You slip in the back door of a shiny office building in the Cottonwood area as you pull on a suit coat. You race upstairs and arrive in time to greet potential clients in your gorgeously outfitted conference room for a chat and a video demonstration of what you can do for them.

Two hours later, you shake hands. The clients head back to their office, and you stop and pick up your mail and messages before heading back home -- because that's really where you work.

It's a scene being repeated often now as people start their own businesses or companies leave their brick-and-mortar offices behind to run a virtual operation -- working mostly from home over the Internet, communicating by e-mail, phone, instant messaging and collaborating by using various software tools. You dump the cost of the office, and employees can be happier and more productive.

But there are disadvantages, too. Where do you meet a potential client -- in your living room? Do you have an employee meeting at a coffee house? Do you answer all your own phone calls or send them all to voice mail? Will you be taken seriously if you do?

That's where Davinci Suites comes in.

Davinci Suites offers virtual businesses a way back into reality, with office and meeting spaces, receptionists and various communications services.

The company has four sites around the valley that cater to virtual companies or just single or small groups of professionals running a business themselves without the benefit of an office.

It offers these services:

» It rents out executive suites for as little as $500 a month , which includes receptionist services, e-mail, Internet access and such.

» A corporate identity: a business address, meeting space and support services and staff starting at $95 a month.

» Services such as telephone answering and voice mail and other office-oriented services for as little as $100 a month.

» Conference rooms for as little as $25 an hour.

Davinci began 11 years ago with a partnership between Sam Souvall and Bill Grodnik.

"I had a sort of vision of what it could be," Souvall said, "that businesses would come together. You would create the space, the services and the support, and make it as easy as we can for businesses to do just what they do."

It also was the economies of scale that interested him.

"You create Fortune 500 infrastructure, and you get to sell it a piece at a time," Souvall said.

But last year, Souvall and Grodnik agreed to split up the business.

Souvall's interests were more in the real estate end of things, while Grodnik had a vision for taking the model nationally and even internationally.

Grodnik formed Davinci Virtual and, through partnerships with local office building operators, has grown the business so it books services and space across the nation and in several foreign countries.

"Our business has really gone from nothing to we'll be doing $10 million in business this year," said Grodnick, president, CEO and majority owner of Davinci Virtual.

From an office in Sugar House, (also a Davinci Suites location), Davinci Virtual offers a call center that answers phones for clients and provides other communication services. Through Davincimeetingrooms.com, it also books rooms at 700 business centers.

"You can basically book a meeting room from New York to L.A. tomorrow at 9 o'clock in the morning," Grodnik said.

Davinci Virtual and Davinci Suites maintain a cordial business relationship and the two executives are friends, the two say.

"We're sort of the physical expression of their offering," said Souvall of the companies' relationship.

Besides the four Salt Lake Valley locations, Davinci Suites has locations in Las Vegas and Albuquerque, N.M.

Souvall said his business had a rough time about a year ago after a Albuquerque bank cut off a line of credit. The company, forced to reinvent itself, listened to its clients and implemented a flexible model, where services are sold as you need them, and not necessarily for long lease periods.

"There was a lot of comfort in thinking, 'I've got that guy on a one year lease' and so to give that up was really a change," he said.

The new model has begun to pay off. Souvall said the company just had its best quarter ever.

But Souvall also sees a higher purpose for the business. It has helped create communities of like-minded people who can meet at Cyber Cafes for a cup of coffee and more.

"I've noticed they really use our cyber cafe," he said of the company's clients. "They do business together. They laugh together. They share problem-solving things. It's really gratifying. That's what I hoped it would turn into."