New CEO talks about growing coworking firm
Anish P. Michael, longtime outside corporate counsel for Austin-based coworking provider Firmspace, was tapped recently as CEO, charged with spearheading the next phase of the company’s growth. With the appointment, Firmspace founder Matt Ferstler steps into the role of chief operating officer.
Since launching three years ago in downtown Austin, the company, which targets established professionals such as lawyers, financial services companies and remote corporate executives rather than startups, has taken its business model to Denver and Houston, where it set up at the BBVA building on Post Oak Boulevard in Uptown.
Michael recently spoke with the Houston Chronicle about his plans to expand the brand amid a challenging time for coworking businesses.
Q: Why is Matt Ferstler handing over the reins now?
A: Matt and the team have done a tremendous job in making the concept work in the three locations we have online. Matt enjoys the operational side of things, the building out of the space. We’re a luxury coworking company, and we take a lot of pride and effort in the building out of the quality space for our members. My role is to try to grow off of what’s been
accomplished and try to scale up the company.
Q: What’s your first order of business?
A: We’re very calculated in the markets that we go into. We certainly have our short list of cities that we want to enter. We have a goal of reaching 10 additional markets by the end of 2021. We will be entering the Chicago market and the Atlanta market, and we have a couple of other deals in the works right now.
Q: Do you think you’ll open multiple locations in the same market?
A. That’s really not our focus at this time. We certainly are not shying away, understanding that there could be cities where we have a need.
Q: Is Houston one of them? A: With the growth we’re seeing in the Galleria, I could definitely see us coming back to Houston and possibly reaching another area of the city.
Q: How do you select the markets to expand to?
A: That takes a lot of effort in terms of understanding the demographics we’re looking for and who we are catering to. We focus on live/work/play environments. Typically, we have found that to be in CBD areas or large business districts that are outside of downtown such as the Houston market. We’ll continue to use that model to find our upcoming locations.
Q: How much does it cost to open a new location?
A: Our cost to build out the Houston space was approximately $5.5 million.
Q: How is your model different from other companies such as WeWork?
A: We have experienced business professionals that we cater to. We have created an environment that allows for privacy and security. Those are the members that we attract in our space. We certainly have the capabilities to allow and foster a lot of interaction with our members, when it’s needed, but our focus is really private shared office space. That’s something I think is unique in terms of what we offer to our membership.
Q. What’s the pricing like? A: It really varies by city and location, but for Houston, I think the starting rate for an office space is $750 (a month).
Q: Do you ever plan to go public?
A: That’s not something that’s a focus of ours right now. I think we certainly have the capital to grow and expand. Our focus is to expand nationally and just position ourselves as being the top luxury coworking brand in the country.