Coworking

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. MORE »

I've written about NYC coworking several times before. Over the past year, there have been a few attempts to get something going, mostly in a variety of coffee shops. Today the team spearheading the movement for an official space has some updates and there are some action items if you are interested in joining the NYC coworking movement. I chatted with a very excited Tony Bacigalupo who is one of the leaders of the movement along with Sanford Dickert and a variety of others. Sanford has stepped up and is willing to put his name and credit on the line for the space. MORE »

Coworking is a way for multiple people or companies to share a space to maximize collaboration and reduce costs. For some it's a chance to get out of the house and actually be able to work with others. We've written about coworking before including a look at potential corporate coworking. I had dinner with Alex Hillman last week and he said that Indy Hall (he's the founder) is going great.

There's been talk of a coworking space opening up in NYC at some point. Tony Bacigalupo has been very involved in the discussions and is helping to lead the charge. read more »

This morning I headed to Alphabet City for a discussion about coworking in Manhattan hosted at Gramstand. Unfortunately I didn't grab a card from everyone but here are the folks I knew: Alex Hillman of IndependentsHall (IH), Tara Hunt of CitizenSpace (CS), Nikita Bernstein of Jove, Sanford Dickert of CooperBricolage, Tony Bacigalupo of CooperBricolage, Nate Westhimer of BricaBox along with about eight other folks. I can cross another person off my 23 people to meet in 2007 list!

The conversation began with an oveview of numbers including $40/sqft for "ok" space in Manhattan and a price of $350ish for a desk. Alex noted that at IH perm desks are $275/mo, at CS they are $350/mo and that most people at IH are drop-ins at $25/mo.

There was a bit of chatter about whether coworking works for startups or just indies and could the coworking space be viewed as an incubator. Tara said that coworking competes with "free and lazy" - free being coffeeshops and lazy being working at home.

I have tried to think of an image to represent my thoughts about where coworking sits on a spectrum between working at home and the free coffee shop - or the "free and lazy" - here is my image:

continue reading the coworking recap »

As coworking locations popup all around the world, last month we took a look at what corporate coworking might look like where a company such as Google would sponsor space for startups to use. Today I want to look at another alternative idea: VC sponsored coworking.

Venture capital firms are always looking for the next "big thing" and this location-collaboration could provide beneficial for the VC and for the startups that use the space. The VC would provide space for small, unfunded startups to use for a defined period of time (e.g. six months). The space could either be setup as a standard open coworking space with a common working area or each company could have a defined room(s) to use while all of the startups share common facilities (bathroom, kitchen, conference rooms, network equipment, etc.). This type of coworking could help reduce some of the risk VC's accept when investing in a company.

What's in it for the VC? They would get first crack at any funding oppotunities that the startups using the space need. The VC firm would see multiple new startups, company work ethic, community flow, etc., which could help in determing whether or not to fund the startup. Additionally, the startups could view the VC as a sounding-board or advisor when needed. The space could be used for meetups and community events as well providing additional exposure for the VC.

Om Malik authored a column earlier this week describing the need for small startups to work together to achieve results. What better way for this type of collaboration than in a incubator space where they are working together?

In late July I met with Sanford Dickert near NYU/Cooper Union to discuss his new coworking space called CooperBricolage (cooBric). It seems that the bar that the space was located in has restructured/renovated and cooBric is looking for a new home. If you have any ideas on space in NYC, send the cooBric team a note.

cooBric is a different type of coworking -- i.e. it's located in a bar with small bar tables and short hours. My concern (along with Till's) is that the tables are so small, can you really get work done this way? Sanford believes yes, I think it's an interesting alternative to the more traditional coworking say at Independents Hall in Philadelphia.

Dan also notes that the signin list only showed a few people a day and that more people are needed to show that coworking can work in NYC. I agree and would only add that cooBric didn't have enough time to make it work. Personally I wish they would change the name to something less "educational". But with Sanford's passion around the space, I am sure that he will make it work.

And I can assure you, CenterNetworks is ready to move into a coworking space.

I have written several times about coworking and think it's a trend that could be the way all techies work in the next 10-15 years. Whether it's more traditional coworking at Citizen Agency and Independents Hall or the more social coworking space at cooperBricolage, coworking provides a way for independent workers to not only find a place outside of the home to work, but a way to network and increase business.

Earlier this week Alex posted about some awesome supplies Belkin donated for Independents Hall. At the same time, I read about a campaign that Starwood Hotels is running in NYC, Boston and Chicago where they "wrap" an entire train car to provide a more relaxing ride (of course in NYC they are only running the campaign on the 1 stop shuttle, blech). Check out the awesome photos. The price tag in NYC is $30k a month for 2 short train sets. So far, Starwood believes it is successful and riders enjoy seeing more comforting imagery than "Learn How to Speak English/Spanish/Slavic in 12 hours" or "Been in a Car Wreck, Get Oodles of Cash Even if it's Your Fault!".

So this got me thinking - continues inside »

During my trip last month to Philadelphia, I had the chance to meet Alex Hillman. Alex runs a company called WeKnowHTML and you can also check out the startup tips he provided in June. During the BlogPhiladelphia conference, Alex spoke about coworking and his new coworking space called Independents Hall. In April I asked if coworking is the way we will all work in the future. Instead of working for a company full-time, many developers and designers will freelance/consult and work in spaces such as Alex's. I can say after working for myself for 18 months, I miss the water cooler talk and the "let's go get a coffee" chats. Coworking aims to fix this by offering a space to work, get help and mingle.

The Independents Hall official grand opening is on September 1st and Alex has created a video walkthrough of the space which I have embedded below. The space was featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper today and the story is worth a read. A couple excerpts:

In Philadelphia, Hillman and DiMasi signed a lease on Aug. 10 for Independents Hall, a two-story, 1,500-square-foot space on Strawberry Street, an alley off Market Street in Old City. Hillman spent $1,000 for cheapie yet chic desks and chairs. Hillman, DiMasi and Bart Mroz, an independent Web-project manager, are the quasi-leaders.

"I think when people work at home they have to come up with new ways to interact with people," said Daniel H. Pink, one of the first authors to write about independent contractors in his 2001 book Free Agent Nation.

"They miss one of the joys and banes of being in an office - the interruptions, the inadvertent contact on the way to the bathroom that sometimes leads to interesting ideas," he said. "Co-working gives a set of colleagues who will interrupt them on the way to the bathroom."

While coworking is awesome in the good times, will it be able to survive if we have bad times?

Come inside to view the walkthrough video »

Today I had lunch with Sanford Dickert. Sanford is a professor at Cooper Union. I met Sanford initially when he asked me to judge his students Web 2.0 projects earlier this year. Sanford is one of those people who can get you excited about anything because of their clear passion for what they are speaking about.

We spoke about a new coworking space that Sanford has developed. It's called cooperBricolage (I don't love the name) and is located near Cooper Union and NYU in the Village section of NYC.

I wrote about Coworking earlier this year and think it will continue to grow. My friend Alex is starting a Coworking space in Philadelphia called Independents Hall and Chris Messina/Tara Hunt have started a space in San Francisco called Citizen Space.

Ok, back to cooperBricolage. The space is interesting as it's inside a bar/restaurant (see the pics here). When I think of coworking, I think of a large open office-type space with Ikea furniture, a Ms. Pac Man machine and a beer fridge. This is like working in a bar!

Sanford is looking to install a variety of new hardware to make the environment better for developers. There is a super-speedy Internet connection and lots of seating. Their hours of operation are 9-5:30 daily and here is the initial pricing plan: (they are working on some additional pretty innovative ways of reducing the rates below including working the door for a few hours)

• One (1) day rate: $15 for in-town, $20 out-of-town; free drip coffee/iced tea, one free speciality coffee, 10% discount on Cafe Fuego food (and you get a $5 discount on your first visit)
• Five (5) day date: $65 for one-month expiration; 15% discount on Cafe Fuego food for life of CB pass
• Ten (10) day rate: $120 for one-month expiration; 15% discount on Cafe Fuego food for life of CB pass
• One month rate: $230 for one month expiration; 20% discount on Cafe Fuego food for life of CB pass

I think the space is interesting and should appeal to those freelancers who are looking to work outside of their home but not in a traditional office environment. They are looking for feedback so if you have any ideas, post them on the Wiki.