When Ben Kaplan became CEO of CashStar in late 2013, it was clear that the growing Portland-based digital gift card company was in need of new space for a workforce now topping 100 people.
CashStar had already reached capacity, but its office space had other limitations. It lacked the quality and amenities the company needed to attract great talent. Worse, the office was spread over three floors and across two adjacent buildings. It was far from an ideal situation for a company that puts a premium on open, collaborative spaces.
“We needed to have enough space that it could support additional hiring in the coming years, but not too much space that it would be cost-prohibitive or overwhelm the 100-plus employees that work in our Portland office,” Kaplan says. “We wanted a pretty open and integrated floor plan with a lot of meeting rooms, a lot of collaboration spaces. … The nature of our business requires a lot of cross-collaboration so we wanted to feel like one integrated building.”
