For This Startup, Office Location Is All About Happiness and Creativity The founders of Leesa Sleep shunned the typical urban atmosphere for an office oasis on the beach.

Standing inside the headquarters of mattress company Leesa Sleep, you might think you're in a spacious urban loft, with the hustle and bustle of the outside world just beyond the walls. Turns out the opposite is true; it's designed to harness happiness and creativity far from any big city.

Leesa Sleep was started by David Wolfe and Jamie Diamonstein in 2014. By 2016, the pair worked with an agent to find its current office space, a 16,000-square-foot, mid-century office building not far from the ocean in Virginia Beach, Va.

If you've never heard of Leesa Sleep, it's a fast-growing online company that sells mattresses to customers in the U.S. and U.K. Leesa also has a charitable arm, donating one mattress for every 10 it sells.

So why would a hot startup want to be anywhere other than a city where other companies are already thriving? "Virginia Beach may not be an obvious place for a startup, but there is an active community of creatives, technologists, marketers, entrepreneurs and angel investors which all are fueling this growing business," co-founder Wolfe explains. Both he and Diamonstein also live in Virginia Beach, as do many of their 70 employees.

Talking with Realtor®, a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of Realtors®, can be a critical first step in finding the office space of your dreams. A Realtor® has first-hand knowledge of the area in which you're looking and will match your needs with the right property and location.

"Our location affords us all a wonderful lifestyle without the stress of commuting or city life," Wolfe says. In other words, leasing commercial office space across from the beach allows for a "relaxed vibe within a dynamic culture of innovation," he says.

Creativity and collaboration by design.

Finding the perfect office was the first step to Leesa's success. Next came the design. Perhaps the first thing you notice is the Leesa Dream Gallery on the ground level, allowing customers to walk in off the boardwalk for "an immersive brand experience" trying out their mattresses.

When it came to designing the office space, Wolfe and Diamonstein wanted every detail to help make a fun, efficient and vibrant place for their team to be creative and do their best work.

"Individual work spaces, which are bright and roomy, are grouped together to allow interaction with team members," Wolfe explains. "There are collaborative spaces that include eating areas, soft seating areas, conference rooms, fun areas and even a fully-equipped gym."

And the build-out continues today. The Leesa team continues to grow their space, constructing a research and development lab, a photo studio and additional conference areas.

It might not be New York City or Silicon Valley, but Wolfe says Leesa Sleep has no plans to leave Virginia Beach and their customized office space any time soon. "It's the perfect place to build a company that measures success as much by its impact on the world as by its financial performance," he says.

A Realtor®—a member of the National Association of Realtors®—can help you find the right place to grow your business.