Brilliant words Alex.
You truly are the Icon of this business.
···
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Alex Hillman
Sent: 13 October 2014 17:43
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Coworking] Coworking Space in Hyderabad
Raghuveer, the good news is that you’re not alone. The kinds of problems you’re encountering happen everywhere! Unfortunately, people get distracted by the people who don’t get it.
At the risk of sounding all “back in my day…”, remember that for communities like Indy Hall, New Work City, Office Nomads, and others that started in 2006-2008 we didn’t have anywhere to point for examples. NOBODY knew what coworking was, anywhere in the world.
I’m going to tell you the secret: the people you’re worried about aren’t your members, and most will never become members. So you can stop worrying about them.
Don’t try to convince the people who “don’t get it”. That’s an uphill battle. 
**Instead, focus on finding a handful of people who DO get it. **
Encourage them. Support them. And promote THEIR successes.
In time, as people see the kinds of successes that come from working together, more people will come around on their own.
Focus on everybody, and you’ll run out of steam before long. Focus on finding a a few who understand and believe in the same things as you, and you’ll find that you never have to “convince” somebody ever again.
-Alex
On Mon, Oct 13, 2014 at 12:22 PM, Raghuveer Kovuru [email protected] wrote:
Thanks for the reply Tony! Yeah, I am already on the job of convincing people about the benefits of being a coworker at our space. The only challenge that I have is overcoming the local mentalities about cost. They run like this: “Ohhh! Rs. 5000! I would get an air conditioned private cabin for that!” " I need a corner to work. I wouldn’t involve much in events. So will you give me a discount?" and so on. Haha.
So wrecking my brain over what plan to come up with and bolster all these people. I am planning of holding an event with a celebrity speaker that would pull crowds and request the speaker to put in a few words about the advantages of coworking!
On Monday, 13 October 2014 20:07:33 UTC+5:30, Tony Bacigalupo wrote:
Raghuveer, rock on brother! Your space looks amazing and I’m glad to hear you’re looking to bring the true community culture to coworking in your world.
I’m curious when you say this:
In Hyderabad, every space likes to call itself a coworking space and all they do is provide desks and people work in relative isolation! Our space wants to break that barrier! It has been a week now and there is footfall. However, people here mistake coworking to any other shared office or executive space and ask for fancy interiors, private cabins and air conditioning.
Despite our effort to convince them of the synergies that can be achieved at our space, people say they will get back to us and never do. This is the desk side.
I’m finding this to be a common issue as the desk rental industry continues its consumption of the coworking term. But you should be able to identify people who understand, as you do, that it represents something more.
In other words, there are certainly other people out there who know they want something that isn’t a fancy desk rental space. How can you empower those people to take emotional ownership over the project and help you construct a culture that is so irresistable that others who may be more tentative can’t help but want to be a part of it?
The reason I ask this is because to get over the default transactional thinking that many arrive with when they start to look at the world of coworking, we must sometimes work to help people to understand what they really want even if they don’t quite understand it themselves. Sometimes they need to see it shine through so brightly that it shocks them out of their set ways.
So if you can start-- even with just ten or so people-- who really get it, who really buy into it, who really share the same vision as you-- you can define a culture that can perpetuate through hundreds of people across multiple generations over the course of hopefully many years.
Look out for opportunities to forge personal human connections with people. When you host an event, make yourself available and let your passion show. When you encounter people who respond to that energy, engage with them personally, face to face. Get to know them as real people and not just as business contacts.
If there are indeed people out there, and I suspect there must be, they’ll find you. Recruit them not just to be customers, but to be collaborators. Good things will happen from there.
Best of luck, friend. Keep us posted!
Tony Bacigalupo
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On Mon, Oct 13, 2014 at 9:51 AM, Raghuveer Kovuru [email protected] wrote:
Hey all,
I have been researching and following the concept of coworking on several platforms now and have finally opened a coworking (without the hyphen) space (Co.Lab.Orate) in Hyderabad, India. We ensured that we are able to provide affordable desks to startups and entrepreneurs but our focus is more on community building. This we plan to achieve through conducting a series of events and workshops that will promote networking, learning, interaction and collaboration. We also have a dashboard system that none of the other spaces use.
In Hyderabad, every space likes to call itself a coworking space and all they do is provide desks and people work in relative isolation! Our space wants to break that barrier! It has been a week now and there is footfall. However, people here mistake coworking to any other shared office or executive space and ask for fancy interiors, private cabins and air conditioning.
Despite our effort to convince them of the synergies that can be achieved at our space, people say they will get back to us and never do. This is the desk side.
As far as events are concerned, people are showing real interest to hold their sessions at our space due to our free offerings. But I am little skeptical about how much traction this would give our space. We have done our best to make the space lively, positive and informal.
Here’s a look at the space. Would love some suggestions on attracting the right kind of coworkers. I really do not want to compromise on diversity and let it out to a big bunch of people from the same domain. That would be like giving up on my core values of openness, collaboration, sustainability and acceptability. Would hate to see it become another shared space!
’
You can visit our page at Let's Colaborate and follow us on twitter @lets_colaborate
You can also visit our site at www.colaborate.in
Cheers!
Raghuveer Kovuru
Co-Founder/Tummler
+91-9985190002
rag…@colaborate.in
Co.Lab.Orate Coworking
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