Steve: Good (snowy) morning from Durango, CO. We are starting DurangoSpace in January 2011 here in Durango, CO. Jury is still out on how it will work, but we are ready to launch. Here is what we've done so far:
1) Six months of research, and 3 months of business planning. Maybe more planning than we need, but we wanted to really understand coworking. 2) We have been to NextSpace (Santa Cruz & SF, CA), Sandbox Suites (Berkely, CA), Independents Hall (Philly), the Hub (SoMa in SF & Berkeley, CA). the visits really help, including working in a coworking space (and paying to see how the back end works). I spend time working at Indy Hall and Next Space. 3) The secret sauce numbers are: a) 100 SF per workspace, so a 3,000 SF building has capacity for 30 workspaces, b) 2:1 ration of members:workspace. So a 3,000SF space has capacity for 60 members (or equivilent), c) Community first which all of the coworking pioneers will tell you. It is about community and space, not just a real estate play. 4) Do your homework. Our research shows that it is a "skinny business model", the gross revenues and margins revolve around a fixed cost model, so you can get started and lose money if you don't have solid member support. This appears to be where most fail. 5) One your space, the business model does not afford much in the way of lease hold improvements. Need to put capital cost into furniture (flexible, comfortable, usable) and infrastructure support for members. Let us know how is goes.... Jasper DurangoSpace, Durango, CO On Dec 16, 10:07 pm, SteveJ <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello, my name is SteveJ and I live in Missoula, MT. I am a P/C Agent > in California and work from home. I am currently very interested in > the coworking concept and potentially have a building that will work > to establish a coworking location in Missoula. Any ideas? Any > thoughts? > > SteveJ -- 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.
