Feeling Flush, Startups Spend Away --- Tech Firms Splurge on Office Space and Attracting Talent, Recalling Some Excesses of Dot-Com Era
San Francisco real-estate agent Jeffrey Moeller wants tech entrepreneurs to spend less.</br></br>"A four-person startup will tell me, 'We need a 10,000-square-foot office for future growth,'" he explains. "I'll say, 'No, you need 1,000 square feet.'"</br></br>"Generally, they just get angry at me," says Mr. Moeller, who during the dot-com-bust had clients that were burned by leases they couldn't afford.</br></br>Mr. Moeller is resisting pressure in startup land to spend, spend, spend. The trend is especially pronounced in San Francisco, where venture capital is pouring in, competition among startups is fierce and rents are rising to dot-com-boom levels.</br></br>Startups feel the need to outspend on recruiting, marketing and designing their offices, echoing poor choices made 15 years ago when companies overextended themselves, then crumbled when the market turned.