Thanks a lot for the advice. As far as I've seen, it's true that in China big offices usually have less space per person, but I don't think our target audience is going to be the people who'd be perfectly happy in a Chinese cube farm. There are a lot of ex-pats working independently here, and we're also trying to make the space more relaxed and creative feeling, so that pushes up the requirements a little bit.
In any case, it sounds like your and Jerome's advice is pretty similar - I need to know the local area well and decide for myself. I've been doing a lot of a research, so it's nice to have some encouragement saying 'trust yourself'. I'm sure I'll have more questions as we get going, and I'll let everyone know how it goes. Thanks again, -Mike P.S. Jerome, about the meeting room; we've decided to have one, too. I suspect some of the people who answered "I'd try it out" instead of "It's critical" will find that they appreciate having a private place to talk every once in a while. On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 4:49 AM, Jerome Chang <[email protected]>wrote: We absolutely believe in meeting rooms, and our bookings confirm them. > > Size based on a square area isn't that helpful, as squares and rectangles > are totally different for seating. Just lay things out, have a 4' aisle > between desks, and feel out how much space you'd want before your seat bangs > into the desk behind you. Really, that's about all there is to it. > > Location is critical in L.A. It'll determine who uses your space. Anyone > can build a shack in a forest, throw in some desks, and then price it at $10 > or something, but do you really want to be in a forest? There's of course > no real answer to that, but I think you get the picture. We're located > literally next door to a Staples office supply store, and 1 block from > Starbuck's, so the two most important amenities for offices are very very > conveniently nearby. > > Jerome > On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 4:53 AM, Arne Hulstein <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi Mike, > > The answers to you questions depend on many variables. For one, the > accepted size of the workspace differs per person and per country. I > have understood that in China Office space in general is much tighter > packed than most US or EU offices. Just take a look at what is > acceptable for what price in other Bejing rental situations and try to > take a look at their seating arrangements. > > As for location, you are the best person to weigh your location to > surrounding facilities, travel possibilities and the general image of > your area. These are the factors that your renters will use for > themselves. Take the same approach. > > Arne > > On Thursday, June 24, 2010, Michael P. Daugherty <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Hi everyone, > > > > I'm trying to start a coworking space in Beijing, China, so I > > thought I should write and introduce myself. The reason I'm interested > > in this is that I'm also working on a startup, but my other founder > > lives in Boston. Therefore, I miss exchanging ideas in person > > much of the time when I work alone in my apartment. I've also worked at > coworking spaces before and always > > enjoyed the feeling. However, there has never been one in > > Beijing before now. > > > > I've already looked at quite a few offices and lofts, and rent > > has turned out to be much more expensive than I expected. For a ~210 > > square meter place, I think I'd need 11-12 people on a monthly plan to > > cover my costs. > > > > So, I have a few questions and would greatly appreciate any advice > > you may have. First, how many square meters do you end up using per > seat? I want to make sure my estimates of how many people can work > comfortably in a given space are reasonable. I've just been estimating > capacity by walking around inside, and it seems that most of the time my > estimate comes out to almost 7 sq. m per person (counting space used for a > meeting room and a small place to relax, etc.). > > > > How critical is location in general in this business? I'm operating > under the > > assumption that it's really important, since we're basically competing > > with working from home, and nothing can be more convenient than that. > > > > Lastly, we did a survey and the most surprising result to me was that so > few > > people considered a meeting room necessary. How many of your spaces > > have meeting rooms, and how often are they used? > > > > Thanks for your support. I hope that if any of you visit Beijing, > > you'll stop by and we can work together for a while. > > > > -Mike > > > > > > > > -- > > 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]<coworking%[email protected]> > . > > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > > > > -- > 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]<coworking%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. 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