The YouNoodle Blog

I walked in the office two days ago to find a blanket on the couch. A blanket? In any corporate office context, a blanket would be out of place. But in the startup environment anyone can attest that having a blanket, and other personal belongings, in the office is not uncommon. After all, you never know when you have to work late and you would rather spend the 30 minutes of commute back home sleeping. During the course of the day, I looked around to see tell tale signs that some my colleagues had been staying late and even spending the night.

For some entrepreneurs, the office is a second home, if not, their primary home. Now the trick to spending every waking moment in your office is making sure that you have everything you need to be comfortable and so you can go from late night meetings to fresh mornings (so grateful for industrial strength mouthwash!). I found that my colleagues kept anything from the basics such as toothpaste and toothbrushes to the not so basics… A cocktail dress… several pairs of shoes… slippers…deodorant… dried Icelandic fish…and nail clippers? Now, I really wonder who is clipping their nails…make sure that you clean up!

Here are some tips to making your startup office, or what I would call your ‘hoffice’ more productive and fun for your team:

• Toys: Let’s admit it, everyone needs to stop staring at the computer screen every now and then. Why not have toys around the office to let the team release some stress and inspire creativity? Whether it’s a Rubix Cube or a Nintendo Wii system, taking your mind off of work for a few minutes will let you come back more refreshed and ready to rock. At YouNoodle, our favorite toys are musical instruments, yoga balls and a pink boxing bag (don’t ask me why it’s pink).
• Snacks: Using your brain burns quite a bit of calories, so having healthy snacks around the office to replenish our brains will make sure everyone is always at the top of their game. A pantry with anything from apples, bananas and grapes to crackers and cereal are a must-have at any startup. Don’t forget to have plenty of water around too!
• Open workspace: My personal favorite, we can shout out ideas to each other without having to walk-through rows of cubicles and everyone immediately celebrates accomplishments. In very early-stage startups, an open workspace happens by default (no, you and your co-founder cannot have individual cubicles), but even as the company grows having an open workspace increases idea flow and communication.
• Meetings do not always have to be held in the office! If you are having individual meetings, or even small team meetings, you can have them at a local coffee shop, park or other public space. In the early days when you still did not have an office, you and your co-founders probably had these meetings in public places. We are lucky to be located in South Park, which allows us to have the occasional meeting by the swings. Giving your team this kind of flexibility is not such a bad idea. Just be careful, and make sure that you are not discussing extremely sensitive material!

These are our tips to making your ‘hoffice’ a fun and productive space. We also launched a video to show you what our office looks like, now we want to see what YOUR office or entrepreneurial workspace looks like. Take a picture and share it with us! In September we will be asking entrepreneurs to choose the most inspiring workspace and the winner will receive a free iPad. Enter the YouNoodle Workspace Entrepreneurial Challenge.