Re: [Coworking] Co-Working Membership Software?!?!? HAAAAALP!!

[Brad Attig]

We're happy with Nexudus as it makes a pretty nice looking forward facing website. That's a big plus. We run 4 locations now, including 2 in really rural areas. It is clunky in the backend and not that intuitive but you can do anything with it and its affordable for small businesses, especially since you do nothing to set up the front end.

In community,

Brad

Brad Attig CEO at Foundry Collective Phone  541.812.1911     Mobile  541.286.5495   Website  www.corvallisfoundry.com   Check Out Our Upcoming Events for Small Businesses, Innovators, and Startups

On Tue, Feb 5, 2019 at 3:17 PM <crystal....@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey ya'll!! I am new to google groups, and am thrilled that this group exists... I have my business plan in place, the capital, and am narrowed down to two location options -- I have some favor on the side of tech supplies.. yay!! BUT I am at a total loss to what Co-Working Space software to use? I am fairly tech savvy, but NOT a coder/developer -- I see several options for membership systems but need some real life testimonies for what does and doesn't work..... we are a small rural town about an hour north of the Dallas area... so I am not anticipating hundreds of members lol... any suggestions would be wonder filled!!! Thank YOU!!! 

- Crystal 

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[Alex Hillman]

Hi Crystal!

I'd like to encourage you to search through the archives of this group. Questions about software come up here a fairly often and the comments are always full of useful advice about options and the differences. 

Here's a great place to start: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/coworking/coworking$20software%7Csort:date

-Alex

[Alejandro Moreno]

We've been on Nexudus for almost 2 years since we opened, and we're looking at some other options right now, mainly Satellite Deskworks, Optix and Cobot. 

We're pretty dead set on leaving Nexudus. There are at least several companies out there that won't charge you for setup so, that's not that huge a perk. 

Working with Nexudus vs what I've seen so far on platforms like Optix and Cobot, sort of reminds me of the equivalent of working on a really powerful top-heavy program made by Microsoft and running in Windows — very powerful (too much for what we need), way too klunky, way too unintuitive yet you've been working in it for months to try and understand it all — and then suddenly switching over to a Mac and BAM! Rainbows unicorns etc. It suddenly becomes user-friendly, intuitive, natural, as opposed to something programmed by engineers to be run by other engineers. You can do lots of stuff in Nexudus, but we don't need that much functionality. Their tech support has almost always been very prompt in spite of their being in London and us being near San Francisco. But we really want something that doesn't feel like a top-heavy Microsoft program. So we're in the middle of testing out these other programs now, I'll let you know what we decide ultimately. There are other issues I won't go into now but in a nutshell, this has been our experience.

[Jana Greer]

Whatever software you choose, choose one that scales with your growth and has the capacity to integrate and manage many things. From an operation standpoint, the more you can connect and streamline the members experience the better, IMO.

I think one pain point is the backend. It is being redone and should be out by the summer. The front end was redone a while ago and it was awesome when that was released—-making the members experience even better.

Best of luck!

-Jana

[kiragw...@gmail.com]

I can attest that Satellite Deskworks is a great platform. There's a few things missing from it that would be nice, but nothing that's make-or-break for us. Their customer service is top-notch too. The system is very easy to use and figure out, and if you want to learn if something is possible, their team gets back with you quickly to walk you through the steps for how to do it. 

[Alex Hillman]

An alternative point of view: 

We ran Indy Hall out of spreadsheets and off-the-shelf invoicing software for 8+ years (growing from a dozen to a few hundred members). Software isn't going to make or break you, and I personally would prioritize flexibility and ease of change over "all in one" solutions. 

These days we DO use a coworking platform, but all we really use it for is for billing. I've turned off just about every other feature.  

I have not found an "all in one" tool that actually does all of the things well (everything going to include tradeoffs, and putting many features under one roof means MORE tradeoffs) and strongly prefer using a collection of tools that are individually great at their job. This also means that I can pick a tool that is "good enough" for a job now, and swap it out for a better one if I find one. 

Related: if you aren't already familiar with it, check out and learn Zapier: it's an amazing tool that lets you connect lots individual tools and keep them in sync with each other. It doesn't require knowing any code, just some creative thinking. 

 

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The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.

Better Coworkers: http://indyhall.org

Weekly Coworking Tips: http://coworkingweekly.com

My Audiobook: https://theindyhallway.com/ten

[Angel Kwiatkowski]

I have used Cobot for years. Adding a few strategic “zaps” with Zapier filled in the gaps I needed without much headache. In fact, because Zapier is ALWAYS working by monitoring several triggers for me, I end up working LESS than I would if I had to go into my coworking software to tick a box or get a csv of some data.

I would check to see if the coworking software you want is on Zapier. If they are, you can make all kinds of things work even if the software doesn’t have it built in.

There are other ways to use Zapier with email search triggers but I don’t like those as much as the triggers that come straight from Cobot.

Angel

[Crystal Maynard]

Gah!... you guys are GOLD... thank you for helping out the newbie. 

[Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking]

 I have been very pleased with OfficeRnD. To echo Alex and Angel, make sure your software integrates with Zapier. They can fill in the gaps or allow you to be flexible to use other software easily that will integrate with your coworking software of choice.

Just like Indy Hall, we ran our cowroking space off of spreadsheets, Google cal, and a free Stripe plugin for Wordpress to handle everything. We did that for over 7 years.

 

[Ky Ekinci (Office Divvy ™)]

Hello Crystal,

After 11 years of trying third-party cloud solutions, at Office Divvy we've developed our own cloud-solution last year, and it's been one of the best investments we made.

As a small-space, small-city coworking provider we offer it all: hotdesking, private office and conference room sharing, dedicated stations, and dedicated offices for members (subscriptions) PLUS single-use (ad hoc use of space) for non members. Our solution is customized to handle all.

As we're considering to take this to market as a SAAS solution, and I'd be willing to "pilot" it with you complimentary for 12 months with full support for setup. No fees for first year at all. I believe it will solve all your problems from startup-phase into early operations from day-1. It would also hold up into into maturity of your biz. 

Let me know if interested, just call me Tuesday, 386-445-4153 and I'll get you a real user seat (member view), plus give you a real life, real time demo of Manager and Admin views.

Best,

Ky Ekinci

Managing Partner

Office Divvy - est 2008

toll-free: 888-533-4889

[cri...@gmail.com]

We have been looking into a software called Proximity (https://www.proximity.space/).  Is anyone using it or have any feedback?  Thanks for putting this list together.  We plan to open our space in June and the timing of this post was perfect.  

[keyst...@gmail.com]

Zapier is an amazing tool. And for low usage levels it is "forever free"

[Crystal Maynard]

This is an interesting idea!! Can you email me directly with more information?! I'd like to talk more. 

Thank you! 

Crystal

[Wendy]

KY,

 

This IS interesting.  I’d love this information as well.  Will you email me directly?

 

Thanks

Wendy Acosta

 

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