Kevin Read your post with lots of interest. We're in Ithaca, NY - so Cornell University is the big-daddy in the area. Ithaca metro area is 50,000, 100,000 if you go to county area - so even smaller than you - but because of the university and nature of things in Ithaca, there are more independent consultants, works, telecommuters etc than might otherwise be the case. Cornell has 2 business incubators and 1 business park - the business incubators are strictly for Cornell students and the business park is on the pricey side and I'm not sure in the location we want.
So is your coworking space actually being sponsored by the university? If so, under what terms. What are they providing vs. you paying? Will anyone be able to access it? What have been your lessons learned in trying to do this in a smaller metro area? What kind of space are you using and where is it located. How have you gone about reaching out/finding the potential market? Yes, lots of questions! We're starting very casually at the moment - first trying to get some coworking days organized amongst the small initial group of us, probably at the local library which rooms we can use for that. And then, if we find that it works for us, try and find a space and turn it into a coworking space. Another colleague of mine is also interested in starting a non-University based business incubator and we're talking about co-locating them and providing cross services. Could be a neat idea. Regards Susan ------------------------------------------------------------------ Susan Mann Home: +1.607.273.1671 Fax: +1.607.697.0513 Cell: +607.592.3241 Yahoo Messenger: tlali01a Skype: ramphele01 Address: 232 Haller Blvd, Ithaca, NY 14850 "Stability breeds instability" - Hyman Minsk "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell" - Edward Abbey -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of KC Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 3:47 PM To: 'Coworking' Subject: [Coworking] West Texas Coworking Hello all, I introduced myself about a month ago and can now officially call myself a Space Catalyst. I'm in the process of launching a coworking space in conjunction with Abilene Christian University, a mid-size liberal arts university way out here in West Texas. Abilene is a metro of about 125,000 people...so we're small, but not that small, and we've got a fairly vibrant entrepreneurial community (if you want details I'll be happy to share...just send me an email or respond to this...for one thing, our immediate region is the national leader in the expansion of wind energy). Also, our university sends grads out all over the world and we would love to instill the coworking-ethic in those that are entrepreneurial so that they will seek out other coworking sites wherever they land after graduation. The the program is approved and we've begun plans for the space. This discussion group has been VERY helpful in our orientation. If any of you have worked in conjunction with universities before with your coworking space, or if you're operating in a smaller metro area, I'd very much appreciate your sharing some "lessons learned." KC Kevin Christian, JD 325-280-8680 [email protected] www.acu.edu --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
