Coworking Business Plan
brydon
financing to get a space in Guelph, Ontario for coworking.
Does anyone have any advice or resources on determining a realistic
workspaces/members ratio? For example, if you have 10 workspaces plus
some solid common space then you can realistically support 30 full
time members.
thanks,
brydon
Jacob Sayles
all the elements. I have a rough spreadsheet that lets me adjust rent
and payroll to see what prices I would have to charge at what head
count. The real question is are you trying to break even, or are you
trying to make money? Add to that question how important is the
community aspect of a space like this. If you go too corporate, or
scale too big, there could be a serious hit to the energy of the
place. I know and trust myself to be the protector of the good vibes,
but there is no way to get that into a business model. I'm still
trying to figure out if I'm going to approach a bank, or try to
bootstrap this myself.
I'd love to work with more on this if you would like to discuss this further.
Jacob Sayles
Nomad & Founder
officenomads.com
Alex Hillman
But, I'm still struggling to define costs, nonetheless.
Perhaps the groups that are all in the same spot can help each other draft a document, a spreadsheet of some sort, to help us as well as others in the same spot moving forward? A good friend of my is a financial analyst and would be happy to offer advice on it once we get it to a point where we feel like sharing.
-Alex
-----
--
-----
Alex Hillman
web.developer.innovation.consultant
vocal: 484.597.6256
digital: al...@weknowhtml.com
visual: www.weknowhtml.com | www.dangerouslyawesome.com
local: www.independentshall.org
Jacob Sayles
resource. I am based in Seattle, but I'm thinking bigger then just my
one (eventual) location. The coworking wiki, and people like Tara and
Chris of Citizen Space are excellent resources. I'd like to tie all
of this together and bring it to the people. I'm still learning what
it takes to bring a space like this together and don't have any extra
resources to document and webify everything. I would love to
collaborate more and offer real-estate on officenomads.com for the
task.
Jacob Sayles
Nomad & Founder
officenomads.com
Greg Pederson
Greg
"It's it and that's that."
- Ancient Chinese Proverb
Greg Pederson
Greg.P...@gmail.com
e...@cubespacepdx.com
I'm sorry I am behind on this discussion, but here are my 2cents.
My husband and I own CubeSpace, which is a much larger coworking
facility than Jacob is looking at creating. We have spoken recently
with Jacob as well as Tara and Chris from Citizen Space and we all
have different models that require very different business plans. We
have 13,000 square feet because we were really focussed on flexibility
and economies of scale. When we were looking at smaller spaces, our
costs went up tremendously. We spent a HUGE amount of time looking at
the member/workspaces ratio, and to be honest, our projections were
horribly wrong, but with a bunch of revisions we are actually on track
based on a combination of meeting spaces/businesses services and
workspaces.
We primarily have memberships where members do not have dedicated
spaces, but we store their stuff. We do have a few "permacubes" which
is more of the CitizenSpace model, but those are much more expensive.
The model will also depend on whether that common space is revenue
producing or not. Our largest common space (1,000 square feet) does
produce some revenue, bit we primarily use it as a way to build
community.
We also have staff (2.5FTE) and that added to our expenses as well.
I hope this was helpful, feel free to email me if you want to have a
longer discussion and we will do our best to share what we have
learned (which is a whole lot, but all of it may not be applicable to
your situation).
-Eva
e...@cubespacepdx.com
We at CubeSpace have, and we basically got the hand. They don't
understand the coworking model and certainly don't have a clue about
projection models (they kept ignoring our efforts and just wanted to
apply a standard tenant ratio, which did not work at all. I think the
SBA and those that distribute SBA funding are really eons behind the
grassroots driven coworking model and it will be a while before they
are willing and/or able to convince their loan committees that they
are efforts worth funding (the Business Week article
notwithstanding).
Your experience in Florida may be different, but our efforts to
convince folks here has cost us actual money (interest we paid on a
contractor's bill while they dithered for MONTHS and then rejected our
application) and a huge amount of time.
-Eva
On May 8, 7:25 am, "Greg Pederson" <greg.peder...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm curious if anyone has approached economic development committees, SBA,
> or the Chamber of Commerce about help with setting up a coworking spot??
> I'm in Orlando, FL and would love to see a coworking spot get up and
> running. It seems though that someone has to take a risk to get it up and
> at the moment I'm not in a position to take that financial risk.
> Greg
>
> On 5/8/07, Jacob Sayles <jsay...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > My full vision is to turn Office Nomads into exactly this kind of
> > resource. I am based in Seattle, but I'm thinking bigger then just my
> > one (eventual) location. The coworking wiki, and people like Tara and
> > Chris of Citizen Space are excellent resources. I'd like to tie all
> > of this together and bring it to the people. I'm still learning what
> > it takes to bring a space like this together and don't have any extra
> > resources to document and webify everything. I would love to
> > collaborate more and offer real-estate on officenomads.com for the
> > task.
>
> > Jacob Sayles
> > Nomad & Founder
> > officenomads.com
>
> > On 5/7/07, Alex Hillman <dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I'm in the same spot, and because of the desire to keep things agile and
> > > remain experimental, am hesitant to go to banks or other "traditional"
> > > lending venues. Bootstrapping gives us more control in the right places.
>
> > > But, I'm still struggling to define costs, nonetheless.
>
> > > Perhaps the groups that are all in the same spot can help each other
> > draft a
> > > document, a spreadsheet of some sort, to help us as well as others in
> > the
> > > same spot moving forward? A good friend of my is a financial analyst and
> > > would be happy to offer advice on it once we get it to a point where we
> > feel
> > > like sharing.
>
> > > -Alex
>
> > > On 5/7/07, Jacob Sayles <jsay...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > I'm doing the same thing here in Seattle and it's tricky balancing out
> > > > all the elements. I have a rough spreadsheet that lets me adjust rent
> > > > and payroll to see what prices I would have to charge at what head
> > > > count. The real question is are you trying to break even, or are you
> > > > trying to make money? Add to that question how important is the
> > > > community aspect of a space like this. If you go too corporate, or
> > > > scale too big, there could be a serious hit to the energy of the
> > > > place. I know and trust myself to be the protector of the good vibes,
> > > > but there is no way to get that into a business model. I'm still
> > > > trying to figure out if I'm going to approach a bank, or try to
> > > > bootstrap this myself.
>
> > > > I'd love to work with more on this if you would like to discuss this
> > > further.
>
> > > > Jacob Sayles
> > > > Nomad & Founder
> > > > officenomads.com
>
> > > > On 5/4/07, brydon < brydongill...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > > I'm trying to put together a business plan to support the real
> > estate
> > > > > financing to get a space in Guelph, Ontario for coworking.
>
> > > > > Does anyone have any advice or resources on determining a realistic
> > > > > workspaces/members ratio? For example, if you have 10 workspaces
> > plus
> > > > > some solid common space then you can realistically support 30 full
> > > > > time members.
>
> > > > > thanks,
> > > > > brydon
>
> > > --
> > > -----
> > > --
> > > -----
> > > Alex Hillman
> > > web.developer.innovation.consultant
> > > vocal: 484.597.6256
> > > digital: a...@weknowhtml.com
> > > visual:www.weknowhtml.com|www.dangerouslyawesome.com
> > > local:www.independentshall.org
>
> --
> "It's it and that's that."
> - Ancient Chinese Proverb
>
> Greg Pederson
Greg Pederson
Chris Messina
local government to get support for their coworking initiative... I'm
not sure, but I think so.
CoworkingParis has a similar situation, though working with some
corporate sponsors as well as Paris mayor's office.
Lastly, I would encourage you, if you don't have the financial
resources, to start investing your time into pioneering the local
municipal connection for coworking as we are doing for getting green
certified (thanks Ivan!). Jusr because it's not obvious that others
are or have done this yet shouldn't be a deterent -- in fact, it'd be
great if you could take those first steps in setting the model!
Chris
--
Chris Messina
Citizen Provocateur &
Open Source Ambassador-at-Large
Work: http://citizenagency.com
Blog: http://factoryjoe.com/blog
Cell: 412 225-1051
Skype: factoryjoe
This email is: [ ] bloggable [X] ask first [ ] private
Steve Purkiss
tried set up a coworking-esque space by the bootstrapping method. My
journey has taken me from the UK to Toronto, Kingston ON, and back
here to the UK. As it happens, if I'd stayed here, I could've spent
what I spent in that time setting it up, but that's another story, and
I appreciate the lessons I've learned.
It is my belief that an enormous amount of these spaces will need to
be built across the world to house the independent worker/'nomad'
contractor/road warrior/etc. group, which by some figures is expected
to be 50% of the working population by 2010 - not a long time in the
future.
My particular angle is to provide spaces in towns and cities which act
on two levels - a public angle and a private/member angle. I believe
in the value of networking and the simple fact that the more people
you meet, the luckier you get.
Through my journeys, I have had some close shaves with being offered
space to start up, but so far they have all fallen through. Most of
the time it seems a lot of these spaces are run by people who either
want cheap employees to help with their own work, or businesses to
incubate. As my main goal is to increase the awareness of free and
open source software (no, haven't mentioned that yet as not totally
relevant to this particular discussion), I don't come from either of
those angles. One guy even wanted to have police background checks on
all members, and every time I talked about a particular idea for the
space, he then went and did it himself, thus pushing us out. Another
guy said he'd help, and the deal was that people there help his
projects 1/3 of the time, the group's another 1/3, and we'd get help
on ours the other 1/3. This turned out to be 3/3 working on his stuff.
I did however get some support from a "think tank" group who realised
the effects of providing these spaces, and they wanted me to build one
in the centre of the city then a further five in suburbs so that it
would connect the city. In terms of cutting pollution, bringing
communities closer together, and providing much-needed workspaces for
the future population, I believe I have a suitable, sustainable plan.
It's also open (as in open source), so anyone is free to use the
information I gain through the process to set up their own -
unfortunately without success it's not much use at the moment, apart
from seeing the cr*p that I do and go through.
Financial support however has not been forthcoming as of yet, however
I am determined to crack that one, and in the mean time I'm trying to
build up my own reserves so I could do it myself in the end if I still
don't get anywhere. I have talked to many investors over the last
couple of years (and over 1,000 business people), but those with the
money seem to understand the idea and concept but not prepared to
involve themselves directly. I'm hoping it's that I've just not spoken
to the right person yet, so am continuing to knock on doors.
My current state is that I have found a location here in Chelmsford,
Essex, UK which is perfect to start up. It's right next to the railway
station (busiest commuter station to London, 35 mins away) and
opposite the bus station, so easy for visiting clients to get to. It's
a retails premises with a first floor perfect for a coworking space.
The downstairs would provide a much-needed internet cafe (the only one
in town closed down recently, was in a video store which wasn't doing
well) and juice bar (some pics here
http://www.open4.org/fresh-connection-cafe/blog/steve-purkiss/im-love-again).
Internet Cafes alone don't make money, and coworking spaces as I
understand from others can make money (as Eva says economies of
scale), however here in the UK prices and space are obviously a whole
different issue. Juice bars do make money; I also want to provide
organic sandwiches and snacks which should also help. Providing
training sessions on open source software, networking, etc. will also
help revenue streams. The idea is all the pieces come together in
order to make the business work.
So that's my angle. I'm speaking to someone (who may be on this list!)
tomorrow who runs hubworking.net in London - in fact about 5 mins walk
from the other end of the train line to here. He's also an incubator,
and as he's in the industry I'm hoping he may have some guidelines,
tips, etc. to help get this thing finally built.
Steve
--
Steve Purkiss
http://opennetworkers.pbwiki.com - open networker? add your name to the list!
http://www.open4.org - the network that pays you to participate
Louis Montagne
yes, indeed, in Paris, we have some corporate sponsors and some gov. sponsors.
We'll publish the business plan as soon as possible.
Louis.
webponce
Good to hear your plans are progressing well Steve.
I'm relatively new to the idea of setting up a coworking space, the
idea is still germinating in my head - and i've spent the last few
weeks lurking here seeing what's going on, doing research into
existing spaces, drawing up a bit of a plan of attack. I'm hoping to
create something in London along similar lines to Steve.
Riccardo and I met last night to chat about London Coworking, and the
various different approaches and types of coworking space, as well as
a number of activities we want to try and kick off in London. I'm
going to write as much of it up as possible, and post it here / on the
wiki.
Getting increasingly excited by the idea of something here each day!
--
Matthew Knight
http://webponce.com/
> well) and juice bar (some pics herehttp://www.open4.org/fresh-connection-cafe/blog/steve-purkiss/im-love...).
>
> Internet Cafes alone don't make money, and coworking spaces as I
> understand from others can make money (as Eva says economies of
> scale), however here in the UK prices and space are obviously a whole
> different issue. Juice bars do make money; I also want to provide
> organic sandwiches and snacks which should also help. Providing
> training sessions on open source software, networking, etc. will also
> help revenue streams. The idea is all the pieces come together in
> order to make the business work.
>
> So that's my angle. I'm speaking to someone (who may be on this list!)
> tomorrow who runs hubworking.net in London - in fact about 5 mins walk
> from the other end of the train line to here. He's also an incubator,
> and as he's in the industry I'm hoping he may have some guidelines,
> tips, etc. to help get this thing finally built.
>
> Steve
>
> On 5/8/07, Alex Hillman <dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > I'm in the same spot, and because of the desire to keep things agile and
> > remain experimental, am hesitant to go to banks or other "traditional"
> > lending venues. Bootstrapping gives us more control in the right places.
>
> > But, I'm still struggling to define costs, nonetheless.
>
> > Perhaps the groups that are all in the same spot can help each other draft a
> > document, a spreadsheet of some sort, to help us as well as others in the
> > same spot moving forward? A good friend of my is a financial analyst and
> > would be happy to offer advice on it once we get it to a point where we feel
> > like sharing.
>
> > -Alex
>
> > On 5/7/07, Jacob Sayles <jsay...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > I'm doing the same thing here in Seattle and it's tricky balancing out
> > > all the elements. I have a rough spreadsheet that lets me adjust rent
> > > and payroll to see what prices I would have to charge at what head
> > > count. The real question is are you trying to break even, or are you
> > > trying to make money? Add to that question how important is the
> > > community aspect of a space like this. If you go too corporate, or
> > > scale too big, there could be a serious hit to the energy of the
> > > place. I know and trust myself to be the protector of the good vibes,
> > > but there is no way to get that into a business model. I'm still
> > > trying to figure out if I'm going to approach a bank, or try to
> > > bootstrap this myself.
>
> > > I'd love to work with more on this if you would like to discuss this
> > further.
>
> > > Jacob Sayles
> > > Nomad & Founder
> > > officenomads.com
>
> > > On 5/4/07, brydon < brydongill...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > I'm trying to put together a business plan to support the real estate
> > > > financing to get a space in Guelph, Ontario for coworking.
>
> > > > Does anyone have any advice or resources on determining a realistic
> > > > workspaces/members ratio? For example, if you have 10 workspaces plus
> > > > some solid common space then you can realistically support 30 full
> > > > time members.
>
> > > > thanks,
> > > > brydon
>
> > --
> > -----
> > --
> > -----
> > Alex Hillman
> > web.developer.innovation.consultant
> > vocal: 484.597.6256
> > digital: a...@weknowhtml.com
> > visual:www.weknowhtml.com|www.dangerouslyawesome.com
> > local:www.independentshall.org
>
> --
> Steve Purkiss
>
> http://opennetworkers.pbwiki.com- open networker? add your name to the list!http://www.open4.org- the network that pays you to participate
BrianR
coworking space. Also getting help with my business plan from small
business development pros. I'll let you know how it pans out.
I feel very positive about the direction so far. Its seems if you are
interested in creating a social networking space you need to be tied
to the larger local community. This can be facilitated by sharing
visions with your community. Find out what your communities economic
development plans are. Meet local elected officials and ask them.
(town, city, county, state) Finding a vision match is key.
I'm really lucky because my vision of a coworking space seems to be a
good match with our local econ dev plans. I actually have a local
Alderman (aka Council member) and Town Economic Development director
to thank for encouraging me. If it wasn't for their support I wouldn't
have gotten to this point.
Thanks for this thread! Nice to read lots of people are thinking about
similar stuff. VERY helpful.
-BrianR
On May 10, 3:11 am, webponce <webpo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Good to hear your plans are progressing well Steve.
> I'm relatively new to the idea of setting up a coworking space, the
> idea is still germinating in my head - and i've spent the last few
> weeks lurking here seeing what's going on, doing research into
> existing spaces, drawing up a bit of a plan of attack. I'm hoping to
> create something in London along similar lines to Steve.
>
> Riccardo and I met last night to chat about London Coworking, and the
> various different approaches and types of coworking space, as well as
> a number of activities we want to try and kick off in London. I'm
> going to write as much of it up as possible, and post it here / on the
> wiki.
>
> Getting increasingly excited by the idea of something here each day!
>
> --
> Matthew Knighthttp://webponce.com/
> >http://opennetworkers.pbwiki.com-open networker? add your name to the list!http://www.open4.org-the network that pays you to participate