mutually beneficial relationships,” Mandell said. Users are trusted to act “like adults, not attorneys.”
Users in Boulder and Denver appear to be happy.
“No one has cancelled yet because the relationship didn’t work,” Mandell said. He also has seen PivotDesk companies that are hosts in one city use PivotDesk to find space in another.
Mandell said PivotDesk plans on expanding to more cities, and last week the company launched another initiative that will help it plot its next move.
The Spaced Out Cities Initiative is PivotDesk’s attempt to connect with entrepreneurs in emerging communities such as Austin, TX, and Omaha, NE. Entrepreneurs are invited to contact PivotDesk, and communities with the highest level of interest will be candidates for PivotDesk’s next market.
PivotDesk’s early markets were obvious. Boulder is the company’s hometown, and Mandell is plugged in with investors, companies in their growth stage, and startups just getting going. Denver is about 40 minutes away and is increasingly attractive to startups. Mandell has connections to New York City’s growing startup scene through TechStars, and San Francisco was a no-brainer.
But “Where next?” is a trickier question, one that Spaced Out Cities might help answer.
“It’s hard for us to decide where to go next. We don’t want to go into a market that’s not ready for us,” Mandell said. “We’re reaching out to [other communities] to say, ‘Hey guys, do you need us?’”
PivotDesk recently became its own customer. The company had been based in the TechStars office, but it outgrew the space and found a new office in downtown Boulder.
“We had to sign a three-year lease, and we plan to use that space three years from now, but it’s definitely not what we need now,” Mandell said. PivotDesk already has found guests through PivotDesk.
