Hello everyone! So glad to find a community to share ideas and learn best practices! I’ve started the planning phase to explore the feasibility of opening a location in my hometown. Currently, we have 3 others in surrounding towns, but none in my town. We are an up and coming town with a brand new mall, and being in Florida, not many options for professionals looking for this type of environment.
I’ve met with our local Business Alliance, and the Dean of our our local business school. Both will be key in the adoption and growth. Thanks to everyone here, my next step is to start building a community of people before signing a lease.
Here’s my thought (and challenge): as most of you know, this isn’t an easy balance for determining how to even break even. I’m also all for starting small. The best locations i’m finding that would work financially (assuming a group of 10 to start) are in the 1200-1600 SF range. Being in such a small location, I wanted to know if anyone has tried this? And if you have, what about the thought of making sure the initial 10 are all in different verticals?
I’m trying to target the young professionals who have an idea, but not throw them into the typical incubator/accelerator. If we can provide the “core” team as part of the founding group, (think WebDev, Marketing, Tech, Startup Coach, IP Lawyer), my thought is this would work better in the small environment.
I thank you all in advance, and am also planning on taking some road (possibly air) trips to check out some of my new friends!
It’s absolutely better to have diversity than to have a room full of people who do the same thing. But be careful about overthinking curation - that’s distracting you from the real goal which is having people who share things in common other than their work, and so regardless of what kind of work they do. When you ask “who is your coworking space going to be for?” think less in terms of demographics and more in terms of who they are as people and how they view the world. Think of your coworking space like a garden where it’s your job to tend, not sim-city where it’s your job to “play god.”
Especially crucial at small scale, find ways to bring people together OUTSIDE of the space. That way, the space becomes a place where people can come together more easily.
Small is sexy. Take this opportunity to REALLY get to understand how people interact in a small space, and work with them to make those interactions turn into lasting relationships. Truth be told, it’s much easier to understand what’s really important when you start small than when you start big.
Good luck -
-Alex
···
On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 9:50 AM, Keith Pandeloglou [email protected] wrote:
Hello everyone! So glad to find a community to share ideas and learn best practices! I’ve started the planning phase to explore the feasibility of opening a location in my hometown. Currently, we have 3 others in surrounding towns, but none in my town. We are an up and coming town with a brand new mall, and being in Florida, not many options for professionals looking for this type of environment.
I’ve met with our local Business Alliance, and the Dean of our our local business school. Both will be key in the adoption and growth. Thanks to everyone here, my next step is to start building a community of people before signing a lease.
Here’s my thought (and challenge): as most of you know, this isn’t an easy balance for determining how to even break even. I’m also all for starting small. The best locations i’m finding that would work financially (assuming a group of 10 to start) are in the 1200-1600 SF range. Being in such a small location, I wanted to know if anyone has tried this? And if you have, what about the thought of making sure the initial 10 are all in different verticals?
I’m trying to target the young professionals who have an idea, but not throw them into the typical incubator/accelerator. If we can provide the “core” team as part of the founding group, (think WebDev, Marketing, Tech, Startup Coach, IP Lawyer), my thought is this would work better in the small environment.
I thank you all in advance, and am also planning on taking some road (possibly air) trips to check out some of my new friends!
Alex, so glad to hear from you! I spent the weekend listening to all of your podcasts and reading your “must read” list. I’m from South Jersey and used to work in Philly, so you’re definitely on my “must visit” list very soon.
I’ll be reaching out again as I come up with more!
-Keith
···
On Monday, November 30, 2015 at 10:31:49 AM UTC-5, Alex Hillman wrote:
Keith,
Indy Hall started in a roughly 1800 square foot space, not much bigger than you are describing.
It’s absolutely better to have diversity than to have a room full of people who do the same thing. But be careful about overthinking curation - that’s distracting you from the real goal which is having people who share things in common other than their work, and so regardless of what kind of work they do. When you ask “who is your coworking space going to be for?” think less in terms of demographics and more in terms of who they are as people and how they view the world. Think of your coworking space like a garden where it’s your job to tend, not sim-city where it’s your job to “play god.”
Especially crucial at small scale, find ways to bring people together OUTSIDE of the space. That way, the space becomes a place where people can come together more easily.
Small is sexy. Take this opportunity to REALLY get to understand how people interact in a small space, and work with them to make those interactions turn into lasting relationships. Truth be told, it’s much easier to understand what’s really important when you start small than when you start big.
Good luck -
-Alex
The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.
On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 9:50 AM, Keith Pandeloglou [email protected] wrote:
Hello everyone! So glad to find a community to share ideas and learn best practices! I’ve started the planning phase to explore the feasibility of opening a location in my hometown. Currently, we have 3 others in surrounding towns, but none in my town. We are an up and coming town with a brand new mall, and being in Florida, not many options for professionals looking for this type of environment.
I’ve met with our local Business Alliance, and the Dean of our our local business school. Both will be key in the adoption and growth. Thanks to everyone here, my next step is to start building a community of people before signing a lease.
Here’s my thought (and challenge): as most of you know, this isn’t an easy balance for determining how to even break even. I’m also all for starting small. The best locations i’m finding that would work financially (assuming a group of 10 to start) are in the 1200-1600 SF range. Being in such a small location, I wanted to know if anyone has tried this? And if you have, what about the thought of making sure the initial 10 are all in different verticals?
I’m trying to target the young professionals who have an idea, but not throw them into the typical incubator/accelerator. If we can provide the “core” team as part of the founding group, (think WebDev, Marketing, Tech, Startup Coach, IP Lawyer), my thought is this would work better in the small environment.
I thank you all in advance, and am also planning on taking some road (possibly air) trips to check out some of my new friends!
Awesome. You’re welcome to visit in Philly anytime, just shoot us a message to let us know you’re coming!
-Alex
···
On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 10:53 AM, Keith Pandeloglou [email protected] wrote:
Alex, so glad to hear from you! I spent the weekend listening to all of your podcasts and reading your “must read” list. I’m from South Jersey and used to work in Philly, so you’re definitely on my “must visit” list very soon.
I’ll be reaching out again as I come up with more!
-Keith
On Monday, November 30, 2015 at 10:31:49 AM UTC-5, Alex Hillman wrote:
Keith,
Indy Hall started in a roughly 1800 square foot space, not much bigger than you are describing.
It’s absolutely better to have diversity than to have a room full of people who do the same thing. But be careful about overthinking curation - that’s distracting you from the real goal which is having people who share things in common other than their work, and so regardless of what kind of work they do. When you ask “who is your coworking space going to be for?” think less in terms of demographics and more in terms of who they are as people and how they view the world. Think of your coworking space like a garden where it’s your job to tend, not sim-city where it’s your job to “play god.”
Especially crucial at small scale, find ways to bring people together OUTSIDE of the space. That way, the space becomes a place where people can come together more easily.
Small is sexy. Take this opportunity to REALLY get to understand how people interact in a small space, and work with them to make those interactions turn into lasting relationships. Truth be told, it’s much easier to understand what’s really important when you start small than when you start big.
Good luck -
-Alex
The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.
On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 9:50 AM, Keith Pandeloglou [email protected] wrote:
Hello everyone! So glad to find a community to share ideas and learn best practices! I’ve started the planning phase to explore the feasibility of opening a location in my hometown. Currently, we have 3 others in surrounding towns, but none in my town. We are an up and coming town with a brand new mall, and being in Florida, not many options for professionals looking for this type of environment.
I’ve met with our local Business Alliance, and the Dean of our our local business school. Both will be key in the adoption and growth. Thanks to everyone here, my next step is to start building a community of people before signing a lease.
Here’s my thought (and challenge): as most of you know, this isn’t an easy balance for determining how to even break even. I’m also all for starting small. The best locations i’m finding that would work financially (assuming a group of 10 to start) are in the 1200-1600 SF range. Being in such a small location, I wanted to know if anyone has tried this? And if you have, what about the thought of making sure the initial 10 are all in different verticals?
I’m trying to target the young professionals who have an idea, but not throw them into the typical incubator/accelerator. If we can provide the “core” team as part of the founding group, (think WebDev, Marketing, Tech, Startup Coach, IP Lawyer), my thought is this would work better in the small environment.
I thank you all in advance, and am also planning on taking some road (possibly air) trips to check out some of my new friends!
We're up and running on Nexusdus! Come check us out at CoworkLWR.com!
We've been tummling for the past couple months and are gaining traction. Next step is to engage our early partners in our space search and layout plans.
We couldn't have done it without the power of this group, and Alex especially you've been great. More updates to come!
