Milan is a former hockey player and a co-founder of a startup named Customisee. He is clearly comfortable in his own skin. Though he never played professionally, it did lead him to make the decision for himself that “If I’m not going to do that, I should do something else but on the same level.”
Navigating the market
Having been a serious athlete influences him to this day, “I learned that whatever you give to something, you receive it back.” It’s also important for teamwork: “I’m trying to give everybody a chance to prove themselves. I also prefer to focus on the process rather than any potential gains I can get from it.” According to him, this helps a lot in his current work, which is all about navigating the needs and wants of different parties.
Kilik has some pretty good stories about unexpected wishes from clients: “ We had a client recently that said that they would like to have some romantic place to work from and that they want to move out from traditional office. That’s how we start. So what’s romantic? So show me a couple of examples. It turned out that the romantic place is a vila with the view of the city or a Prague landmark building. This is something that you always need to navigate between the clients wishes and the availability on the market and there are no bad questions.”
Of course, matching expectations is only a small part of the job. Currently, vacancy for office space runs below 7% in Prague, which makes finding a spot, let alone a good one, quite the job. This is where iO’s network comes into play. “This market runs on information, and in many cases they are not public. So if you want a prestigious location or buildings you need help. We have all the data thanks to our team and professional network,” says Kilik.
Making connections
Currently, his brokerage has information and contacts with roughly 800 properties across the city, as well as exclusive rights to rent out seven buildings in Prague. Some of this may include taking over an entire floor, but Kilik emphasizes he’s not just repping the big boys; he’s more than happy to help startups find a suitable coworking space, something he has experience with as former head of the HubHub coworking space.
“ I always say, offer the same level of service to everyone no matter what it generates us,” says Kilik. “ If we help some smaller company, it’s rewarding to see them succeed. And if we’ve supported them from the start, they may turn to us again if they need something bigger.”
This includes making sure clients get the best price for a property. ”We know what a fair offer is. Sometimes, you know, when you’re new to the market, you may not realize something is overpriced. We have the experience to help prevent some parties from trying to take advantage. We can act like a guard at the gate.”
What startups should know
Of course, it helps if you know what you’re getting into when looking for office space, and Kilik is happy to share some insights that should help save time and money. First, you want to keep all office costs to about 15 percent of your total expenditure, or you may find yourself dealing with runaway costs.
Your biggest asset as a fledgling startup is flexibility, and you should make use of that, Kilik emphasizes. “I usually say for the first three years you could lean towards a coworking space. You can scale both up and down quickly, depending on how things go. They may seem more costly, but you have everything included. You don’t have to take care of dozens of invoices. You don’t have to buy your furniture, either, which gets expensive.”
“You can also get incentives from the landlord. If you can commit to a longer period, then you can maybe get a discount. If you make a five year commitment, then the landlord could give you even more.”
Then again, you should eventually grow out of a coworking space. The tipping point from coworking to own space can be a few things, like growth in staff, or even just prestige. In this case, getting too big an office may be less of a problem than you’d think, you can always sublease a section of your new office or building while you figure out your growth plans.
The trick, says Kilik, is to figure out the sweet spot: “One mistake is to move out of a place too soon, but also too fast.” Figuring out the difference is where iO Partners comes in.
