Re:How to start a great coworking space
by daniellemswank on Tuesday August 18, 2015 @12:59PM
(#10080394)
The author is right that community is everything, but it's not something that you can import. I strongly disagree that you should build your co-working space around an outside team of entrepreneurs.
You have to build your co-working space around the people in the space. Don't nickel and dime your members with add-ons of limited value. Have generous event and friend policies that encourage organic community. Foster connections between members not between members and outside "advisors". People come and stay because their friends are there.
In that vein, you should also probably have a mission that's bigger than the space. A way for people to identify that it's the right place for them, instead of being another generic space in a sea of generic spaces (at least in SF).
Offices are real-estate. Co-working is people.
EDIT: I founded a 3000 sq. co-working space in SF.
You have to build your co-working space around the people in the space. Don't nickel and dime your members with add-ons of limited value. Have generous event and friend policies that encourage organic community. Foster connections between members not between members and outside "advisors". People come and stay because their friends are there.
In that vein, you should also probably have a mission that's bigger than the space. A way for people to identify that it's the right place for them, instead of being another generic space in a sea of generic spaces (at least in SF).
Offices are real-estate. Co-working is people.
EDIT: I founded a 3000 sq. co-working space in SF.