Uptime Update

[axon]

Progress has been slower than I like, but steady. Hoped to be open by
10/1, but it's looking like probably 10/6 at this point. New carpet
installed. The conference room and the two privacy rooms are framed,
rocked, and painted. Doors and trim go in Monday. Track lighting
goes up this week, and the network gets installed this afternoon (or
at least it's scheduled to be).

We're getting some tables and chairs, a conference table, and phone
system expansion (card, plus some phones) from one of our partners
(CEPCO - Chico Economic Planning Corp, cepco.com). They are downsizing
and moving their offices in with us at our existing premises (Golden
Capital Network goldencapital.net), and they're bringing over some
furnishings and technology for Uptime. But we won't be able to get at
those items until next weekend, hence the late opening.

We had a painting party yesterday. Jeff, the CTO from a company we're
incubating in our offices, and staffers Shandi and Dana plus myself
primed and painted the new construction. Would have liked to have had
some of the new members join us for the painting, but it was a short
notice thing.

We've set up the auto charge process with our bank. Members' credit
cards will be automatically charged on the first of every month for
dues and accrued charges (if any).

Formal launch party/grand opening will be first week in November,
probably 11/6. Between now and then we need to get and install:
- two large flat panel displays
- riser and stage lighting
- conversation pit sofas and chairs
- countertop across front window, and barstools
- more tables and chairs

Photos of the progress to date are posted on uptimechico.ning.com

--Ax

[axon]

The local alternative weekly published a nice feature story about
Uptime today, including a quote from Tara. http://www.newsreview.com/chico/Content?oid=865597

--Ax

[axon]

We are open for business 10/08/08. W0_oT!

[Allison Rohe]

Congratulations!!

On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 7:23 AM, axon <ax...@axonometrix.com> wrote:

We are open for business 10/08/08.  W0_oT!

--
Allison M. Rohe

[axon]

And we're having our launch party/grand opening/jelly day on Thursday,
November 6. Free jelly coworking all day, with a reception starting
at 4PM, and program at 4:30. We'll have speakers (funding agency,
local and regional entrepreneurs, venture fund partners, etc.), and
more refreshment. And of course, everyone from the list is invited as
well.

--Ax

[axon]

We had a little impromptu soft-launch celebration yesterday
afternoon. Some friends of the network dropped in, staff and some of
the people coworking here, and random visitors (the network installer
came by to tweak some things). Had some cold beers and other
refreshment, cranked up some music, and generally high-fived it into
the early eventing. Coslacking. :-)

The track lighting rails arrived yesterday; still waiting for the
heads. Got all the old computer junk off to Computers for
Classrooms. On Monday, the Arc of Butte County (nonprofit supporting
adults with disabilities) will pick up the three old funky wooden
desks on the GCN side to sell in their store. Then we receive four
nice L-desks to go with the one we're keeping, so we'll have five
resident desks in our existing office space. We're also getting
another conference table, some 8-foot folding tables, and 18 nice
guest chairs (bringing the count to 30 for the center), an expansion
card for the phone switch and a half a dozen more phones. Sometime
this week we're getting two 42" LCD panels, one for the conf room, and
the other for the presentation theater.

Progress is on the march...

--Ax

[axon]

Some new photos up at http://uptimechico.ning.com/photo

--Ax

[axon]

Well, it's been a busy week for Uptime. We got some ink in the local
daily on Wednesday (see at http://www.chicoer.com/business/ci_10904823).
We hosted the board of directors meeting for the Chico Economic
Planning Corporation yesterday morning, and last night was our grand
opening.

Pretty great launch party, I must say. We had a lot of VIPs; an
assemblyman, a county supervisor, two city council members, and two
candidates (one of whom was elected), the city manager and the county
CAO. Lots of brass from CSU-Chico, including the dean of the
engineering school and the faculty coordinator of the entrepreneurship
major. Must have been 100 people come through the door, and more than
one person observed that this was the best ribbon cutting seen in this
town in years.

So we're chilling today, basking in the glow, so to speak. Next week
we do the serious membership drive (goal: 25 net new members by 12/31,
which is cash-positive).

--Ax

On Oct 2, 5:45 am, axon <a...@axonometrix.com> wrote:
> The local alternative weekly published a nice feature story aboutUptimetoday, including a quote from Tara.  http://www.newsreview.com/chico/Content?oid=865597
>
> --Ax

[Tara Hunt]

Congrats Alan! I wish I could have been there!

T

--
--
tara 'missrogue' hunt

Book: The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business (http://www.amazon.com/Whuffie-Factor-Capital-Winning-Communities/dp/0307409503?ie=UTF8)
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Blog: HorsePigCow: Marketing Uncommon (http://www.horsepigcow.com)
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/missrogue
phone: 415-694-1951
fax: 415-727-5335

[Raines Cohen]

Ax: Please ignore my previous P.S., I appreciate the report on the launch.

But this piece caught my eye... that's a pretty aggressive goal, driving rapid growth to an unfamiliar, locally unproven concept during tight economic times. What kind of mix of full-time/part-time members does it assume? What's your backup plan if it is not reached - do you have reserves to tide you over?

In several spaces I've evaluated in the SF Bay Area, it took a year to reach 100% occupancy of desks.

Raines Cohen, your neighborhood Coworking Coach 
Delighted to get some quality productive coworking time at IndyHall this week

[axon]

Raines--

Our model is somewhat different from some of the proto spaces. We
have four resident desks in our existing offices, but in Uptime
itself, there are no residents. All members are on an ad hoc as
needed as available basis. Right now we can very comfortably serve 30
concurrent users at a time. When we reach that point, we can add
another 20 seats, serving up to 50 simultaneous users. My analysis of
other membership organizations suggests we'll max out at about 250
active members.

I don't think 30 net revenue members by the end of the year is
aggressive at all. But my value proposition is significantly
different from a typical resident desk situation. We're not renting
fixed desks; we're charging $99 per month to use our facility like a
health club model. This won't appeal to people who need to be at
their desk 20+ hours per week. It's more for people who need to crank
out deskwork a few hours a day, a couple days a week. The usage
patterns are more fluid, more volatile, and more serendipitous. I
think it will be something like the 80/20 rule, although it's more of
a 10/20/30/40 rule. 10% of users will be there 40% of the time, and
vice versa, with a similar thing happening at 20% and 30%. Our key
markets are sole proprietors, freelancers, remote field force (sales
reps and service techs deployed to the territory from another
location, plus telecommuters, of which there are plenty here), and
true entrepreneurs trying to build businesses with grand scope. The
core characteristic of our ideal member is nomadism. They can work
anywhere they can get signal, and do.

We have operating funding for about six months. And, of course, this
is not our only line of business. We can absorb slow ramp, but I
really don't think that's going to happen. You mention "tight
economic times", which is actually a positive indicator for our
business. Entrepreneurship historically surges during downturns, and
existing businesses in serviced premises are being squeezed out;
Uptime can be soft landing for them.

The communities and the relationships that form within and across them
will be somewhat fragmented and clustered. This won't be a single
unified community of interest, but rather a gathering of tribes, with
plenty of cross-pollination.

Then there's the network outside our premises. We have strong
partnerships with the College of Engineering and College of Business.
They will be deploying interns to Uptime to learn about
entrepreneurship, and those resources will be available to the
members. Also, Engineering has testing labs, prototyping technology,
and earnest scholars looking for cool projects to work on. These
resources will also be available to Uptime members. We have a strong
partnership with the city and the economic development community
generally. We call this "Incubator 2.0". We'll see lots of referrals
from them and other agencies.

Finally, this is the pilot. We'll use this to prove out the model,
make and remedy mistakes, and forge a template for replication in
other markets. I hope to have a half a dozen Uptimes in operation by
the end of 2009.

You can't grow a big company slowly. The iron is hot.

Come visit sometime! We're only about three hours north of Berkeley.

--Ax

On Nov 7, 2:08 pm, "Raines Cohen" <rain...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ax: Please ignore my previous P.S., I appreciate the report on the launch.
> But this piece caught my eye... that's a pretty aggressive goal, driving
> rapid growth to an unfamiliar, locally unproven concept during tight
> economic times. What kind of mix of full-time/part-time members does it
> assume? What's your backup plan if it is not reached - do you have reserves
> to tide you over?
>
> In several spaces I've evaluated in the SF Bay Area, it took a year to reach
> 100% occupancy of desks.
>

> Raines Cohen, your neighborhood Coworking Coach<http://www.CoworkingCoach.com/>

>
> Delighted to get some quality productive coworking time at IndyHall this
> week
>