The New Viget Labs Headquarters

Today, we announced our move to a brand new building in the City of Falls Church. It's an exciting announcement for all of us, but especially for those of us who have been with the company for a number of years. We've moved six times since we started in 1999. Six times. That's a lot. Those who went through it know what I'm talking about. Our first space was a townhouse basement, with folding tables and an angry homeowners association. Our first real office building was so dilapidated that they had to kick us out to tear it down. Our next space was so small that Andy and I couldn't roll away from our desks at the same time without colliding. I could go on ... Real progress for any bootstrapped company is often hard to measure. The most valuable progress isn't material stuff; but, tangible things like office space are often the most noticeable. We're proud of what we've accomplished over the years and we're thrilled to be in a position to invest in the future of Viget with this new office. It's a testament to the hard work of our team here and to the success of our clients, and both will benefit from the upgraded digs. Why The City of Falls Church? Contrary to what you might think, it's not just because Andy and I both live nearby. Falls Church is ideal for Viget for a number of reasons:

• Location - It's the most central option for our staff, which is spread from Rockville to Alexandria, Ashburn to DC, Fairfax to Arlington. We also have plans to host events and seminars, and Falls Church is easy to get to (and parking at our space is a breeze). We considered Tysons (also fairly central); but, we were concerned that the Metro going in will create a traffic nightmare.
• Growth - There are grand plans to overhaul downtown Falls Church into an "urban village." A lot of that work has begun, with major developments going up on Broad St. and next to our new building. While it'll never be the next Adams Morgan (thankfully), it will be a nice downtown area, and being in the center of it will be a lot of fun.
• Incentives - The City of Falls Church is dedicated to attracting technology companies, and they're offering tax incentives as encouragement. Since we hate paying taxes, we found that appealing.
• New Construction - We looked at a variety of spaces that could support our growth to 40-50 folks; but, nothing seemed to fit just right. 400 S. Maple is a new building and the entire second floor was available for build-out. We were able to pick the perfect size and layout for our business and could expand further if needed.

My favorite features? The "fishbowl" lounge, complete with the big screen and Wii is clearly up there, as is the garage door that lets us open up our conference room for hosting events. After being cramped for the past year or so, having sufficient meeting rooms and even space for future growth feels cool, too. When I think back to all of the not-so-glamorous offices we've had in the past, I'm mostly just thankful for things like clean carpet, new appliances, and the sense that we're in our own space, not just squatting on the leftovers of someone else. We're settling in over the next few weeks or so; but, we look forward to having visitors come check out the all-new Viget HQ.