Start an AI Company Office Progression Guide
Bedroom to campus without wasting billions on empty open-plan flex.
Space is a progression gate in Start an AI Company. You begin in a bedroom, then climb through co-working, office, HQ, tower, and campus while furnishing floors that must still hold GPUs, staff, and working servers. Expand too early and you bankrupt the product. Expand too late and hardware caps choke users. This guide times each stage.
Why rooms matter
Each stage raises the ceiling for:
- GPU rack count and server fills (GPU Tier List)
- Headcount for engineers, researchers, marketers (Staff Tier List)
- Contract capacity and crisis recovery space (Contracts & Crises)
- Visitor showcase quality (Players)
- Offline earnings potential (more productive floor area left running)
Furniture is optional flavor until those systems are fed.
Stage-by-stage priorities
Bedroom
Prove the loop from Getting Started: redeem UPDATE, train a coherent model (Train and Launch), buy first GPU fills. Unlock co-working when the bedroom physically cannot hold the next rack — not when you are bored of the wallpaper.
Co-working
Add a second productive zone. Keep aesthetics minimal. Hire the first researcher / engineer pair. Avoid turning co-working into a lounge that seats more NPCs than GPUs.
Office
This is where many runs stabilize. Fill every unlocked compute slot before shopping statement desks. Marketers become reasonable once launches are proven. Start browsing safer contracts.
HQ
HQ tempts vanity. Resist until racks and payroll are healthy. HQ should amplify throughput and research, not just look fundable on a thumbnail. If a sell is near (Sell and Restart), calculate whether HQ cash would earn more as prestige fuel.
Tower
Vertical expansion is for CEOs who already understand fills. Bring redundant power for peak launches. Use tower floors to separate research labs from noisy marketing pits if the layout allows.
Campus
Endgame flex with real stakes: rival labs, AI chip arcs, large contract boards, and visitor traffic. Campus furniture finally matters for likes and tours — after compute density is absurd. Showcase routes help the Players social layer without sacrificing offline production.
Expansion checklist (every stage)
- Are current GPU slots filled?
- Is payroll under control for the next 2–3 launches?
- Do I have a producer model worth scaling?
- Will the new room unlock a hard cap I am already hitting?
- If I expanded tomorrow after a prestige, would bonuses make this spend look silly?
If you answer “no” to 1–3, stay. If “yes” to 4, expand. If “yes” to 5, consider selling first.
Furnishing rules of thumb
| Priority | Examples | When |
|---|---|---|
| Functional | Racks, desks that enable workstations, pathing | Immediately |
| Efficiency | Layouts that shorten click paths | After fills |
| Social | Photo spots, lobby flex for visitors | HQ+ |
| Pure vanity | Neon that does nothing | After campus compute is stacked |
Cash routing diagram (mental)
Launch profits → GPU fills → critical staff → expansion unlock → light furniture → next train. Codes (Codes Hub) plug holes early; they are not a reason to buy a campus fountain in week one.
Offline earnings & logout hygiene
Before quitting, walk the space: every rack enabled, best model live, no half-accepted crisis hanging. Bigger campuses multiply the cost of a careless logout.
Multiplayer layout theft (the good kind)
Visit peers in your 10-player server. Screenshot rack rows and staff clusters that feel efficient. Do not copy decorative spam that hides empty compute. Ask what stage they unlocked before their first sell.
Scripts will not place your walls better
Auto-build injectors are unverified for this title and unsafe (Scripts Hub, Executor Safety). Manual expansion teaches the cost curve you need for prestige timing.
Patch awareness
If Kairo Experiences retunes unlock prices, check Launch Notes and the Updates Hub. Re-run the expansion checklist after every major patch.
Related pages
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers about codes, GPUs, staff, and selling your company.
When should I leave the bedroom in Start an AI Company?
When hardware or headcount is hard-capped — not when you merely want new wallpaper. Prove a model and first GPU fills first.
Is furniture required to progress?
Functional pieces that enable work matter. Pure vanity can wait until HQ or campus, after racks are filled.
Should I expand right before selling the company?
Sometimes no. If prestige bonuses would refund the unlock faster, sell first. Compare against Sell and Restart guidance.
Do bigger offices increase offline earnings?
Larger productive setups generally improve idle output when left running correctly. Empty decorated halls do not.
What is the full office order?
Bedroom → co-working → office → HQ → tower → campus, with furnishing layered on as compute allows.