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It is the season of celebrations. And for startups, be it celebrations or work or fun, all mostly begins and ends at the office. Startup offices go all the way to ensure that besides intense work, employees can chill, relax, rejuvenate, gym, snack, play, read, sleep, nap, and practically live their life unhindered at their uber-cool offices. No wonder, the relaxed environment, the un-corporate work culture, and a chilled out office space to stimulate those grey cells and get the cerebral juices flowing remains one of the top reasons to work at a startup.
Following up to our previous cool startup offices list, here’s another stack of startup offices which have climbed up the coolness ladder and celebrate the spirit of working in a startup with their fun offices!
Treebo Hotels
Treebo Hotels, which is a tech-enabled chain of hotels offering quality accommodation to travellers at affordable prices, derives its name from the ‘Bo Tree’ or the fig tree under which Gautam Buddha meditated and attained enlightenment. No wonder the Bo Tree figures as a prominent and breathtaking wall art in their corporate office at HSR layout, Bengaluru. And staying true to the spirit of enlightenment, the well-lit, airy, and a combination of minimalism and kitsch designs, the office offers the same Zen-like feeling to its employees!
Tolexo
While a B2B ecommerce startup does not exactly bring to mind the picture of a cool, fun, and energetic workplace, Tolexo is hoping to break this notion through its new 24,000 sq.ft. office in Noida, where it has shifted in June this year. With absolutely no cabin culture, this new office has ample open sit out and break out zones for the employees to chill out, provision for round-the-clock snacks, a multi-cuisine food court along with a gym in the building to burn some calories with all the eating! The company is trying to do every bit to ensure customer happiness and believes that “Happy employees create happy customers.” Hence, special focus has been given to make a transparent open office with no cabins even for the CEO! To up the cool quotient, the office has been given a complete warehouse look with high roofs, long, hanging aluminium LED lights and copper AC ducts running at every end and special open air sit out areas for the employees to take a break.
Xiaomi
Xiaomi is one of the few companies which create its products, inspired and suggested by its users known as “Mi Fans”. No wonder its new office in Marathalli, Bengaluru has been designed by each and every employee so that the space reflects their energies and sentiments. Superheroes have been kept as the underlying of the office, wherein, meeting rooms named Optimus Prime and JARVIS etc. bring that aspect to life. The theme also reflects on the employees’ desks to resonate the feeling that something wonderful is about to happen just in line with the awe associated with superhero movies! Adding to the quirk factor? The whole space follows a colour scheme of neon orange, neon green and yellow, accented with colourful chairs, fun breakout spaces, and quirky furniture.
Kraftly
It is no wonder that Kraftly – a C2C mobile marketplace for unique and handcrafted products, will have something unique to offer to its employees. There is art to be found in small things such as the unique desk at the reception or the coloured glass-paned walls or the beautiful Edison bulbs dimmed to minimum to save energy, vibrant couch handmade with pallets and a 3D reception table that’s made using inexpensive material chipboard. In addition, the space boasts of recycled wooden pallets used for shipping panelled on office ceiling, recycled glass used for meeting rooms, conference rooms, sofas made of recycled wood, grass carpeting in breakout areas, and cable wire base used as table tops among other features. Not to be forgotten is the in-house pet dog Rocket! The company’s office is not just cool, but also unbelievably eco-friendly as it is one of the few startups who have taken their recycling responsibilities very seriously.
Credr
That CredR is an online marketplace dedicated to selling and buying of pre-owned two-wheelers, becomes clear the moment you enter the office. From walls adorned with decals of bikes to their miniature models strewn around, the office interiors speak well for the brand. If you are still in doubt, the sofa adorned with the headlights and the meeting rooms named ‘Throttle’, ‘Body Design’ and ‘Parking Lot’ will put that to rest. Or head over to their Service stations aka relaxation zones for further reinforcement. Even the doors to the men and women washrooms point out their love for bikes!
Inshorts
Located in the heart of Delhi’s media hub – Filmcity, Noida, Inshorts office has been designed to reflect its organisational ethos which is its openness in the culture wherein everyone is welcome to contribute ideas and views across the board. Hence, there are no dedicated seats as there are no rigidly defined roles. Further reinforcing this open laid-back environment are couches strewn around profusely, absence of any cubicles, any dedicated seats or any CEO cabins, a dedicated room for employees to crash whenever they feel like taking a power nap, a pool table, a cafeteria serving free meals and stocking an unlimited supply of Red Bull and munchies, an XBOX for short breaks to keep employees motivated, and funky breakout areas for random brainstorming sessions.
Pocket Aces
Technology driven digital entertainment company Pocket Aces which creates original digital content has an office that reflected the core ethos of the company, which is based on creating innovative, engaging content for millennials. Additionally, the startup also wanted a space, which would provide their creative talent with a feeling of wellbeing and a place which they’d feel like revisiting, even if they weren’t a team member. They solved for this by coming up with the vision of “a cafe with the functionality of an office and structural details that reflected deep thought and attention to detail.” Diverting from the monotony of cubicle farms, they created a large inhabitable idea wall, which wrapped around a large open-format workspace. People can sit inside the inhabitable wall (both on the ground and mezzanine levels), can write on it via the idea wall, and can store things in it via concealed storage. Need more inspiration? There’s a ladder you can use to climb up to a loft to sit in peace and work!
LogiNext
The first thing that catches your sight when you enter LogiNext’s new office is the reception desk fashioned in the form of a parcel box! You know that you have entered the premises of a company concerned with logistics because that is the central theme of the office which founders Dhruvil Sanghvi and Manisha Raisinghani wanted to be a haven for work-life integration. Designed in a flat seven days, the office embodies logistics in every detail from parcel boxes suspended from the ceiling, to the wallpaper with all logistics distribution keywords, to Dhruvil’s room itself.
So there you have it. Startups with cool offices that just might tempt you to give up your corporate structured life for the fun and thrill of working somewhere your ideas, and you, are respected and encouraged.
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