6 ms·

I'm curious -- why is that? Marketing agencies/consultancies set up on prime real estate in order to impress clients, whereas software companies typically woul

I'm curious -- why is that? Marketing agencies/consultancies set up on prime real estate in order to impress clients, whereas software companies typically wouldn't care so much about location?

1123581321 10y ago
Sorry, I also meant to say that I expect a software product company to have higher revenue per employee. Employees are the main factor in office size, and agency/consulting revenue scales linearly with headcount whereas software product sales aren't constrained as much in that way. Particularly that should be the case with free B2C software.
jpmattia 10y ago
> Marketing agencies/consultancies set up on prime real estate in order to impress clients, which is really bass-ackwards when you think about it. If I have the choice between a badass agency who watches costs or a badass agency that is spending piles of dough on glassy offices, I know where my dollar is going to go further.
- CaptSpify 10y ago
  It sounds backwards, but if you think about it: A marketing firm's job is to "wow" you, not be efficient. Sure, they'll "waste" money on trivial, flashy bullshit, but that's kind of what marketing is
  - jpmattia 10y ago
    > A marketing firm's job is to "wow" you, not be efficient. Glassy offices work in the segment for which that is true. There is another segment, which wants maximum ROI ie customer-wow-per-dollar. And that's the segment hindered by glassy offices or oversized trade booths.
    - CaptSpify 10y ago
      As an engineer, I completely agree with you. I want hard numbers, and logical decisions. But that doesn't sell to most people.
  - jdhawk 10y ago
    It also needs to attract top marketing talent, which also means fancy offices in trendy parts of town.
- MichaelBurge 10y ago
  How many marketing consultants did you hire last year?
1123581321 10y ago
I wouldn't say 6% is prime real estate. Using a simple example: in my area of the US, $300-500/mo gets a freelancer a one-person office. That freelancer must make $60k-$100k/year to get rent under 6% of revenue. In CA, that $300/mo would be quite a bit more. Larger offices might be able to pack in more people per square foot, but even a modest office starts to need more room for common areas (conference rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, etc.) The 'why' is just that the 6% is a market average where some firms are leasing dirt cheap cubicles, others are leasing to impress, and some (like ours) are near the middle.

I'm curious -- why is that? Marketing agencies/consultancies set up on prime real estate in order to impress clients, whereas software companies typically wouldn't care so much about location?

1123581321 10y ago

Sorry, I also meant to say that I expect a software product company to have higher revenue per employee. Employees are the main factor in office size, and agency/consulting revenue scales linearly with headcount whereas software product sales aren't constrained as much in that way. Particularly that should be the case with free B2C software.

jpmattia 10y ago

> Marketing agencies/consultancies set up on prime real estate in order to impress clients, which is really bass-ackwards when you think about it. If I have the choice between a badass agency who watches costs or a badass agency that is spending piles of dough on glassy offices, I know where my dollar is going to go further.

CaptSpify 10y ago
It sounds backwards, but if you think about it: A marketing firm's job is to "wow" you, not be efficient. Sure, they'll "waste" money on trivial, flashy bullshit, but that's kind of what marketing is
- jpmattia 10y ago
  > A marketing firm's job is to "wow" you, not be efficient. Glassy offices work in the segment for which that is true. There is another segment, which wants maximum ROI ie customer-wow-per-dollar. And that's the segment hindered by glassy offices or oversized trade booths.
  - CaptSpify 10y ago
    As an engineer, I completely agree with you. I want hard numbers, and logical decisions. But that doesn't sell to most people.
- jdhawk 10y ago
  It also needs to attract top marketing talent, which also means fancy offices in trendy parts of town.
MichaelBurge 10y ago
How many marketing consultants did you hire last year?

1123581321 10y ago

I wouldn't say 6% is prime real estate. Using a simple example: in my area of the US, $300-500/mo gets a freelancer a one-person office. That freelancer must make $60k-$100k/year to get rent under 6% of revenue. In CA, that $300/mo would be quite a bit more. Larger offices might be able to pack in more people per square foot, but even a modest office starts to need more room for common areas (conference rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, etc.) The 'why' is just that the 6% is a market average where some firms are leasing dirt cheap cubicles, others are leasing to impress, and some (like ours) are near the middle.