Downtown Ann Arbor's First National Building has the old timey look of a successful, starched-collar business establishment. Its architectural flourishes, both inside and out, scream old money. You can almost imagine fat cats making the business world revolve around cigars and backroom deals.
But that's not what's really inside. Especially if you visit the building's fourth floor. That's where LLamasoft has made its new home, taking over 5,000 square feet of space, double the size of its old office. LLamasoft, a software logistics firm, is the quintessential start-up, filling its space with eye-catching art and young workers (whose attire sometimes makes an artistic statement of its own)
The pairing of the firm to the building is evidence that some of Ann Arbor's up-and-coming start-ups are coming of age. As LLamasoft becomes more established and fills its new space with more staff, it'll help reshape Ann Arbor's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
"Obviously space matters, a lot," says Don Hicks, president and CEO of LLamasoft. "Often times it impacts you in subtle ways."
For instance, LLamasoft's old offices were so small that one of its employees jokes that the new space means they're not working on the lunch table anymore. Nevertheless, double duty at the lunch table encouraged the staff to constantly bounce ideas off of one another, creating motion, emotion and new ideas.
The new space is much more spread out with a couple of conference rooms and plenty of elbow space. That meant LLamasoft's leadership had to reinvent the company's internal communications.
LLamasoft expects to return to those crowded days soon. It has expanded its staff to 30 people with 25 at its Ann Arbor office. It expects to break the 50 employee mark within the next three years. The company is hiring two more University of Michigan grads this month, adding yet more young people. Generation X and Y pretty much run the show. The wise-cracking employee mentioned above actually had to move out of his frat house when he came to work for LLamasoft.
"We buck the trend when it comes to this," Hicks says. "Supply chain logistics is known for being stodgy and old."
Though LLamasoft is becoming more established and moving into spaces once dominated by the old guard, it brings with it a new perspective... which 50 years from now will probably seem similarly stodgy.
Source: Don Hicks, president and CEO of LLamasoft and Gary Bobalik, director of marketing for LLamasoft
Writer: Jon Zemke
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