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Long before Sasan Goodarzi was the CEO of Intuit, the California-based executive spent a good portion of his early professional career in the tech sector traveling around the State of Georgia. Atlanta, in particular, left a positive impression on him over the years.

Then Intuit eyed Mailchimp, Atlanta’s bootstrapped tech darling. The financial software giant acquired Mailchimp in a $5.7 billion deal in September 2021. Intuit, a Mountain View-based company, had offices on both US coasts and in six other countries. But up until that point, it had not invested in the Southeast. 

Following the Mailchimp acquisition, Goodarzi said that he realized there was more to love about Atlanta than he originally even thought all those years ago. 

“The culture, the talent, and what’s possible in Atlanta is too good to be true,” Goodarzi said this week while visiting Atlanta. “We started looking into whether this could be an Intuit hub.” 

Intuit Mailchimp officially opened that hub this week on the BeltLine in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. The 360,000 square foot building is designed to house Mailchimp’s close to 1,000 employees. But this isn’t just any new office building. The space is designed to highlight Intuit’s commitment to Atlanta and its small business customers around the country. 

Sasan Goodarzi with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens at the Mailchimp office opening

“WE’RE COMPETING WITH PEOPLE’S HOMES” 

Most tech companies have decreased their real estate holdings since the pandemic. But Mailchimp is increasing its office footprint in a major way. Its previous office in Ponce City Market was just a few floors of the building. Now with its new office in Old Fourth Ward, Mailchimp has nine. 

Designing an office space in 2024 is a very different challenge. Return to work mandates have rocked the tech world. Mailchimp has taken a different approach. The expectation is employees are in the two-days a week in the office…