AOL dangles a carrot to look cool in California: free rent for start-ups
You can't say AOL isn't working hard to polish its image - and offering free space to start-ups at its new Calfornia office is a pretty neat idea
The writer is referring to the phrase "AOL is cool" in big blue letters on a long whiteboard lining a hallway of the office.
Since the New York-based firm signed a seven-year lease on the 225,000-square-foot building last August, it has thrown the space open to a wide range of startups, which work right next to 170 of its own engineers.
The new premises are "part corporate office, part startup incubator, and part college community center", says the magazine.
AOL executives are hoping some of that entrepreneurial energy rubs off on their 28-year-old company.
Yet despite the initial put-down, Business Week concedes,"AOL's quest for cred may actually be working. There's a waiting list of startups that want to move in."
Tim Armstrong, AOL CEO, said, "We really have tried to make our offices into centres of creativity where we can invite other people to come in and work with us.
"The opportunity is to take some of the world's best entrepreneurs and technologists and have them work in a deeply engaging place."
AOL's building is a mile from Facebook and near startups such as Cloudera and Box.net. Around 75 people from 25 companies — most with no formal AOL connection — work in the building.
The space is rent-free for now. Entrepreneurs will eventually pay AOL a low rent and get perks, such as as access to a cafeteria with a pool table. AOL hosts a biweekly lunch. A recent guest speaker was Arianna Huffington who has just sold her Huffington Post to AOL for $315 million.
Work goes on at all hours. In January a Palo Alto policeman enquired why people were arriving at and leaving the office at such odd hours. And say the denizens, there's evidence that an exchange of ideas is starting to occur.
Trent Herren, AOL's head of initiatives,is delighted with the flood of talent. "These are the people who are convinced they are going to change the world," he says.
A new layout will shortly double the space available to startups, and AOL will begin reviewing applications for new occupants next month.