Had to pick between a fancy WeWork and a garage in East Austin for our startup's first real office

Our team of 5 was ready to move out of my living room, and the choice came down to a $4,500 a month spot downtown or a $1,200 a month garage space off Cesar Chavez. We went with the garage, thinking the savings were a no brainer. The first week, a raccoon got in and chewed through our ethernet cables, costing us two days of work and about $300 in new gear. Honestly, dealing with that felt more like a real Austin tech story than any polished coworking space ever could. Has anyone else had their early office dreams messed up by local wildlife?

3 comments

3 Comments

violaramirez1d ago

Raccoons are the worst! Our first office was a converted shed and we had a possum family move into the ceiling. The scratching drove us crazy for a week. What did you do to keep them out after that?

joel_jones1d ago

Possums in the ceiling sound like a nightmare, @violaramirez. After we had raccoons, we sealed every tiny hole with steel wool and metal flashing because they just chew through wood. We also put bright motion sensor lights outside and stopped leaving any trash bags out overnight. It took a few tries to find all their secret entry points.

kimr7413h ago

Ugh, that reminds me of my friend's place. They had squirrels get into their attic and it was a whole thing. They thought they sealed the main hole, but the little guys chewed a new one right next to the gutter. They ended up having to trim back a huge tree branch that was basically a bridge to the roof. Total pain.