Packback has an office with schoolhouse vibes and a pup named Pepper

October 11, 2016 By Alida Miranda-Wolff

Packback, which offers short-term rentals for e-textbooks and runs an online question-based learning platform, moved into its own office for the first time in January. The company — which counts Mark Cuban as an investor after it appeared on ABC’s “Shark Tank — wanted a space that celebrated its ties to education and gave it space to grow. Co-founder and head of design Jessica Tenuta took Blue Sky for a tour.

The company moved into the new space at 601 S. LaSalle St. in the South Loop this year. Tenuta said it’s intended to have a “deconstructed schoolhouse” look.

The company has had six previous offices, from the dorms at ISU to 1871, and on to ContextMedia and LearnCore.

As an early-stage company, Packback wanted to be smart with its spending. With the help of employee donations and Craigslist finds, Packback furnished the office for less than $6,000, Tenuta said. She said the company worked worked with its landlord, investor Ed Magnus, and Jeff Prussack, managing partner of Plan the Space, to design and build the space.

“When we were moving from space to space to space, we were trying to look at how you make a space that’s not your own feel like your own,” Tenuta said. The answer? This “responsive mural,” which has moved with the company.

The office “library,” a spot away from the hustle and bustle.

Tenuta painted this mural, which she said shows “notable moments of curiosity throughout time” — including the discovery of fire, the invention of written language and Galileo’s telescope.