Last month, MitchelLake Group entered its 25th year as a firm. From our first startup office in 2001, subletting a small corner from the mercurial and brilliant architect, Scott Weston, we were already fighting the physical and commercial constraints of traditional office leasing.
The Original Startup Constraint
Long before the rise of large-scale coworking, and the impact of remote/hybrid work arrangements, it may horrify many startup founders to hear that it was once entirely normal for owners to sign up to a 5+ year fixed liability worth hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of dollars for controlled access to a work space that you would either outgrow in 12 months, or even worse, never grow into at all. Even more amazing was that if it was “renovator’s delight” and you improved it, you would usually have to rip all the improvements out again at the end of the lease as a “make good”.
Back then, we quickly realised that many of our clients – mainly startups – were faced with the same conundrum. So, from our first office in Sydney, then Melbourne, to our most recent stand-alone office space in San Francisco, we have been lucky enough to share digs with some amazing characters and companies.
The Graduation Pattern
Typically, our co-tenants were teams of between 2 and 8 people; once they doubled or tripled in size, they would graduate to their own space.
In Sydney, our second office (2002) was in Crown Street on a floor recently vacated at the time by dot com boom-bust VC, TiNSHED.
Our co-tenants then were the founders of 5th-Finger, whom we ultimately rolled on with for more than a dozen years as clients, collaborators, and friends, across multiple continents, ventures, and offices through their growth and exits, first to NineMSN in Australia, before raising more capital to launch 5i in the US, subsequently exiting to Merkle.
Kudos Steen Andersen, Anthony Howe, Matthew Costello, Patrick Collins, Warren Billington GAICD, and all the 5th and 5i people we were lucky enough to share space and time with.
Across the hall on that Crown Street floor were a couple of out-of-towners from New York, Rob and Steve. At the time, they were helping Aussie fashion companies grow in the US. Ultimately, they followed their instinct that Mexican food was underrepresented in Australia and launched a Mexican kitchen restaurant. It turns out their instincts were pretty good. Also, they could hoop a bit, which was ultimately a win for my co-founder Phaedon Stough and the MitchelLakers basketball team.
Our third office in Sydney included 5thFinger until their NineMSN exit, and then with Ian Lowe, Ben Dixon from Facilitate Digital. Facilitate grew quickly and went on to list on the ASX. We saw first-hand that listing can be a tough road for early-stage tech in Australia—but they were brave. If you’re a founder considering that path, let me know; I can connect you with a dozen or so who’ve lived it.
Melbourne, San Francisco and Beyond
At the same time, we were growing in Melbourne, co-tenanted with some great people and ventures across half a dozen spaces before switching to coworking. Shout-outs to Paul Prickett, Angela Italiano, and the team at Involved, also to great other Hardware Lane crew Matthew Arthur, from A’Beckett Street; James Tuckerman (aka MrB2B) 
, plus Scott Julian, (FAIM) and Andrew Julian: co-founders of Effective Measure, who hosted us at Customs House in Flinders Lane.
We had Simon Chamberlain and Andrew Walsh and a couple of other notable investors spend time as resident Angels at our Queens Street office.
Later in Sydney, we landed opposite Sony Music in Amnesia’s old offices (after their exit to Aegis/Razorfish). We shared that space with Chris Flintoft and the team at Neon Stingray; they eventually outgrew the space and exited to French company, Valtech.
Spanish entrepreneur Gloria Molins worked in the Hargreave Street office briefly before conjuring up an idea for her own venture. She moved back to Spain to build the experiences marketplace Trip4Real, which she eventually exited to Airbnb. I am very thankful that we met then, as it is great to see another familiar face here in Barcelona from time to time.
We worked with, swapped tips, client referrals, collaborated, and invested based on the relationships built in those spaces. If not for 5thFinger, we may never have taken a crack at establishing MitchelLake overseas. If not for office sharing, events, and introductions between entrepreneurs and investors, we may never have been fortunate enough to invest in some of our most successful opportunities, including Startmate and Blackbird, more than a decade ago.
Since our most recent US office share partners, Badge, moved out during the pandemic, we let go of the last of our leased offices. We are now 100% co-working/hybrid and moving towards private club spaces as the best mix of culture and connectivity meets flexible work arrangements.
I find it far more inspiring to be in spaces designed for conversation, events, and hospitality—surrounded by a mix of creatives, entrepreneurs, and investors, each on (or between) missions.
The Osmosis Effect
What has become clear in the last five years is that we are now all chronically online, and more so since remote and hybrid work became a viable option for so many. Because of that, and the rise of AI, I have genuine fears that we are leaving a generation behind or with no way into the market, or to benefit from the lived experience of others.
Our teams tend to come into their respective cities three to four days a week for face-to-face meetings with clients and each other, which we feel should be something to look forward to, not just a commute to send emails and sit on calls in a different location.
To the hundreds of co-tenants, coworkers, clients, collaborators, MitchelLakers, friends, and families, past and present: thank you for your support, stories, and contributions over the years.
I’ve name-checked the ones I recall, but memory is patchy—so please jump in, correct me, and highlight the names and ventures I’ve missed.
A Fresh Mission
One of my core objectives today is figuring out how to put AI to work to bring people together more often in real life—so we spend less time trying to find and be found online.
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