Getting your foot into the Grison area – with a virtual office
Mon, 23.10.2023, 08:00
Founding a company online is a service that the Institute for Young Entrepreneurs (IFJ) has been offering for some time now. A new step in the process allows the founder to choose between various virtual company locations throughout Switzerland. This blog post describes in what way setting up a virtual company may be a cost saving alternative to a company’s own office.
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Since the pandemic at the latest, we have been aware that work does not necessarily have to be done at the company's own premises. Remote work is a new trend. Coworking Space FlexDesk in Chur responds to this trend with its new office. Centrally located in the main station of Chur, fully equipped work desks and meeting rooms can be booked for as little as 2 hours. Yet another service FlexDesk is offering attracts rather the entrepreneurial share of their clients. One can virtually setup a company address at FlexDesk without renting office space at all. For this offer, FlexDesk partnered up with the IFJ and became their local partner for virtual offices in the Grisons. Let’s have a closer look at what virtual offices are and how entrepreneurs in different stages of business can benefit from this service.
Privacy and First Impression
Every company registered the Swiss Commercial Register requires a legal domicile. Especially when founding an individual company, it lies at hand to simply deposit the owners home address as the legal domicile of the newfound company. A rather unknown fact is that the entry in the commercial register is publicly accessible. Consequently, the private address of the owner of the company can be found by anyone who is interested. This is not necessarily conducive to privacy.
Now let's assume the company has been founded at one’s home address. Hopefully, plenty customers become aware of the service offer and want to find out more about this new company. In times of Google Maps & Co. a potential customer quickly finds out that the given company address is not a fancy company office, but rather a residential building. This first impression does not look very professional and might even seem suspicious. Nor do having customer meetings in cafés or even worse, in one’s home kitchen.
"Virtual Office" – what does that mean?
A virtual company location allows for a registration of a company without having a domicile at that address. You literally rent a mailbox rather than an expensive office building. Depending on what has been agreed on, the received mail is forwarded to another address or scanned to one’s mail.
This service is offered by various providers, mainly trustees or real estate managers – but also by Coworking Spaces. Their big advantage: The shared use of the office infrastructure in the coworking space can help in later stages to settle to where the company originally has been registered. Customers can be welcomed in a professionally furnished meeting room. The infrastructure looks serious and confidence inspiring.
About Startups and Coworking Spaces
Every beginning is difficult, so it is with starting a company. In the first phase of any startup, most of the time is spent with setting up the company: specifying products and services, defining processes, finding the right tools, and setting up a marketing strategy for selling. If that weren't a challenge in itself, resources overall are rather limited.
How about a shortcut to ramp up the starting phase? Coworking Spaces offer a fully equipped and professional office infrastructure with furniture, printers, and Internet. Having the infrastructure sorted out gives founders the opportunity to focus on the essentials, namely building the business.
As a starting entrepreneur, sooner or later, there comes a moment where it becomes rather lonely. Even though having a team around, crucial decisions must be made by the entrepreneur him- or herself. A sparring partner with a second opinion might be helpful – somebody who has been through the startup phase already. Guess what: In a coworking space, you may find those like-minded people - fans and experts about building a company. This is not inspiring; it literally gives fast access to hands-on experience. How convenient when experts are sitting right next to you in the breakout room, giving you a word of advice over coffee.
The infrastructure that grows with you
When business is picking up speed, the growing pain is not yet over. Steering the company into safe waters may be the new challenge. It's about time to build up a team. This is where cashflow management becomes crucial. Here, too, the company location in a coworking space proves to be practical. Where it is common for other landlords to sign a 5-year lease, coworking spaces - depending on the provider - have a notice period of one month. Why is this an advantage? Especially in the starting phase, employee fluctuation is deemed to be high. In a coworking space the rented workspace grows or shrinks flexibly according to the number of employees. The fixed costs can be kept to a minimum. And let’s be honest: startups and a 5-year plan – this is never going to work.
Moving the business to Switzerland - with branch offices in coworking spaces
The advantages of starting a business in a coworking space might be clearer now. But what might trigger established SMEs to use a virtual office for their start in Switzerland. Frankly speaking, Switzerland has a lot to offer: A beautiful mountain scenery, high spending power and have we talked about low taxes yet? Reason enough to expand the business to this prospering little country.
Guess what: setting up a branch in a new country comes along with similar challenges as does starting a business: scarce resources and limited amount of time to setup the business, topped by cultural differences.
Let me introduce you to one of them: Swiss people like “Swissness” - means they are very attached to businesses from Switzerland. When expanding a business to Switzerland, it is therefore wise to establish a branch office – even though the business theoretically could be done elsewhere. Having a subsidiary in Switzerland does not necessarily mean renting expensive office space, though. This is where the virtual office in a coworking space comes in handy. Customer appointments can be held at the company location. Fixed costs remain low because meeting rooms and work desks can be booked by the hour and as needed. Costs are merely generated, where potential income is to be expected.
Another rather Swiss thing: Does your company provide goods or services for the public sector? If yes, you might already know that you are only eligible for a tender if the company headquarters or a branch office is located in the canton that awards the contract. Here, too, a secondary branch in a coworking space comes in handy. You will have the opportunity to bid on projects while keeping the fixed costs to minimum.
Summary
Setting up a virtual company comes in handy in every phase of the company - not just in the start-up phase. At the FlexDesk in Chur, it is possible to get a virtual company address. Growing the company with flexible workstations, meeting rooms and private offices on demand keeps your fixed costs to a minimum – with no investment or planning costs.
About FlexDesk – regional partner of the Institute for Young Entrepreneurs (IFJ) for virtual offices in the Grisons area
FlexDesk is a professional coworking space that offers the full range of products for flexible office work. A workstation or meeting room can be rented from 2 hrs. Fixed workstations and team offices for monthly rent are fully equipped and include coffee / tea, printing, and internet.
Our customers are self-employed, start-ups and "HomeOffice refugees", but also companies with subsidiaries, agencies and small teams that meet at the central location in the train station of Chur. At FlexDesk, everyone finds a professional, bright workplace with a feel-good atmosphere and a view of the Grisons mountains.
Did we grasp your attention with this article? Being an expat myself, I am looking forward to helping you to get settled in Grisons.
For more information
FlexDesk GmbH
Bahnhofplatz 3
7000 Chur
Marie Kohler
Tel.: 076 68 68 252
