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Having worked in traditional offices, open offices, at home, at Starbucks, and at various coworking spaces - I still don't know how to feel about shared offices
by mv4 9y ago
Having worked in traditional offices, open offices, at home, at Starbucks, and at various coworking spaces - I still don't know how to feel about shared offices. I am using one right now on trial basis, and I can tell once or twice a week is about right for me. It's great for putting together a marketing presentation, not so great for coding.
I also ran a tech coworking space for a couple of years. I shut it down. I will be happy to share what I learned if anyone is interested.
- benjaminasmith 9y agoI'd be interested to hear about those experiences running the tech co-working space.
- mv4 9y agoWe had a relatively small footprint: 4 offices (2..3 desks each), a conference room + projector, 10 dedicated desks, plus some shared space for up to 10 more people. I wanted to focus on tech startups, so we also had a small datacenter on premises, VPN, and everything was wired with subnets etc. I also made accelerator deals with Google, Microsoft, and Amazon so we could award cloud credits to those who needed it. Additionally, we got some lawyers to provide legal advice to members for free. We wanted to provide a good environment for building and launching an MVP (and beyond) [1]. What actually happened: * we did attract a few startups, and we helped them launch * many people were so early in the process, they had no use for cloud credits (or on-site infrastructure) * we did a series of free events (with pizza and beer), and those attracted a lot of people - but did not convert to memberships * we were hoping to get some interest and support from the state (CT) at least in terms of visibility and potential grants for members - but that didn't happen, as the State only wanted to invest in their official incubator in Stamford (which they sank a lot of money into, and ended up evicting the people who ran it [2]) * most trials didn't convert * several more coworking spaces opened in the area, so people began hopping around * attracted a few dreamers, who were constantly in pitching mode - and had no desire to actually sit down and build something (also usually the ones with money problems) Overall, this was a great learning experience. [1] a writeup someone did in on us back in 2013: https://www.smallbizdaily.com/so-youre-thinking-of-starting-a-small-business-incubato/ https://www.smallbizdaily.com/so-youre-thinking-of-starting-... [2] the State-funded "competitor": https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Old-Town-Hall-agency-to-evict-Stamford-Innovation-9963706.php https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Old-Town-Hall...
- sdw1 9y agoI'm also interested in what you learned, and curious as to why you decided to pull the plug.
- mv4 9y agoI just posted some details below. I think my main mistake was trying to be an accelerator as opposed to simple shared space for rent. We couldn't find a way to make it work financially, considering the amount of time and energy it was demanding. I also underestimated the lack of interest in innovation and startups here in CT.
- sdw1 9y agoI appreciate your detailed response (and candor)! Sounds like a great idea on paper -- I would think a "built-in" legal team and infrastructure support would have attracted more interest. Sorry to hear it didn't pan out. Sounds like some shady circumstances around the state-sponsored incubator, on the other hand...
- mv4 9y agoThanks. Yeah, part of the learning experience was figuring out local politics, and getting completely disgusted by it.