The next steps

[Nick Quaranto]

Hey folks!

I'd like to get moving on the next steps for Coworking in Buffalo. Here's what I think are the next steps:

1) Get a solid "board" going. From what it sounds, we should make a non-profit organization so we can rent the space out as a group instead of an individual. I'll volunteer to be leader/el señor presidente to start. I'd like to start with a team of 3 (or 5). Any takers?

2) Determine who'd be willing to pay and for how much. How often would you go? Where's your preferred area? Ideally this could be done as a survey, we can shoot it out to this list and to BOCC. Perhaps other local dev/tech/design groups too.

3) Look at some spaces. It's February 7th. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I'd like to get coworking figured out by March. Deadlines prove to be helpful in focusing on what really matters.

4) Decide on a name. My vote: CoworkVillage. This can be debated on later and isn't as important as 1-3 right now though.

Let's do this. I'm excited. This is going to be a huge, positive change for Buffalo, and I want to make it happen.

I'm going to kick off a Basecamp project to get this going, whoever is interested in *organizing* the coworking space (as opposed to *being* a coworker), please reply here or to me directly.

-Nick

[Dan Magnuszewski]

I'm down for being on the board. Brian Fending and I have had a lot of discussions around this and have amassed a "coalition of the willing". We had the initial agreement being $100/month ($75 student rate. ex: Alex Levine) with a 6 month commitment. This would include coffee and ideally 24/7 access.

I got positive responses from the following:

John Miller
Nick Quaranto
Kevin Purdy
Dan Magnuszewski
Brian Fending
Alex Levine
Kevin John Gomez

Curtis Duhn is interested in paying daily/weekly, but can't commit to monthly.

-Dan

[Kevin Purdy]

What Dan said.

- - -

Kevin Purdy

+ Site: http://thepurdman.com

+ Google+: https://bit.ly/kpgplus

[John Miller]

I'm on board.  As I mentioned, I'm in for a 6 month commitment at $100/month.  I will only be actually co-working one or two days a week, max, but I feel like having a co-working space available for the Buffalo tech community is important enough that I'm willing to help subsidize it, even if I can't personally take much advantage of it.

As we start to get into tax season, things around here get a little tighter than they might otherwise be.  In December, I'd told Dan that if he needed my $600 up front in order to help secure a location, I'd be more than willing, but that offer may have to be revised these days (especially with an upcoming trip to Vegas, although I hope that it will change the circumstances for the better).

Personally, I'm not really interested in looking at spaces, etc.  As long as there's a desk when I occasionally want to use one, I'm a happy guy.  If I don't have to shell out $6 for parking to do that, I'm even happier, but it's definitely not a deal-breaker.  I trust people smarter than me to make those decisions.

[Brian Fending]

What Kevin said. Plus the term "co-op" which is perhaps appropriate to the pooling of resources and risk, the board, etc. Not married to it, though I've had a number of sidebar conversations on the subject.

Another thing is to promote this as "supporting coworking in buffalo", even if one's usage is predicted to be low. I'm tired of the High Interest / Low Commitment dichotomy. Damn it, if you like the idea so much dig deep and find a way to support it. Cheerleading never won a football game, though it's fun to watch. Thanks for picking up the ball, Nick.

On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 9:26 AM, Kevin Purdy <ksp...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Steve Poland]

Parking and natural light are my interests, and people there to motivate me to leave my home desk.

Another option is figuring out a good space to cowork and setup specific days/times and get people to commit. Someone mentioned the loft at Dolci on Elmwood (at Auburn?) as being an open space that is basically vacant all day long.

--
Steve Poland 
http://twitter.com/popo

[Nick Quaranto]

I actually just noticed the loft at Dolci yesterday...had no idea that was a thing. Need to check it out.

I've invited a few folks to Basecamp about getting this off the ground. Let's do this.

-Nick

[nicholas Barone]

I mentioned Dolci, it would be a good place to try weekly or bi-weekly coworking in the EV, in a low cost space before diving into a full fledged space. It would be a good place to discuss this idea going forward too.

--
--
Nicholas Barone
Design Director and Owner at
NicholasBarone.com

[+] click: barone....@gmail.com
[+] visit: http://nicholasbarone.com
[+] chat: nicholas3005 (AIM)
[+] twitter: nb3004

[Christopher Buryta]

I started morningdo.org to try to get a weekly co-working thing going. I'd be willing to ditch that and take the lead to organize a weekly or bi-weekly co-work that is not  focused on a morning-only timeline. I'd assume that would involve things like making sure the notices were sent out reminding people, and keeping track of the when/where's.

Chris Buryta

bur...@gmail.com

twitter: cburyta

aim: cburyta

[Andy Staple]

I'd be willing to do 100 a month if it is open 24 hours. I work some weird hours, so that is a big sell for me. 

--
Andy Staple
Founder
Staple Web Design
http://www.staplewebdesign.com

[nicholas Barone]

We're going to run into the same problem we've had in the past where we have, forgive the metaphor, too many chiefs and not enough indians. The coalition of the willing needs to all get in the same room to get on the same page, put someone in charge of making it happen, etc. 

I have opinions as i'm sure everyone else will so it will take some butting head in person to make this a reality.

[Brian Fending]

Nick B: You are officially invited to be an Indian and assassinate competing Chiefs. Horseback riding optional, but you must bring a checkbook. (not at all offensive, I'm sure)

[Nick Quaranto]

That's basically what I'm trying to do here, is rally the troops and lead the charge. I'm used to everyone trying to be a chief, it's nothing new to me :)

Nick, if you're interested in helping organize/visit/set up this, let me know. This post is mostly a call to action for those interested in organizing the space (not so much interested coworkers).

[Dan Gigante]

We finally moved into our space at the Tri-Main, where we're subleasing from our printer. Already we think it's too small and would consider leasing our own space here. Would you guys be interested in Co-Working being at Tri-Main? You're welcome to come by our current office to check it out - just let me know when.

In the meantime I will talk to the building manager about available space.  You and Who would lease the entire space on our own and would just want a commitment for X number of months either for individuals or for the soon- to-be-created entity for Co-Working that has been talked about.

Ideally we get "our own Tri-Main" downtown for IT companies/startups and coworking, so I understand this could be a short term thing.  

[nicholas Barone]

Tri-Main could be a good option, only issue I have is that it feels like it's on an island. Always good to ask still, Dan.

Nick, you can consider me part of the "coalition of the willing"

Name the date and time you think we should do and we can get everyone in the same room. 

[Dan Magnuszewski]

I know that we can probably meet up to check out the facilities that NxtArrow has at the Electric Tower, ASAP (just to do our diligence). I don't know if their biz model will work for us, but worth at least checking out their new space.

-Dan

[Patrick Jones]

Ahoy friends.
Count me in.
$100/mo
24/7 is superb.

~Patrick

http://www.mpwebdesign.net

[Dan Magnuszewski]

Woohoo!

[Chris Smith]

I'm in for $100/per month with a six month commitment. Also, I'm more
than happy to be an Indian rather than a chief. I don't want to
organize anything, I just want a cool place to work with people who
don't suck. Tired of coffee shop chairs.

Chris