Coworking Archive

Editor’s note: This post was authored by Tony Bacigalupo who runs the New Work City coworking location in NYC.

Today, New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, outlined the city’s plans to boost the media industry in NYC in a variety of ways as part of MediaNYC 2020, which was originally announced in February.

Most notable and relevant to us, of course, is the effort to build a “Hive” space for independent media makers and other independent workers. The overlap with our ongoing efforts with New Work City and the Runway Project is obvious, so seeing the city make an increasing effort in this area is exciting for us. This, in combination with the city’s announced efforts earlier this year at fostering entrepreneurial growth, is beginning to add up to a real, noticeable effort on the part of the Mayor’s Office, the EDC, and others to foster healthy entrepreneurial growth in the city.

Creating an entrepreneur-friendly ecosystem

Effective spaces do two things: they help new businesses get connected and grow, and they provide a fertile ground for new partnerships to be discovered an evolve. We’ve already seen that progress in our community, where members have formed partnerships to start new initiatives such as LaidOffCamp and Zeitheist, among others. Freelancers, too, have found work in meeting and working alongside their colleagues, and through referrals that we pass along.

Read the rest of this entry »

Back in November we reviewed NY-based SuiteMatch which helps people in several cities in the U.S. find desks to rent. Today I learned about another similar service for folks in the UK called Desk Space Genie.

Desk Space Genie is a marketplace for companies with extra desk space and people looking to rent a desk. One thing I like about SuiteMatch which the Desk Space Genie team should look at adding is the ability to see what’s near the open desk space. For example, how far is it from transit, are there any good fish ‘n chips nearby, pubs, etc. The map helps to provide an idea of the overall area before inquiring about the space. I really like the interior office photos on Desk Space Genie. It should almost be a requirement to post that the company shows photos of the office, bathroom, etc.

Some other features Desk Space Genie might look at adding include:

• ability for prospective renters to create a profile so that the companies can get an idea of who the renters are (linkedin profile, facebook, job history, criminal backgrounds, etc.)
• I think it’s almost a must that they allow renters to create profiles – will help DSG continue to push out new ads, subscription options for new open space based on my criteria, etc. – don’t let them leave so quickly!

During their beta period, they are allowing companies to post their open desk space for free.

As more companies unfortunately reduce their staff, more office space will be available and I like the idea of offering it up to others to use at reduced prices. It’s a great complement to coworking – which several of my friends are using across the world and have said it’s working well for them.

Today I wrote about coworking for my InformationWeek column. We’ve written about coworking many times on CN and have reviewed shared office space provider SunshineSuites as well. What about if you have an office and want to share space with another company or if you are looking for space for your team?

Hoboken-based SuiteMatch is like Match.com for office space. You can post open space at your office and you can search for space for you and/or your team. Currently they are listing open space in New York, San Francisco and Chicago. While they are in beta postings are free and they note that after that there will be a fee to post.

I love the design of the site – the information is very well presented and the Google Map not only shows you the location of the office space but nearby establishments (coffee, food, etc.). To be honest, they need to take their setup and duplicate it to work for apartments off Craigslist. That would certainly be a step up from the crappy experience Craigslist provides.

Sam at LeveragingIdeas wonders if they will be able to get past just startup listings and into real open space. Frankly this is a perfect time for SuiteMatch to go after large company openings as companies potentially layoff staff and have open spaces. I’ve written before that large corporations should embrace startups in their environment and SuiteMatch could be the tool to help bring both groups together. 

We’ve written about coworking several times here at CN and today we are excited to post that the New Work City coworking location in NYC now has a home. The space is located at 200 Varick Street which is right on top of the 1 train!

The New Work City team has a post which outlines the space and has a photo with the all important lease signatures. Apparently the building is used by a variety of digital companies which should make for a good bit of networking. They are offering day rates and monthly full-time memberships ($550/mo).

Big congrats to NWC lead members Tony Bacigalupo and Sanford Dickert and the entire coworking community in NYC and beyond who helped to get this ball rolling!

Tony Bacigalupo put together a great list of some upcoming coworking events here in NYC and I thought it was worth sharing. Get your cowork on!

New Work City Space Tour & Membership Meeting

New Work City’s an in-the-works community-driven coworking space. It’s been a long time coming, but it looks like we’re just about on the verge of securing a space! Come check out the space and join us as we work on the final steps to getting up and running!

When: Thursday, September 25th, 6:00pm
Where: 200 Varick St, Room 507B
More details and RSVP: http://nwc.tumblr.com/post/51584138/lets-do-this

Ditmas Workplace Grand Opening

The fine folks at Ditmas Park Blog are opening a coworking space in a house! Their grand opening is on Thursday evening as well, so we’ll head over there after the NWC event.

When: Thursday, September 25th, 8:00pm
Where: 535 E 17th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11226
More details and RSVP: http://ditmaspark.blogspot.com/2008/…workspace.html

Second Anniversary of Williamsburg Coworking at The Change You Want to See

Brooklyn’s own Williamsburg Coworking, one of the first-ever coworking spaces in the world, celebrates its second anniversary this Friday with a Jelly and birthday party! Come out between 9:30 and 5:00 for an open house Jelly coworking session, and then afterwards we’ll be breaking out some beers to celebrate!

When: Friday, September 26th, 9:30am to 5:00pm (for the Jelly) and 5:30pm onwards (for the party).
Where: 84 Havemeyer Street, storefront – Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211
More details and RSVP: http://wiki.workatjelly.com/JellyBrooklyn2008-09-26

Coworking is really starting to gain steam here in NYC. We met with Sunshine Suites a few weeks ago, there’s Jelly and NewWorkCity is coming soon.

Now there’s a new hybrid space named SparkSpace in Manhattan which is aimed at taking companies from pre-incubator all the way through the big time. Mary Kathleen Flynn, of TheDeal.com’s Tech Confidential, interviewed David Rose and took a toor of the space. I’ve embedded the video below. Looks pretty interesting – everything in one building and you move on up as the company moves on up.

Nate Westhimer, RoseTech Ventures entrepreneur in residence has some additional details on SparkSpace.

Last year I wrote several articles about coworking and, in one of them, I suggested that a VC-sponsored coworking spot would work very nicely. Many of the coworking gurus didn’t like the idea. I guess we will be able to see how it works in action now.

Noel, the guy who is learning how to become a taxicab driver, sent out an email about a coworking space in Brooklyn. I thought ya’all might be interested so I am copying his email below.

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I’m writing to let you about a daily collaborative office space in Williamsburg @ The Change You Want to See Gallery < http://www.thechangeyouwanttosee.org/coworking >. We are addressing the needs of our changing work force – i.e. the emerging culture of freelancers, work-at-homers, work-at-cafe-folks, flex timers, writers, independents, programmers, designers, filmmakers, activists, etc… This "coworking" office and event-space encourages the cross-pollination of cultural producers. It’s a great place to meet like-minded folks and to get things done.

Currently, we are looking for new monthly coworkers. For $200 a month, we reserve you a chair, hand you a key and present you the opportunity to produce events @ The Change You Want to See Gallery. We also offer a barter for those who are in-between jobs.

Included in your monthly membership:

• a community of like minded folks 
• a flux of interesting people 
• networking and expertise 
• free wifi 
• fridge and microwave 
• coffee/tea 
• quiet focused work environment with a dose of social libations 
• after-work drinks free after-work events relating to art/technology/activism/theory at the gallery 

Additionally, we host the citywide "Work at Jelly" session and an open house/happy hour on the last Friday of every month.

Our doors are always open for daily drop-ins and "test drives" – so, don’t ever feel like a stranger!

For more information…
- http://wiki.coworking.info/Coworking%20Brooklyn
- email info_at_thechangeyouwanttosee.org

Also, when you are planning your next Meetup, consider this to be a potential venue.

Hope to see you soon!
Noel