5 Tech Startup-Inspired Office Design Ideas Worth Considering

One of the main reasons tech-startups are so looked up at nowadays is the fact that most of them have unique business models, which allow for a much greater flexibility in design, as well as in everything else. Due to the fact that most of these startups operate on a skeleton crew, they more than value every single one of their employees and closely monitor their performance.

They also value human factor above everything else, which is why they aren’t afraid to go over the top in order to create an ultimate work environment. The way they see it is fairly straightforward. According to one survey, a happy employee works 12 percent better, which means that if a breakroom item or an office layout may improve the morale of employees, they will directly contribute to the productivity of the office. In this way, instead of being an optional addition to the layout of the office, this item becomes an investment in the future of your company. Here are several such ideas worth considering.

  1. Indoors resort

The first great idea for your office can be found in the notion of erasing the boundary between the outdoor and the indoor world. Introduce the pot plants and the outdoor furniture indoors, but don’t stop there. You can also introduce some wooden dividers like those you would use to shield your patio or garden from the outside world. For the floor, going with hardwood may be considered as a standard indoors solution, yet, it also gives the impression of a wooden deck.

Another important aspect of this trend is to rely on natural light as much as you can. One of the ways to achieve this is to go for transparent dividers if you decide to listen to the advice we offered in the previous paragraph. Nonetheless, no office can run exclusively on natural light, which is why you need to reinvent your artificial light policy, as well. On one hand, going with LED has become so standard that it’s hardly even considered a radical improvement. The type of fixture you go for, on the other hand, matters quite a bit. Here, going for an odd shape might be a winning combination.

  1. Better meeting format

The last thing you need to consider is the issue of meetings and the way in which the layout of your office affects their format. You see, an average office worker spends 31 hours in meetings every month. The problem with this statistic isn’t in the sheer amount of wasted time but in the fact that these meetings could be held in a much more productive manner.

First of all, standing meetings aren’t as effective as some people would believe them to be, seeing as how people remaining on their posts might still be distracted by things on their monitors. This means that a meeting room might still be mandatory. A well-composed presentation can be incredibly time-saving, seeing as how it conveys all the necessary information. With the adequate tech-support, in the form of an amazing home theatre system, it can be a massive boost to your internal communication. More importantly, in this way, you can create a dual-purpose room that can serve for entertainment later on.

  1. Roof deck

In a present-day office, your workstation is where your laptop is. Therefore, if a member of your team wants to take their computer to a hallway and work from a sofa opposite the reception desk, then so be it. Nevertheless, why not take all of this one step further and take your work to the roof? All you need to do is install a wooden deck on the roof and create an alternative work area, where your employees will be able to go in order to change an environment. Of course, you also need to provide some shade, which is why purchasing several branded parasols might be a great idea.

  1. Gamifying your breakroom

A traditional breakroom contains a water cooler, a sofa, and a coffee table unless it’s also connected to the office kitchen, in which case it’s a bit more versatile. Nonetheless, it doesn’t have to be so. Why not install a ping pong table, a pinball machine or a table tennis there instead? How about a Nintendo Wii, so that your employees can compete with each other in fun sports video games while on the break? Keep in mind, however, that in order for this to work, your breakroom needs to be as far from the main work area as possible. You wouldn’t believe how quickly things can escalate, even during a friendly competition, and you don’t want this to affect or distract those who are still working.

  1. Make a theme

This is, more or less, similar to what we’ve discussed in the first section, yet, it opens up many exciting options for you to explore. One of the themes you can choose is a diner, and make people sit in booths instead of desks. You can also install a bar and allow those who want to work off a bar stool. Lastly, just imagine how amazing it would be to hold a meeting around a pool table.


At the end of the day, each of the above-listed ideas brings something new to the table and it’s up to you to determine which of these aspects you want to embrace. For those with a bit more developed creative side, even embracing individual elements and combining them into something completely new shouldn’t be out of the question.