Personal Space Looks like an office, smells like an office . . . well, even if it doesn't, it's an office.
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Gone are the days of oceans of gray pinstripes and coffee breaksat precisely 10 a.m. Today's office cultures are as distinctas, well, you are. Offices reflect not only entrepreneurs'personalities but those of your employees as well. Here's apeek inside the headquarters of three very different companies:
Pretty Fly
Headquartered in San Francisco, flyswat Inc., a company thatcreates tools and services for Internet browsing, epitomizes youngNet culture at its finest. Twentysomething founders John Rodkin,Raymond Krouse and Leo Chang, have dumped 3,000 pounds of sand intheir office to create an indoor beach complete with banana plantsand tiki torches-a good complement to walls emblazoned with greengrass and blue skies, and a central boardroom turned game room. Whythe outdoor motif? When you and your 60-plus employees often work70-plus-hour weeks, the office better be fun and convenient. Andconvenient it is--flyswat buys dinner four nights a week, has afully stocked kitchen, futons for sleepovers, laundry facilitiesand a shower.
A Place Like Home
When you enter the 1912 converted farmhouse of Mission CriticalSystems Inc., a systems and network security firm in FortLauderdale, Florida, you may be greeted with wagging tails andloving licks. No, owners Susan Crabtree and Frank Darden aren'tthat desperate for business; they have a pet-friendly policy.Alongside Crabtree's two shelties, you'll find 10 casuallydressed employees with professional clothes (khakis and poloshirts) at the ready for client calls. The crew relaxes duringFriday happy hours and office barbecues.
Like Kids, Like Parent Company
Though Hot Topic Inc. has moved a bit out of the realm of smallbusiness, founder Orval Madden still runs this publicly tradedcompany with his original theme intact: music. Sellingmusic-licensed and music-influenced apparel and accessories toteenagers in 212 malls across America, the 100 employees in HotTopic's City of Industry, California, headquarters look a lotlike the kids they market to. Dyed hair and piercings abound in theopen office environment where employees sit three feet away awayfrom the CEO and watch MTV on monitors hanging overhead to keep upwith the latest alternative music trends. And Hot Topic offers thebest perk we've heard of lately: Any employee who returns froma concert with a fashion report gets their ticket pricereimbursed.
Book 'Em
Herb Kay isn't one to mince words. If you want to livecomfortably after 40 years of safe investments, that's fine.But if you want to be filthy, stinking rich before you're gray,then check out Kay's aptly titled How to Get Filthy,Stinking Rich and Still Have Time for Great Sex (Bard Press,$19.95). Kay delivers a lightning quick course in Entrepreneurship101, punctuated with his natural motivational speaking tone, onbasics like funding, business plans and LLC vs. corporation status.But what sets this work apart is the sex stuff. Don't get toohot under the collar--Kay uses sex as a metaphor for everything youenjoy doing outside the office and how being stinking rich can helpyou create a balance between your personal and work lives.
Contact Sources
flyswat Inc., www.flyswat.com
Hot Topic Inc., (626) 839-4681, www.hottopic.com
Mission Critical Systems Inc., (877) 744-3444
