Team LiveIntent recently out-grew its old digs and had to move into bigger, better, brand new offices located at 100 Church Street. We are all very excited about the move and the rapid growth that made it necessary, and while there are certain memories we will always cherish in the old space, being in our new home has brought to light a lot of small features that make a big difference in our day-to-day lives.
This is stuff that some folks who haven’t ever worked in a start-up, or haven’t worked for one in one for a very long time, might take for granted, so we decided to make a list of all our favorite “improvements” and share them with the world with the hope is that these entirely truthful accounts might bring both laughter and a new appreciation for “the little things” in your office life:
1. Working Elevators – The sound of the elevator’s emergency bell, signifying a trapped passenger, was all-too-familiar in our old offices. Not only were they slow and perpetually “Out of Order”, but the children’s dance studio that resided a few floors down provided an ever-present danger that any ride might result in your being trapped for an untold amount of time with several strollers, crying children, and angry nannies/parents.
The quick, quiet and uneventful rides in the new offices’ elevators have soothed many nerves and allowed those that have been trapped in the past to finally overcome their PTSD.
2. Natural Light – While our old offices certainly weren’t deep dark dungeons, they weren’t exactly conduits of life-giving sunlight, either. We had a palm tree. It died.
Our new offices have enormous, wall-to-wall windows, filling the office with warm, happy sunshine and providing plenty of vitamin D.
3. Drawers for Everyone – Towards the end of our time in the old space, our numbers had grown to such a point that having a drawer had become a symbol of status within the company. Only employees that were director level and above were able to have some sort of drawer, since their desks were the only ones with the space to incorporate one. The tiny Ikea tables of the rank and file LiveIntenter only had room enough for legs and legs alone beneath them.
In our new offices, everyone has a drawer! Now we can keep all our clutter and crap hidden away, giving the general space a cleaner collective appearance and every employee a little room to spread out.
4. Closets – There was one closet in the old office, and it was filled with every office supply, IT supply, and random whatsit we had. There was barely enough room to open the door, let alone hang a coat in there. During the winter months, the office resembled a giant Good Will donation bin, with random, overflowing piles of jackets, scarves, hats and gloves.
At the new office, we have more closets than we know what to do with: Marketing Closets, IT Closets, Supply Closets, Coat Closets – we even have a closet filled with just meat (we have a lot of people on the Paleo Diet).
5. Modern Bathrooms – In our old office, the bathrooms left a lot to be desired. There was no heat, meaning that on the coldest New York day, the few stalls that they could fit into those tiny rooms had all the comforts of an arctic outhouse, and the doors were, literally, wooden saloon doors – which gave entrances and exits very dramatic “John Wayne” feel, but also caused many awkward traffic jams.
Our new office bathrooms are… well, just normal bathrooms… and we couldn’t be happier.
But perhaps the single best part of being in our new office is now the entire team is back together on the same floor. The space situation at the old office had gotten to a point that teams were dispersed throughout the building, and even the neighborhood. Now, we are a singular unit again, happy and excited for a future in which we’ll look back and remember how crazy things were right before we outgrew 100 Church.
But before that happens, come visit. We can give you a real tour and show you one of those “conference rooms” that are all the rage.
