Hello Everybody, After lurking on the list for the past month or so, I'd like to properly introduce myself, tell you about what I'm up to (and what it has to do with coworking), and get to know everyone.
My name is Nate Westheimer. I'm the founder and ceo of a company called BricaBox, which is developing a user generated contect/social networking (I call it Social Knitting) platform. We're based in New York City and our first proof of concept site is up at www.VentBox.com (getting a redesign soon, so please excuse the crappy interface). I'm also a consultant, and just started a long-term gig at National Public Broadcasting as their Technology Strategist. Fun fun. On the community side of things, I've become active in what's called "nextNY" -- a group of tech entrepreneurs/enthusiasts in New York City discussing issues around start-ups and technology. I also volunteer and do other fun stuff, and I try to actively blog about everything at www.innonate.com Anyway, one thing that I'm now working on is a project called "cafeBricolage" -- this is where coworking comes into play. What is cafeBricolage? cafeBricolage is a project I sketched out privately about a year ago, and shared recently with the nextNY community. I shared the idea with nextNY because there was an intense discussion going on about how to make NYC more start-up friendly, fun to be a start-up in, supportive, etc. While reading post after post detailing individual and collective struggles, I managed to see that people were identifying three main needs: development of culture, centralization of industry, and access to resources. Because the outline of tenants I had done for cafeBricolage a year earlier address these things, I shared my "manifesto" -- it's up at www.innonate.com/cafebricolage So what IS cafeBricolage already? cafeBricolage is one part cooperative cafe, one part start-up incubator, and one part shared office space, or "coworking", as I'm learning. Those three pillars also sit on a important foundation: bricolage, or the functional art created by using the resources at hand to do whatever you're doing. The cafe would be run by the people in the coworking space, and would serve things they knew how to make. The space would be furnished and constructed with objects we happened to get our hands on (as long as the chairs are comfortable!) and geared toward laptop warriors. In a sense, it would be a community center, for tech start-ups and freelancers. What does this have to do with coworking? Well, considering one of the three pillars is a coworking environment, a lot! Also, there are plenty of coworking-branded sites around the work which have very similar trappings; while all projects are unique, there's a lot to learn from those who have gone down similar roads (I know I couldn't have launched my company without the support of the nextNY community). For this reason, I want to invite anyone in New York and who's involved in coworking activities to join me (and now a few dozen nextNY folks) in moving the cafeBricolage project forward. Beyond participation, I'd love questions / comments / feedback and I'll be sure to keep everyone well aware of progress. Off to meet Noel at The Tank (a possible coworking spot? well see). All the best, -- Nate Westheimer innonate.com 513.225.4567 -- Are you on www.VentBox.com? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
