Greg, We at CubeSpace have, and we basically got the hand. They don't understand the coworking model and certainly don't have a clue about projection models (they kept ignoring our efforts and just wanted to apply a standard tenant ratio, which did not work at all. I think the SBA and those that distribute SBA funding are really eons behind the grassroots driven coworking model and it will be a while before they are willing and/or able to convince their loan committees that they are efforts worth funding (the Business Week article notwithstanding).
Your experience in Florida may be different, but our efforts to convince folks here has cost us actual money (interest we paid on a contractor's bill while they dithered for MONTHS and then rejected our application) and a huge amount of time. -Eva On May 8, 7:25 am, "Greg Pederson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'm curious if anyone has approached economic development committees, SBA, > or the Chamber of Commerce about help with setting up a coworking spot?? > I'm in Orlando, FL and would love to see a coworking spot get up and > running. It seems though that someone has to take a risk to get it up and > at the moment I'm not in a position to take that financial risk. > Greg > > On 5/8/07, Jacob Sayles <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > My full vision is to turn Office Nomads into exactly this kind of > > resource. I am based in Seattle, but I'm thinking bigger then just my > > one (eventual) location. The coworking wiki, and people like Tara and > > Chris of Citizen Space are excellent resources. I'd like to tie all > > of this together and bring it to the people. I'm still learning what > > it takes to bring a space like this together and don't have any extra > > resources to document and webify everything. I would love to > > collaborate more and offer real-estate on officenomads.com for the > > task. > > > Jacob Sayles > > Nomad & Founder > > officenomads.com > > > On 5/7/07, Alex Hillman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I'm in the same spot, and because of the desire to keep things agile and > > > remain experimental, am hesitant to go to banks or other "traditional" > > > lending venues. Bootstrapping gives us more control in the right places. > > > > But, I'm still struggling to define costs, nonetheless. > > > > Perhaps the groups that are all in the same spot can help each other > > draft a > > > document, a spreadsheet of some sort, to help us as well as others in > > the > > > same spot moving forward? A good friend of my is a financial analyst and > > > would be happy to offer advice on it once we get it to a point where we > > feel > > > like sharing. > > > > -Alex > > > > On 5/7/07, Jacob Sayles <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > I'm doing the same thing here in Seattle and it's tricky balancing out > > > > all the elements. I have a rough spreadsheet that lets me adjust rent > > > > and payroll to see what prices I would have to charge at what head > > > > count. The real question is are you trying to break even, or are you > > > > trying to make money? Add to that question how important is the > > > > community aspect of a space like this. If you go too corporate, or > > > > scale too big, there could be a serious hit to the energy of the > > > > place. I know and trust myself to be the protector of the good vibes, > > > > but there is no way to get that into a business model. I'm still > > > > trying to figure out if I'm going to approach a bank, or try to > > > > bootstrap this myself. > > > > > I'd love to work with more on this if you would like to discuss this > > > further. > > > > > Jacob Sayles > > > > Nomad & Founder > > > > officenomads.com > > > > > On 5/4/07, brydon < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > I'm trying to put together a business plan to support the real > > estate > > > > > financing to get a space in Guelph, Ontario for coworking. > > > > > > Does anyone have any advice or resources on determining a realistic > > > > > workspaces/members ratio? For example, if you have 10 workspaces > > plus > > > > > some solid common space then you can realistically support 30 full > > > > > time members. > > > > > > thanks, > > > > > brydon > > > > -- > > > ----- > > > -- > > > ----- > > > Alex Hillman > > > web.developer.innovation.consultant > > > vocal: 484.597.6256 > > > digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > visual:www.weknowhtml.com|www.dangerouslyawesome.com > > > local:www.independentshall.org > > -- > "It's it and that's that." > - Ancient Chinese Proverb > > Greg Pederson > [EMAIL PROTECTED] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
