unnecessary things you can do.

Put that another way, if you have an office at home and a rented office then you are paying for the same thing twice.

Yes, having a team together is important for productivity. However, with current internet/web based tools you can have as much interaction as you like with your co-workers (e.g. working off the same screen, video conferencing, teleconferencing, messaging, email, shared workspaces, etc. ).

If you need to go to the middle of town for meetings a lot then consider paying by the month for a parking spot. That way you can come and go as you see fit without fully paying for an office in town.

An e-commerce site no longer even needs a physical presence. Work from home as long as you can while the logistics of it all work.

There are also many shared/serviced office businesses that provide phone answering, and address for mail, and meeting rooms for people just like you.

There are many solutions – get creative.

I guess in a large part this discussion is aimed at those coming out of larger companies where a lot of the benefits of a good office including parking, IT support, meeting rooms, photocopier/fax,  and other perquisites are part of the job.

When you think about your startup try to separate in your mind what you are used to from what you really need and spend your money where you really need to.