I certainly buy into the philosophy of building the community first and bootstrapping. But I believe this type of planning is valuable and is not in conflict with community building or bootstrapping.
The reason is, if I have these formulas: a) space_total_area / space_per_person = max_occupancy b) max_memberships = max_occupancy / occupancy_ratio c) expenses / max_memberships = cost_per_member Then I can balance (or combine) those equations to estimate the unknown. So for example, coming at it from a community first and bootstrapping angle, if I have 10 folks interested in joining a space but don't have a space yet then I could use the following formula (if I know the space_per_person). a) your_friends * space_per_person = total_space_needed "space_per_person" and "occupancy_ratio" are hard to estimate. That's why I'm seeking experience. :) I can see how it might be a stretch to estimate a generic occupancy ratio. It might be safest to assume the space will be at 100% occupancy until you know otherwise. If you estimate a low occupancy, and you end up being wrong, you may end up charging too little to cover costs or you'll have too many people in your space. On the other hand, if you estimate high you may charge too much or have an empty space. Estimating too high seems easier to correct though. Useful? Are my formulas whack? ( I'm actually not that great at math, I just pretend to be. :p ) -Dusty On Oct 26, 2:30 pm, "Alex Hillman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I don't think we (at IndyHall, anyway) have any stable enough numbers to > present after 60 days of being open, and even then, its very very > subjective. I don't think even a ballpark would help you. Our members are > not your members, within our own membership use and use cases vary widely. > > For the gabillionth time(and I'm still smiling when I say that!): all of > these figures will become evident when you have some semblance of a > community interested in utilizing a space together. Ask them, not us! I > understand that for business plans and investors, these figures might be > necessary, but that's just one more reason to spend the time a) building the > community and b) putting yourself in a position to bootstrap. > > On 10/26/07, Dusty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > > > This is great information. Thanks everyone. > > > Great tip on the Ikea desk's! Thanks Alex. > > > So we think each person takes up about 36sq/ft to 100sq/ft of space. > > That's a pretty broad range! :) But great information for planning > > purposes. Anymore experience out there on the matter? > > > What do you guys think about the membership to occupancy ratio? In > > other words. Say you have 100 members, would you say 60 of them are in > > the space at any given time (on average)? > > > Again, looking for ballparks. > > > Thanks, > > -Dusty in Austin > > > On Oct 26, 12:15 pm, "Alex Hillman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > wrote: > > > These tops:http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60117016 > > > With these legs:http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10105290 > > > > There are other dimensions of desk-tops in the same line if you wanted > > > bigger/longer ones, but for the price, these are an EXCELLENT deal, easy > > to > > > move/arrange, and if one gets damaged it's not a huge loss. > > > > We had sort of a desk/chair-buliding party where we had members come by > > > during out set-up period and help put furniture together. BYO drill. It > > was > > > a good time! > > > > -Alex > > > > On 10/26/07, Columbus Bryce <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > I've heard mention of these IKEA desks before... could you give us an > > > > idea of which specific model it is? > > > > > On Oct 26, 8:41 am, "Alex Hillman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > wrote: > > > > > Our desks are identical to those at CitizenSpace, 2' deep by 4' > > across. > > > > -- > > > ----- > > > -- > > > ----- > > > Alex Hillman > > > web.developer.innovation.consultant > > > vocal: 484.597.6256 > > > digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | skype: dangerouslyawesome > > > visual:www.weknowhtml.com|www.dangerouslyawesome.com > > > local:www.indyhall.org > > -- > ----- > -- > ----- > Alex Hillman > web.developer.innovation.consultant > vocal: 484.597.6256 > digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | skype: dangerouslyawesome > visual:www.weknowhtml.com|www.dangerouslyawesome.com > local:www.indyhall.org --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
