Choosing a different location each day based on whim and availability is all very well for a solo freelancer, but once you scale that up to as many as two people you're going to start having problems finding space and private places where you can talk, call clients, etc. etc. Once you start getting to 3 or 4 people, forget about it. And what about people who want dedicated hardware - a keyboard, monitor, etc?
WeWork has a valuable proposition for those groups. Rent out a small office while you're in the early stage, have everyone in a room with breakout meeting rooms and phone booths available just outside. A kitchen where you can get a coffee, prepare food, etc. etc.
I still think WeWork is an insane proposition because they cost a lot and they're not that great, but let's not pretend they offer nothing over a local coffee shop.
Meh, it was fine for what it was I guess, but I think the company I was working for left wework not long after I left the company.
Truth
It can be done, remote teams much larger than that work all day every day without using their voices with each other, just Slack or git messages or whatever.
What if the money WW is burning through went to libraries to build more workspaces and conference rooms?
Getting an office lease is a huge process with a stack of contracts, pushy agents, ridiculously long leases, misleading prices, hidden costs, furnishing, and establishing all the necessary services. And if you're a small company, the owners are expected to personally financially guarantee the lease.
Think of it as "sexy startup office as a service."
Not saying it's a worthy or necessary service this world needs, but I think that's the value they provide and what companies pay for.
The prices are eye-watering, however, and don’t seem to come down much with scale. (A three-person office is about three times the price of a one-person office – at least when I last checked.)
If it's your second home that you have your morning coffee in and have a personal office that you do non physical tasks on, and occasionally have a friend or cofounder over for a beer you're looking pretty good.
That being said, I've seen newer, less "hip" flex spaces open to try and target that market.
It doesn't work for 100% of your time. 20-40% maybe but not more than that.
There are many issues with cafe work:
- Lots of cafes are bothered if you stay for extended periods of time.
- Unstable or No wifi. You have to rely on Data unless you have it unmetered.
- Not always you'll find a charging outlet for your computer. Granted, I don't have this issue with the mac.
- Sometimes, you don't find a free/available place. So... you go to search again.
I think cafes are good for breaking the mood. But not a workplace for remote workers.
If I were running my own company and employing remote staff I'd have to think about the workplace health and safety implications if they were regularly working in cafes.
It doesn't work for 100% of your time. Obviously it's going to be different for different people.
Super useful to level my focus, the people around me are in a wide mix of fields not just technology, and having a proper reserved space is a huge boon to productivity. I can have a real monitor, an ergonomic keyboard and mouse, and multiple machines setup.
I value my back, neck, and wrists far too much to work from a coffee shop every day.
WeWork Labs also offers some great benefits for startups, the mentors alone have been a great boon.
I have a home office for when I need to be "in the zone" -- 3 monitors, ergonomic chair, etc. The benefit here is that you could even write off part of your rent (if you're a contractor/freelancer).
With entire teams being here, it isn't all programmers. Sales, marketing, biz dev, and engineering are all sitting together and participating in the community.
As for @ home versus at an office, I am far more productive at an office. So much so that I have a nice home setup (I have one ultrawide instead of multiple monitors!) but it is worth it for me to commute 40 minutes to get here.
(I of course have friends who prefer their home versus an office environment!)
And this is probably me getting old but I don't know how people can spend hours hunched over a laptop in café seating, as opposed to an ergonomic office chair and monitor at eye level.
Ask any orthopedist, it catches up to them. We can all buffer it for a certain amount of time, but anybody who does this for a long time will develop issues.
I realised I was having posture issues with extended laptop use at approximately age 23 or so.
That doesn't even sound like coffee shop is the right description, that's an office that sells coffee.
No they aren’t that’s ridiculous.
What, in your opinion, should people be doing in cafes on weekday afternoons?
Not that students don't meet friends on afternoons to go for coffee, but it is rare. Especially when meeting somewhere else for free is, well, free.
People don't pay for a coffee nowadays, they pay for a place to sit and use the wifi
Alternatively, if WeWork had a spot out here in the suburbs where I could escape the noise of my lovely four year old without having to fight traffic, I'd be game.
I did a short video with them you might like - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXA0q-VA2VE
We've scouted thousands of coffee shops, hotel lobbies, parks, libraries, coworking, and other public spaces.
Right now we're only operating in San Francisco, but looking to expand to other cities in the future.
Disclaimer: I work for Out Of Office
"I get to meet neighbors, plug myself into my local community, and sometimes even make small talk with cute girls." can all be done at a WeWork.
Have a look at spacious.com for your last idea.
same location, so i don't have to have a daytime spot i prefer and a night time spot thats just open.
Also you get a say in the space cuz you pay. The coffee shop might just get rid of your favorite little corner at some point.
I don't use wework, so idk.
So you can only imagine people to think and act like you yourself? It's office space without the large setup cost and time waste, what's so hard to get?
That's We Work, it's just 'out of the box' for easy, shorter term rentals. Generally.
Not affiliated with them in any way.
They have a few dedicated spaces, like Union Square in Manhattan, but mostly rent spaces from restaurants that are closed during the day I think.
My classic "FTP" comment was some feedback on a Show HN post, that I was concerned that the technology may be easy to reproduce and thus had a low barrier to being reimplemented by OS vendors or competitors. Drew addressed all my points and I acknowledged the value of the service. Completely different from this thread.
I'm 100% remote and I prefer working at coffee shops, campuses (UCLA, SMCC), or libraries -- I prefer my environment to feel less like "work" and more "creative." I also get to interact with a largely diverse group of people (as opposed to mostly tech people that work at WeWork). Going to a coffee shop is also cheaper (I buy ~2 items a day), I get to meet neighbors, plug myself into my local community, and sometimes even make small talk with cute girls.
I think a good idea might be "reserving" seats at cool spots around town (coffee shops, bookstores, etc.) -- would be cheaper than a WeWork and (I think) more desireable. Think ClassPass for co-working.