RocketSpace CEO Duncan Logan Talks Expansion Plans And What ‘Office-As-A-Service’ Actually Means

RocketSpace, a San Francisco office company that has hosted companies like Uber, Zaarly, Podio, and Pocket Gems (though not always the main team), recently moved into a new, bigger space — two spaces, actually, one for early-stage startups and one for more mature companies.

The move seemed like a good opportunity to both tour the new office and talk to founder and CEO Duncan Logan about San Francisco real estate, his future plans, and his description of RocketSpace as an “office-as-a-service”.

To be honest, I went in suspecting that “office-as-a-service” was just a fancy way of saying “real estate company with other services”. However, Logan rattled off a number of other programs that Rocket Space has built on top of its desk/office rental business, including corporate innovation/partnerships, RocketU training, and the startup accelerator. As those other services grow, he said that revenue from rentals is becoming “a smaller and smaller percentage every month” of RocketSpace’s total business. Logan added:

If we were just about the real estate we would be rolling out RocketSpaces everywhere. While we do intend to expand to other locations, it’s really about building a brand which is really focused on the best startups. We think, as a young company, you are a product of your environment and you should choose that environment really carefully and surround yourself really carefully … and that’s more our focus than filling real estate.

As for where RocketSpace goes from here, Logan named a number of cities where the company might open a second location, including New York, Austin, London and Toronto. He said he’s hoping to sign a lease on a second US location by the end of this year and actually open the new office in early 2014.

Oh, if you want to see what the old RocketSpace looked like, you can watch this video from a year ago.