Part 1 of 2

SAN FRANCISCO-Jenny Haeg is the founder and CEO of Custom Spaces Inc., the leading technology and startup focused commercial real estate firm, with operations in San Francisco and New York. She has worked with clients including Square, Airbnb, Uber, Obvious, Path, Dropbox, and Spotify, among many others. Haeg will join other panelists including Sonia Ransom, partner at Allen Matkins, Nick Slonek, principal and managing director of Avison Young, and Jay Bechtel, real estate project executive at Google, and others at the upcoming RealShare Bay Area half-day conference event on September 11^th at the City Club in San Francisco. GlobeSt.com recently caught up with Haeg to talk about the CRE and tech market here in San Francisco and what her clients are looking for.

GlobeSt.com: You have worked with some notable tech clients. Tell me about a few of the deals, and what stood out about them.

Haeg: A lot of the spaces we found for these companies were “off market” spaces that we knew about through the relationships the company has with landlords, other brokers and other tech companies. Many people don't realize how important it is to work with a broker who has the inside scoop on the spaces that are coming available long before they hit the market or who will think outside of the box for a client and their specific needs. In general, what really stands out to me about the vast majority of our clients is the extent to which we had to find non-traditional ways to go about getting them their perfect space. In addition to the basic requirements (number of employees, square footage, etc.) it is very important for companies to find a space that matches their unique culture and identity. Finding that perfect space very often requires us to get really creative and go the extra mile when identifying, and often creating, potential opportunities. 

GlobeSt.com: What are some of the most important things you think a company who is doubling in size should keep in mind when looking for a new space?

Haeg: These companies have usually built such a unique culture, that we always remind them to keep in mind how important it is to try to maintain that culture when moving to a different space. For example, most of the time the people in the company have been sitting really close together, typically all in one room, which creates a feeling of closeness and connectedness. When moving to a larger space, you want to make sure you don't lose that feeling, especially if you decide to move to a building where the company has to be spread out on multiple floors. There are a lot of things you can do to maintain that feeling of connectedness, such as finding a space where maybe there is an interconnecting staircase between the two floors or maybe you make one of the floors all meeting rooms while keeping all of the employees working together on the other floor. No matter what, maintaing your company culture in your new space is crucial.

GlobeSt.com: Will the trend of more employees in a smaller footprint impact parking needs for these users?

Haeg: Parking is not a huge issue for most of my clients. Everyone is really trying to encourage taking public transportation or biking/walking to the office for environmental purposes, so the issue is actually if there is enough bike parking in the building and are they allowed to bring bikes up to their office vs. how many parking spots can they get. 

The RealShare Bay Area event will be held September 11^th from 7:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the City Club in San Francisco. To register for the event, learn more, or to participate, click here.