BOULDER – PivotDesk Inc., provider of an online marketplace for office sharing, on Wednesday announced the launch of Cultivate, a new tool that the company hopes will create a mutually beneficial relationship with commercial real estate brokers.
PivotDesk’s chief executive David Mandell said commercial brokers traditionally have faced challenges in building relationships with startups because those companies are too small or growing too rapidly to enter into long-term leases. So the brokers have to either refer those leads somewhere else and risk losing the relationship, or the brokers have to work tirelessly to find a small space for a short duration and make little commission doing it.
“Those were leads that they were never able to manage before,” Mandell said.
Since its founding in 2012, Boulder-based PivotDesk has specialized in matching businesses or landlords who have extra office space with startups or small businesses that need new space but require more flexibility than a lease allows. Landlords list their space on PivotDesk, and companies that need it can sign recurring monthly licenses to use the space, with PivotDesk collecting a commission from landlords.
Cultivate provides a platform for brokers to refer such clients to PivotDesk to find flexible space, thus freeing up the brokers to concentrate on locking down lease deals. In return, PivotDesk provides those brokers with an online dashboard of companies they’ve referred. Brokers can monitor businesses’ progress and growth and keep in touch with them when it appears they might be ready to take the plunge on a lease.
“It’s an incredibly easy way (for brokers) to help those clients and maintain those relationships as they evolve,” Mandell said.
For companies that have grown to the point of signing a lease, a challenge for brokers can be in helping those companies find the right size of space, one they won’t grow out of too soon but also one in which they won’t be paying for unused space if growth doesn’t go as planned. Cultivate, Mandell said, gives brokers a way to get those leases signed more quickly – and commissions collected – by offering a way for those clients to office share their excess space but get it back when they need it. Unlike a sublease with a set time period locked in, PivotDesk license agreements can be canceled by either side with 30-days notice.
Another aspect of Cultivate, which is free for brokers to use, is data that it will provide brokers on shadow space – the space leased to a business but isn’t being used.
“Traditionally, brokers would only have known that space as occupied,” Mandell said.
The new offering comes in the wake of a $3.8 million funding round earlier this year to help PivotDesk expand to 23 new cities and launch Cultivate.
