Famous Companies Launched from a Virtual Office

When you’re working in your home office and the neighbor starts up the lawnmower, the mailman rings the doorbell or the cat decides it’s time to play, you can lose sight of your corporate image. You might struggle to see yourself as a businessperson who should be taken seriously and command respect. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up the professionalism when you’re working at the kitchen table.

But that’s when it’s important to remember that some of the biggest names in business—and in our daily lives—had some pretty humble beginnings. Silicon Valley—the world’s 19^th-largest economy—is famously the home of startups headquartered in garages, with company meetings in coffee shops and a workforce of virtual workers.

Who’s doing it?

Despite what you might think, home and virtual offices aren’t just for solo businesses. In fact, some of the biggest names in tech—like Mozilla, MySQL, Citrix and Basecamp—were launched in home offices. That gave them an around-the-clock service model that not only launched their businesses but has become the standard in customer care across most industries.

What’s in a garage? Competitive advantage.

You’ve probably heard the famous story of Hewlett Packard’s Palo Alto garage. But they’re not alone. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and even Disney also launched in garages. What that tells you is that the sky’s the limit with a home office. If you can dream it—from entertainment to software to communications—any business can grow from home. Creating a virtual workforce means you’re not limited to the size of your brick and mortar offices. And, as Apple and Amazon show us, you can be agile about your product offering. You’re not limited by facilities or size of workforce.

Growing popularity

As remote work becomes increasingly popular, virtual offices have become not just a common attribute of top companies, but an incentive for attracting top talent. With so many companies offering a virtual work environment, job searchers come across this option all the time. And they see it as a perk.

It can be hard to remember that you’re growing something important when you’re still watering the seed. But the history of business tells us that we should dream big. Others have shown us how. If you would like to discuss how having a virtual office can benefit your business, please don’t hesitate to contact us at XXX