Sponsor: Thanks to turnstone, an office furniture company focusing on small businesses, for supporting Silicon Prairie News. The company is sponsoring our monthly Startup Spaces series.

About the author: The Turnstone Tip is authored by Jenny Gauld, a space planner for turnstone.

 In a small office in Omaha Jim Simon founded PeggyBank, a media conversion company that bills itself as saving “JPegs, MPegs and Aunt Pegs.” In 2010 Simon was digging through old photo albums, home movies and audio recordings trying to convert them to digital files. Saving those memories was an uphill battle; each decade brought a new change in media technology which required different methods of digitization. He figured millions of families must be having the same struggles.

Over the last two and a half years the PeggyBank team has grown to 10 employees and taken over much of the office building at 212 S. 74th St. in Omaha. The 5,000 square foot office offers the perfect amount of space for the company, which in addition to computers and digital conversion gear also must store the original film reels, tapes and photographs it receives from customers each day.

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“Given our business, you need space to spread and see everything that’s going on at once,” Simon said.

That’s especially helpful for PeggyBank employees, who often need to monitor three or four projects simultaneously across multiple devices. The workstations are set up in a horseshoe pattern, so workers can wheel around the space efficiently. “The space itself is bright, open with plenty of windows and it creates an atmosphere that’s cooperative,” Simon said. “It’s a nice place to be.”

Nestled between the the University of Nebraska-Omaha and the Aksarben District—home to Straight Shot and SkyVu among others—Peggy Bank’s space offers an area free from the hustle and bustle of downtown but still with its own unique charm. “It’s great in terms of the options and variety of food and shopping nearby,” Simon said.

Turnstone Tip

“Like many young companies, PeggyBank is using their workspace to launch a dream. We love how they have used brand placement in a variety of ways—from pig figurines to prominent logos. We also applaud their open collaboration area that promotes transparency in work and with client dealings. 

If we could encourage PeggyBank with a few tips, we would start by recommending a desking system with power routing to help with cord management. Our Bivi workstations, for example, tuck cords away and keep surfaces tidy. The mail and storage room also seems to be a central hub that could be elevated with the right furniture. A standing-height workspace for group work, such as our Big Table, could help provide an area for snacks and a space for celebrations.”

Above left: the PeggyBank reception desk. Above right: Technicians place film in the reel of a 16mm digital film scanner. As the film passes through the gate a camera in the attached box captures each individual frame with the help of LED lights.

Over a dozen computers are joined by analog-to-digital conversion hardware. One of PeggyBank’s primary office challenges? Cord management.

A play on the timeless favorite—the piggy bank—PeggyBank helps customers save jpegs instead of pennies, and much of the office’s decor plays off its porcine logo.  

The PeggyBank office requires ample storage for gear as well as customer orders.

The company’s 5,000 square foot office space is even equipped with its own conference room. 

A fun game to play at PeggyBank’s offices: Count the number of pigs in each room. Just one in here.

Note the fan on the left of this work area: with all that equipment, it can get pretty hot in the PeggyBank offices.

This post has been co-authored by our sponsor, turnstone.

Credits: Photos by Michelle Vu.

About our sponsor: turnstone gives people in small business the freedom to think and move in ways that inspire, both by creating furniture unique to their needs and by supporting their efforts to thrive. We champion the idea that space and office culture matter, and work behind the scenes to connect the dots so that you can get back to changing the world.