Managed by Q

Managed by Q was a New York City-based office management technology company that operated a platform connecting offices with vetted vendors and service providers. Its initial offering centered on cleaning and maintenance services booked and tracked through a centralized dashboard, with sources describing app- and iPad-kiosk-based booking and feedback mechanisms intended to reduce the administrative burden on office managers.

Beginning in 2017, the company broadened from vendor matching into a wider workplace operations platform through a self-serve marketplace covering IT support, inventory management, administrative staffing and security, and through acquisitions of task management software provider Hivy (2017) and office space planning and project management firm NVS (2018). The company also operated its own in-house field workforce, the Q Services division, staffed by directly employed cleaners and maintenance workers.

Managed by Q was acquired by WeWork in April 2019 in a deal reported at roughly $220-225 million, and operated as an independently run business within WeWork. After WeWork's failed IPO, the company was divested to competitor Eden in March 2020 for $25 million, at which point most remaining staff were laid off and the brand was expected to be retired; one source states it continued to operate as part of Eden as of 2023.

Founding story

Managed by Q was founded in 2014 in New York City by Dan Teran, who served as CEO, and Saman Rahmanian. Sources describe the founders as responding to the fragmented and inefficient nature of traditional office facilities management in urban workspaces, aiming to give office managers a centralized way to book and track routine maintenance and support services.

Business model

The company sold office management and facilities services to business customers, initially by matching offices to vetted third-party cleaning and maintenance vendors, later through a self-serve marketplace offering subscription or on-demand booking of a broader set of services. It also directly employed field service workers (the Q Services division) on W-2 terms with benefits, and added project-based revenue from space planning and office redesign work following the NVS acquisition.

Fees for office services booked through the platform, on a subscription or on-demand basis, spanning cleaning, maintenance, IT support, administrative staffing, security and inventory management, plus project-based space planning and office move services after the NVS acquisition.

Traction

Reported roughly 247 field operators across its markets by late 2015, approximately 500 employees at the time of the April 2019 WeWork acquisition, and thousands of clients and over 1,000 service professionals at peak. Total venture funding was reported variously as over $100 million and more than $128 million.

Latest developments

WeWork sold Managed by Q to Eden on March 3, 2020 for $25 million. In the following week more than 75 of roughly 100-107 remaining employees were laid off, leaving about 25-30 staff to transition the business to Eden; the Managed by Q brand was expected to be retired. Laid-off staff remained on WeWork's payroll for three months. A further round of layoffs attributed to the coronavirus was reported in April 2020. Grokipedia states the entity continued to operate as part of Eden as of 2023. The managedbyq.com domain now hosts unrelated generic content about resource management topics.