Startup Power

Office space for small businesses made simple: New local company changes thereal estate landscape

Co-founder Jonathan Wasserstrum demonstrates the past of landlord marketing tothe DEMO Conference in San Francisco.
TheSquareFoot's own office is a co-working space above New Living in RiceVillage.
Aron Susman, Justin Lee and Wasserstrum — all three native Houstonians — are thebrains behind TheSquareFoot.

In the spring of 2010, Aron Susman found himself in the market for an affordable office space to house his health care startup, something he thought would be as simple as Googling his specifications.

But, of course, it wasn't so easy. A cursory search just left him perplexed and overwhelmed with real estate jargon and untranslatable figures.

He called upon Justin Lee, a friend with a background in commercial real estate, to explain — still Greek.

TheSquareFoot lists more than 1,500 properties from Houston's top 15 real estate leasing companies.

A follow-up call to another real estate-savvy friend, Jonathan Wasserstrum, proved that there were few real estate resources for small businesses. Nor were there easy translations for the boring and unapproachable industry terminology.

So in early 2011, emboldened by tips and connections gleaned at Houston's second official Startup Weekend, the three started laying the groundwork on their own entrepreneurial endeavor: TheSquareFoot, an online commercial real estate leasing platform specifically geared toward Houston's small business community.

The official launch came last September, and other components have gradually come together since, with three significant advancements in June — official offices in the co-working space upstairs at New Living, a first employee hire and a newly-launched website with easy-to-use features.

TheSquareFoot lists more than 1,500 properties from Houston's top 15 real estate leasing companies, with plans to strengthen partnerships and improve operations over the next six months, making the process as simple as possible for the landlord and the customer alike.

"The goal is to get really good in Houston and then expand," Susman says.

"The goal is to get really good in Houston and then expand," Susman tells CultureMap, hinting that Dallas, Austin and New York City are next on the list.

In the meantime, the guys behind TheSquareFoot continue to be involved in the biannual Houston Startup Weekend, this year participating as sponsors.

"We have learned so much as sponsors and mentors, and we've made so many good connections," says Susman, who continues to see significant improvement in the event from year to year, in everything from attendance numbers to idea quality.

This summer's Startup Weekend is a 54-hour frenzy that begins on Friday at START's EaDo space. Click to register as a developer or as a designer, or to secure your spot at the Sunday networking event.

inspiration

2026 jobs forecast

Houston's health care sector will drive job growth in 2026, report predicts

Photo by simonkr/Getty Images

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Buoyed by the growing health care sector, the Houston metro area will add 30,900 jobs in 2026, according to a new forecast from the Greater Houston Partnership.

The report predicts the Houston area’s health care sector will tack on 14,000 jobs next year, which would make it the No. 1 industry for local job growth. The 14,000 health care jobs would represent 45 percent of the projected 30,900 new jobs. In the job-creation column, the health care industry is followed by:

Construction: addition of 6,100 jobs in 2026
Public education: Addition of 5,800 jobs
Public administration: Addition of 5,000 jobs

At the opposite end of the regional workforce, the administrative support services sector is expected to lose 7,500 jobs in 2026, preceded by:

Manufacturing: Loss of 3,400 jobs
Oil-and-gas extraction: Loss of 3,200 jobs
Retail: Loss of 1,800 jobs

“While current employment growth has moderated, the outlook remains robust and Houston’s broader economic foundation remains strong,” GHP president and CEO Steve Kean said in the report.

“Global companies are choosing to invest in Houston — Eli Lilly, Foxconn, Inventec, and others — because they believe in our workforce and our long-term trajectory,” Kean added. “These commitments reinforce that Houston is a place where companies can scale and where our economy continues to demonstrate its resilience as a major engine for growth and opportunity. These commitments and current prospects we are working on give us confidence in the future growth of our economy.”

The Greater Houston Partnership says that while the 30,900-job forecast falls short of the region’s recent average of roughly 50,000 new jobs per year, it’s “broadly in line with the muted national outlook” for employment gains anticipated in 2026.

“Even so, Houston’s young, skilled workforce and strong pipeline of major new projects should help offset energy sector pressures and keep regional growth on pace with the nation,” the report adds.

The report says that even though the health care sector faces rising insurance costs, which might cause some people to delay or skip medical appointments, and federal changes in Medicare and Medicaid, strong demographic trends in the region will ensure health care remains “a key pillar of Houston’s economy.”

As for the local oil-and-gas extraction industry, the report says fluctuations and uncertainty in the global oil-and-gas market will weigh on the Houston sector in 2026. Furthermore, oil-and-gas layoffs partly “reflect a longer-term trend as companies in the sector move toward greater efficiency using fewer workers to produce similar volumes,” according to the report.

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This story originally was published on our sister site, InnovationMap.