Today we’d like to introduce you to Nadim Ahmed.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Without my parents or two younger brothers, I had migrated to United States at the age of seven. Although I didn’t want to leave my family behind, I knew I had to do it for my future. So naturally I took life, school, and my childhood very seriously. After I received my Electrical Engineering degree from Purdue University, I started work at a Pharmaceutical Company, Eli Lilly. Later I decided to follow the footsteps of my family and focus in business.
I got my MBA and worked in business manager roles in various companies developing products and strategies. In the various roles I had, I always felt that I wasn’t really utilizing all of me, if that makes sense, especially after taking life so seriously.
From my experience in corporations in cubicles, I always wanted to develop a workplace where people can come to work on their talents/passion with the support of the community. My one attempt at that was when a partner and I started custom designing cubicles, buying them from Taiwan, and selling them here. The company did well initially but then I lost trust in my partner and decided to sell my share to him. I then wanted to open a workplace but similar to a coffee shop. That is when I realized about coworking and saw multiple competitors in the market where I couldn’t differentiate so I put that on the backburner. All this occurred while I had a full time job. After having a family, I decided to base my roots in Dallas. One day I was randomly looking at Venture X’s parent company’s website and saw that they were offering a new franchise, Venture X, a coworking space! Apparently, that was also the day Venture X was added to their website. Venture X was perfect with its modern professional design and exactly in the businesses I wanted to be in. I was one of the first to sign on to the franchise; now about a year later, there are more than 70 Venture X franchises signed globally. It was a little tough getting started as I didn’t have any experience, so banks and landlords pretty much ignored me. After a few speed bumps and a lot of work and support, we finally opened Venture X – Galleria on April 2018! I am extremely proud of what we all created, and I can’t wait to share the modern work environment with the entire community!
Has it been a smooth road?
Along with the long SBA loan process, the most surprising thing to me was the amount of control everyone wanted over the project. Yes, it can be stressful, but I rather have speed bumps then not travel at all.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
In basic terms, we sell office space, but really, we are much more than that. Just like Starbucks, we are an experience. Yes, we provide a place to work but since that is where adults spend most of their time, we do everything to ensure that you love your workspace. We provide a modern open floor plan designed by Gensler with high ceilings, big windows, and offices with a mix of noise insulated walls and ceiling to floor glass walls to ensure you feel part of the community. We then fill it with the most comfortable and top of the line furniture, put in soothing lounge music, provide white noise so you can tune out your neighbor’s conversations, brew Italian lattes and Starbuck’s coffee, provide snacks, as well as any office amenities that you may need (projector screens, speakers, hi-tech conference rooms, private phone rooms, to go food, event area, and even nap rooms). Lastly because we want you to focus on your work and because we want to see you grow your business, we provide a concierge style service in a boutique atmosphere where the Community Coordinator will hold weekly events and ensure that the members of that community connect and help each other just like they would in a big corporation.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Dallas is an amazing city. I switched jobs just to be here, to build a foundation for my family. I have never seen growth like this before and this place has so much potential. With so many entrepreneurs and companies coming here, there is a big demand for office spaces, especially the modern co-working ones. There are currently 15,000 co-working spaces. By 2022, in four more years, there will be 2 times that!
If you are starting out here, I would highly recommend making sure to differentiate yourself. There are a lot of co-working space in Dallas. Provide a good product that solves needs. Simply doing something because it was successful for someone else will lead to failure. Find your niche.
As for improvement, of course a better transportation system as well as more of the mixed use outdoor type of real estate, where you can live and play at the same place.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5301 Alpha Rd., Suite E80
Dallas, TX 75240 - Website: www.VentureX.com
- Phone: 972-666-8375
- Email: nadim.ahmed@venturex.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vx_galleria/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/VentureXGalleriaTX/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/VX_Galleria
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/venture-x-galleria-dallas
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/venture-x-galleria-texas/
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
