Canopy Health Insurance finds flexible, temporary office space in the midst of raising venture funding

Canopy Health Insurance is a health insurance platform designed to serve the 30 million people who are still uninsured after the rollout of The Affordable Care Act. Started in May 2015, Melody closed its first round of funding in November and will launch on the exchange in November 2016. But as a startup company on the hunt for capital, the two founders - David Pinkert and Sal Gentile - needed a professional home base from which to build their business. Home offices on different sides of Denver, Colorado wasn’t going to cut it.

As a result, Canopy Health Insurance sought out office space with three conditions – flexibility, privacy and affordability. Given their start-up status, they weren’t comfortable signing a lease, especially since they were waiting to close their first round of funding. They simply couldn’t project when they would be able to scale their team, and therefore needed a month-to-month solution.

They had used coworking spaces before, but the open pit environment wasn’t conducive to their type of business. They needed professional office space where they could conduct sensitive business, hold closed door meetings and impress their investors. Privacy in these coworking venues was at a minimum. They also checked with brokers thinking that they’d be able to help them find more traditional office space, but quickly found that flexible inventory didn’t exist, and temporary spaces like Regus were just too expensive.

Frustrated by the lack of options and the rigidity of the traditional commercial real estate model. Canopy Health Insurance felt at a loss. Their only option was to sign a long term lease which they needed to postpone until they secured funding or rent a temporary private office that would cost them just as much as renting their own office space. All they wanted was month-to-month professional office space in which to woo their investors and build their product, and didn’t want to spend tons of money and time trying to cobble one together. Convinced there was something out there, and that commercial real estate brokers couldn’t help, they turned to Google.

It was through a Google search that they found PivotDesk. PivotDesk seemed to be especially made for startups and entrepreneurs connecting host companies with extra space with companies that needed it. After a quick search through PivotDesk’s inventory, Canopy Health Insurance found the perfect space with a company they were already familiar with. Dave was able to preview the host space online and made up his mind within two hours of research. Within days, they moved into a fully furnished private office which gave them full access to conference rooms and office amenities.

"Signing a lease was not an option and other temporary solutions were way too expensive to make sense. With PivotDesk, finding office space became one less thing to worry about and an easy thing to cross off the list. Plus, our experience as a guest was great. For providers in the professional services industry, confidentiality is key. Our hosts not only made us feel welcomed, but they respected our need for privacy and for quiet, heads down work. Moreover, it was the perfect setting in which to host meetings with our investors, contributors and contractors."

Canopy Health Insurance remained in their PivotDesk space for 4 months. After securing their funding, they were able to staff up quickly and sign a 12 month sublease to accommodate their fast growing team. All they needed to do was provide 30 days’ notice to their host.