Layoffs from existing businesses are not the only market event that causes new small businesses to be birthed.   I’ve noticed consistently that even the best performing leaders within existing businesses, and maybe especially the best performers, start to get restless after age 40.  They begin to reflect on where they’ll go, and how they’ll own their own piece of American business.

It seems like companies take a familiar path.

These days, new companies get their start over a cup of coffee at Starbucks, on the sidelines of a junior league soccer match, or most recently by the fireplace at Panera.   I remember vividly a set of conversations I overheard in a coffee shop a few wild business cycles ago.  It was likely something out of Silicon Valley, with “Camouflage Man,” a man dressed head to toe in tree bark hunting clothes, closing deals in a coffee shop with the “suits.”   This was not in San Jose, Boston, or New York.  It was in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Many companies follow a similar path on their way to their first office suite.  After they graduate from Starbucks, they end up in someone’s (or sometimes multiple someone’s) basement(s), garage, or spare bedroom.

At some point, they outgrow their surroundings.

If you’re like me…. the graduation can be paced… I found a great executive suites building more than four years ago, and we have no intention of leaving it any time soon.

What does it provide?   In short, credibility, camaraderie, a credible business address, and creature comforts.   Listen to the following post from our landlord, David Rayl, serial entrepreneur and owner of Executive Suites and Services in Leawood, Kansas  www.suitesandservices.com.

Take care, and happy hunting… for great new ideas, and for great new surroundings.   See you at the bagel counter.