startup focused coworking spaces

[Mindaugas Danys]

Hi

I am looking for some role models on how to combine noisiness and need for small rooms by startup teams with silent working environment preffered by majority of freelancers - any good examples of coworking spaces that host both startups and freelancers?

we see the added value of both groups interacting in a cycle of business growth, but not sure if it's possible to accommodate them together.

thanks

Mindaugas

Hub Vilnius coworking www.hubvilnius.lt 

Vilnius, Lithuania

[rachel young]

We are considered one of the smaller spaces, but we blend startup rooms and individual freelancers, but there are pros and cons.

Pros:

• it attracts a group at a time, which can be a great infusion of awesome folks into the membership all at once
• it could attract a budding company with a great reputation of founders/staff who help to spread the word about the space or coworking in general
• it could mean many more people coming through the space for interviews, partnership negotiations, venture capitalist scoping, media, etc that a startup could attract moreso than an individual freelancer
• from the perspective of the business running the space, it is great steady income
• you have a wider range of spaces and prices to offer prospective members
• you get to see a group start and grow and eventually take flight

Cons:

• having a door to close means there is the physical separation of those people from the rest of the membership, possibly forming a sense of hierarchy in some people's minds (the startup or other freelancers)
• depending on who is the natural leader within the startup, their interaction with the rest of the membership at any time could be limited or nonexistent
• they could treat it more like cheap office rent rather than a great space to work from
• if one leaves, that's a sharp reduction of that consistent income that is easy to rely on

We expanded to another floor last year, which gave us the chance to open up 3more rooms of varying sizes (the floor was move-in ready) and move our boardroom to something more suitable. It was a good exercise because we shifted our promotion and changed our approach to finding startup members to fill the rooms. It also meant that a 2person startup who was on our open concept floor (2nd floor) "graduated" into a new room (3rd floor). Since then they've grown to 3ppl and are about to add a summer intern. These guys are far more engaged with the membership because they used to work alongside the rest of us. 

We also only make coffee and have fully stocked teas on the 2nd floor to encourage everyone from the 3rd floor to visit and see the rest of us, even if only once a day. Our other group activities also play an important part in keeping the startup folks engaged in the membership and we stress to all employees of startups that they are members here too, not any different because they signed an employment contract with the startup company, and the membership agreement is for the individual that even states that should that employment end, they can continue as an individual elsewhere in the space without any interruption to their membership, if they so choose.

If we were to do it all over again, I'm not sure I'd want to have separate rooms. The cons are pretty hefty as far as coworking is concerned, but maybe it's like that here because we're a smaller facility. A space like CSI successfully blend many startups/individual companies/non-profits and hotdesking at both of their locations.

r.

____________________
rachel young
rac...@camaraderie.ca

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[Pawel Makowiecki]

Hey,

Consider a few small spaces (one desk rooms) for making phone calls/quiet work.

Best,
Pawel

Paweł Makowiecki
Tel: +48 22 3897105
Kom: +48 79 169 0869
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http://twitter.com/makowiecki

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From: Mindaugas Danys <mindaug...@gmail.com>

Sender: cowo...@googlegroups.com

Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:48:34 -0700 (PDT)

To: <cowo...@googlegroups.com>

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Subject: [Coworking] startup focused coworking spaces

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