There comes a point during a team’s growth when it’s time to upgrade the office to better support their everyday operations.
Remind is a communication platform that helps educators reach students and parents where they are. Based in San Francisco since 2011, the company expanded its Customer Success operations last year by hiring a new team in Las Vegas. With business growing rapidly, however, the coworking space where the team was based was becoming increasingly cramped and noisy. It was time for them to have their own space.
When BeyondHQ met the Vegas team, Remind was in the final stages of securing an office space after another lease had fallen through. They needed to relocate the team as quickly as possible, but their San Francisco-based office manager didn’t have the bandwidth to manage the move — and the team didn’t have an on-site support staff in Vegas to handle the administrative, IT, and other logistical needs of their time frame. That’s when Remind decided to hire BeyondHQ to drive the expansion for the Las Vegas office.
Throughout the project, Devorah Rosner from BeyondHQ played the role of project manager. She designed the new office layout, sourced furniture, solicited vendor quotes, interfaced with property management, tracked deliveries, carried out vendor sequencing and follow through, tracked all invoices and payments, and played boots on the ground leading up to office launch, among other things. She has nearly two decades of experience helping companies like New Relic (NYSE: NEWR), Guidespark and Rally Health (NYSE: UNH) expand their office operations. The team at Remind was able to continue focusing on their normal responsibilities because BeyondHQ drove the project.
“I didn’t have to get involved! After I introduced Devorah to our VP of Customer Success, I only had to review plans and updates, and approve the budget.” Kate Kastenbaum, VP of People Operations at Remind
From decision to launch
No office launch goes without challenges. BeyondHQ was there to manage the process and make sure any potential issues were surfaced before they became a problem.
LEASE
The project started with a lease review to ensure Remind was getting the best lease terms to meet their business needs. The Vegas team was growing, so it was essential that they wouldn’t outgrow the almost 1800 sqft space shortly after moving in. This is an easy mistake that can force companies to frequently move offices. It’s costly and distracting to employees, which can eat into a company’s productivity and culture.
DESIGN
Because time and budget were of the essence, BeyondHQ designed the new office using the existing layout so that no demo or additional build was needed. This also helped limit the number of vendors that would need to be managed during the process. More vendors often means more decisions, more budget, more communication and a longer timeline. BeyondHQ then developed scopes of work to bid out to local partners for electrical and low voltage, signage, doors, locksmith, appliances, etc.
“BeyondHQ grand-slammed the project from beginning to end, and I had peace of mind knowing that they were handling expansion. Between building out detailed Excel models, wrangling vendors and getting quotes, they did everything.” Jess Killy, former office manager at Remind
CHALLENGES
The most pressing concerns after project kick-off were lead times for both ISP (internet) install, and furniture. Depending on the market and commercial furniture selected, these items can each take months to complete, so it was essential to get them moving from the start.
First, BeyondHQ worked with Remind’s fully outsourced IT partner to quickly design and install the network and video conferencing system. A conversation with the VP of Customer Success and VP of Finance was needed to determine which features were necessary versus nice-to-have, a balance between function and budget.
BeyondHQ also worked with the furniture vendor to source and purchase all furniture, equipment and appliances. The vendor was able to receive, assemble and install both the commercial and non-commercial ancillary product, which took a large burden off of the customer. Furniture can take up a large portion of costs, but the partnership enabled Remind to keep budget down.
Before the launch of the new office, Remind’s office manager, who had been one of the primary liaisons for the expansion, transitioned out of their role. BeyondHQ continued to drive the project forward to make sure it was completed on time.
RESULT
Throughout the project, BeyondHQ provided weekly written updates to the leadership team with the status of various parts of the project, including design reviews, time-to-deliver dependencies and budget tracking. In addition, weekly meetings were held to review the budget and to raise any potential issues before they became a problem.
“Devorah jumped in and made easy work of the project. She understood the various stakeholder needs, made recommendations based on her years of expertise, connected with the right vendors, and ensured a smooth transition into our new space. The time BeyondHQ devoted to our project ensured our internal team could remain focused on our other important projects — which is exactly what we needed to accomplish all of our goals!” Kate Kastenbaum, VP of People Operations at Remind
In 6½ weeks, BeyondHQ moved Remind’s 8-person Vegas team into a new office with double the capacity, setting them up for growth. It saved the team at least 100 hours and took a significant burden off of company execs. The space is functional, personalized, and cost-effective.
Remind’s Customer Success team now has an office space that supports what they need to help the company reach success.
