The social venture turned to Breather for a flexible office that could support its growing headcount and provide the privacy it needed to build company culture.

Founded in 2016 by Stanford University MBA students, Patrick Schmitt and Jenny Xia Spradling, FreeWill is an award-winning social venture that provides totally free estate planning to consumers. FreeWill also works with over 200 nonprofits nationwide to empower its users to leave a portion of their estate to charitable causes — often an afterthought in estate planning. To date, more than $900 million has been committed to nonprofit organizations by FreeWill customers.

After proving out the concept for FreeWill at Stanford, Patrick and Jenny chose New York as the ideal launchpad for the company’s continued growth given the city’s active nonprofit sector. The HearstLab incubator program in Hearst Tower was FreeWill’s entry point into the city. The program, beginning in July, 2018 also provided the 10-person team with free office space for 12 months. This gave Patrick and Jenny the headspace to focus on scaling the business.

The search for a new office

After a year in the Hearst Tower, it was time for FreeWill to find a new home for its growing team. Celia Zhang, Head of Special Projects at FreeWill, was tasked with finding their new HQ.

“Honestly, I was scared we weren’t going to be able to find anything close to what our team had become accustomed to at HearstLab and its amazing views of the city,” said Celia.

In March 2019, FreeWill started the office space search process, exploring a variety of options. Like many early-stage startups, FreeWill needed a space that helped them balance cost with flexibility.

“Our main consideration was to find a space that would eventually feel like home, a place to solidify our culture as a company.”

“We looked at coworking, private offices, and traditional commercial spaces. Our main consideration was to find a space that would eventually feel like home, a place to solidify our culture as a company,” explained Celia. “We also needed to be thoughtful about our growth. With plans to double our headcount over a 12-month period, it was important that we found a space solution that could accommodate a possible transition to a larger space when needed without the costs associated with breaking a lease.”

A new home in Chelsea

The team initially considered coworking, but were quickly deterred when they learned about the credits system required for conference room access. With the team’s volume of daily meetings, this option seemed both overly complicated and expensive. Added to this, Jenny and Patrick really wanted a private space to help grow and build FreeWill’s culture. Patrick and Jenny ultimately chose Breather, moving into their own office at 322 8th Avenue in Chelsea, which offered a beautiful space to build their growing company culture and the flexibility to upgrade into a larger Breather space within a month’s notice to match their headcount. As a Breather customer, FreeWill also has access to additional Breather meeting spaces in the building.

“With Breather we got our own space instead of having to share with other businesses.”

“For FreeWill, a traditional 5-year lease would have been shackling. A company like ours is growing so quickly it’s impossible to have a clear idea of how much space we’ll need down the road. We also determined the cost of coworking was equal to a Breather space, but with Breather we got our own space instead of having to share with other businesses,” explained Patrick.

“It may seem simple, but the power of having our own private kitchen, lunch area, and conference rooms has really made all the difference. Our employees love the design and Breather takes care of all our needs,” added Celia.

The space also served as a blank canvas for FreeWill to build its company culture. Since moving in, FreeWill has added touches to make the space feel uniquely theirs, including their own signage and breakout rooms named after famous “Wills.” One of the team’s favorite spots in the office is their conference room dubbed ‘Serena Williams’, which overlooks tennis courts in Chelsea.

“Breather gives us the flexibility to grow on our own terms and our own space to build culture,” added Patrick. “On top of that, they took care of things we didn’t even know we needed. There’s no way we would have such a good experience without their help.”