It is bloody amazing what can happen when I just let go of expectations and trust it will all work out.

We were told on Wednesday, November 21st we had to be out of our office at 321 Water Street by the end of December. Short notice rescinding a previous promise to let us stay until June on a month to month. Grrr…

Starting looking – hit despair quickly – most available properties were crap. We really want to stay in Gastown in a place similar to what we have now: brick, glass, wood beams, view…

The “feel” of our place saves me thousands of dollars a month in salary-based motivation  – the team LOVES working there for many reasons.  When the key assets are our people, paying higher salaries is not the only way to build retention in a very competitive market for talent.

Saw the four best available properties that Thursday – only one even close to what we want already had an offer and wasn’t available until March in any case.

Went to bed Thursday night with the thought ‘somehow this will all work out’. Woke up to an email from the agent for the place we liked but that was taken. The second floor of the same building just became available – the tenant had just given late notice they wouldn’t renew and wanted out before March if possible.

Gave the place a tour Friday afternoon… and the new place was even better than its sibling: 2nd floor (fewer stairs), more and better use of space, glass and rustic brick walls, looks out over both Water St and the North Shore, room for bike parking (two on the team ride to work), really nice meeting room with skylight to third floor, glassed offices big enough for our small teams, server room with extra power and network access, kitchen, washrooms in suite, some nice fixtures, 2 bucks cheaper per square foot… Sold!

It needs a little refresher paint and we want to strip out the carpet but otherwise a good cleaning after the tenant is out and we are ‘home’.

We obviously just need to clear the hurdles of signing a lease (!) but I think we’ll be OK.

We’ll push our current landlord for a two month extension but will work out of coffee shops and some local tech ‘hoteling workspaces’ if necessary. It will all work out!

I’m a lucky man…

P.S. Wrote this post end of last month as an email. Finally got round to posting it. Signed and finalized lease was returned today (December 7th).  I also received a message from an investor that the deal to stay in 321 until March is almost in hand. We are IN! And happy!!