How Company Culture Drives Real Estate Decisions at Sensei Labs

Jan 4, 2022

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Insight into a deal to rightsize an office for hybrid working -

Jay Goldman, Co-Founder & Chief Sensei at Sensei Labs and Mark Goh, Founder & CEO of Clearspace join Bold Founder Caleb Parker for the fifth episode of Season 6 to discuss how company culture drives real estate decisions at Sensei Labs.

They discuss both sides of a real estate deal with Clearspace as the flex partner and Sensei Labs as the office customer. Jay explains how Sensei Labs came to the decision to slash their space requirements by nearly half and move into a new 7,000 square foot office space in Toronto. He goes on to share how the company worked with Mark and the Clearspace team to rightsize for hybrid working.

Jay is a New York Times Bestselling Author and shares his insights on how to nurture a strong company culture with teams who aren't in the office every day. Mark shares insights on how Clearspace pivoted to meet the needs in the market before the pandemic hit.

Connect with Jay Goldman on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaygoldman/

Connect with Mark Goh on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gohmark/

Connect with Caleb Parker on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebparker/

If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, email podcast@workbold.co

Value Bombs:

If you have a fixed idea of company culture, you can't maintain it because that world doesn't exist anymore. - Jay Goldman
On any given day we will have two or three teams in the office on a rotating schedule that we put out least a month in advance to give people an opportunity to plan childcare and all of those other pieces. - Jay Goldman

People have been taking a very static approach to workspace...trying to jam the old paradigm into the new world and it doesn't work like that. - Mark Goh
Building your space in the past was complex and cost prohibitive, which is why many companies turn to a flex face or coworking product. We offer this in-between option. - Mark Goh
We use data and a level of precision that's not widely available in designing construction, and it's really taken the same methodology that Jay would use running Sensei. That type of startup data-driven approach, just isn't applied to our industry. - Mark Goh
Reversible decisions should be made quickly. Irreversible decisions we need to really think through and be intentional about. - Jay Goldman
The last thing I want to do is get stuck in a lease that's no longer serving the needs that we have. - Jay Goldman

Resources:

Shout Outs:

Dave Cairns
Guy Raz

About Our Guests:

Jay Goldman

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaygoldman/

Jay is Co-Founder and Chief Sensei at Sensei Labs. His company supports Fortune 500 companies around the world with their collaborative work management platform, which is used to run business critical projects, including transformations, M&A, product launches and procurement operations.

Jay co-authored the New York Times bestseller The Decoded Company and has written for publications like the Harvard Business Review. He speaks often with teams and companies across the globe about the future of work, including companies like TEDx, NASA, Harvard Business School, Google and Twitter.

Mark Goh

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gohmark/

Mark is a seasoned entrepreneur and has both raised venture capital and bootstrapped companies prior to launching his own start-ups. Mark worked for several years in private equity. Mark launched Clearspace to create awesome offices for growing companies.

He's created a way to simplify the office interior construction process for landlords and tenants as a one-stop shop from design to move in. Through their technology driven approach they're able to deliver cost-effective beautiful office experience without compromising on speed and quality.

These are typically smaller footprints for fast-growing companies. They're private and custom branded for the customer, and high in demand.

About Our Host:

Caleb Parker

https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebparker/

Caleb Parker is an American entrepreneur in London, and Founder of Bold (acquired by Newable/NewFlex in 2019).

He believes in "challenging the status quo" and is a champion for entrepreneurial and innovative thinking.

Caleb has served as founder, Board member, advisor, investor and consultant to numerous startups and small businesses, and has a keen focus on innovation and technology, with interests in the MICE market, Space-as-a-Service, and the future of work.

Caleb has been a guest lecturer, speaker, and moderator for topics such as entrepreneurship, the sharing economy, the future of work and commercial real estate at academic institutions and large corporations. He regularly takes the stage at numerous trade conferences as keynote speaker, MC, host or facilitator.

Earlier in his career, Caleb was named one of Savannah, Georgia's “40 under 40” business leaders" in 2006 after launching two successful small businesses in the city's booming hospitality industry. A year later he moved to Washington, DC to join the The Regus Group DC management team. In 2009, Caleb co-founded a flexible workspace consulting firm where he brokered flexible workspace and advised businesses on agile working strategies.

Caleb is one of the first licensed commercial real estate agents to speak on the flexible working trends and the rise of flexible workspace, and has been quoted in numerous publications.

Timestamps

[02:51] Interview starts

[04:59] Jay Goldman explains why they moved into a Clearspace office and why they took a smaller office space than originally planned due to changes to working since COVID, and what technology they use for remote working.

[10:18] Jay Goldman explains how Sensei Labs approach company culture as a fluid and ever changing concept.

[13:05] Mark Goh talks about how they created the office space for Sensei Labs in Clearspace Toronto. Jay and Mark discuss their teams working patterns and the reason for having an office space.

[18:28] Mark Goh talks about how Clearspace supports landlords through white label solutions as an in between flex space and individual built. Mark talks about why they pivoted their business model away from a leased arbitrage business to the new model.

[25:23] Mark Goh talks about the technology behind Clearspace.

[27:23] Jay Goldman talks about what Sensei wants from commercial real estate moving forward.

[31:01] Caleb asks quickfire round questions

Sponsors

Headline Sponsor: TSK

TSK creates inspiring workplaces for some of the world’s biggest brands across the UK and Ireland, They’ve been working for 25 years to deliver the best employee experiences and the vision of their clients. Not only do they create great places to work, TSK share workplace content every week from the latest data to inspiring spaces they’ve designed and built. You can read their latest insights at www.tskgroup.co.uk or check out their LinkedIn and Instagram pages to become a follower, fan and friend.

Fortune Favours the Bold

Bold merges property management & Space-as-a-Service to drive asset value and help office customers grow faster. Now part of NewFlex (www.workbold.co)

Future Proof Your Portfolio with NewFlex

NewFlex delivers and manages a range of branded solutions for every type of building, in every type of location, for every type of occupier. Including the flexibility to develop your own brand. All enabled by flexible management contracts where we are invested in making money for you. (www.newflex.com)

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