You're absolutely right about the benefits of working in a coworking space being a great place to get to know potential collaborators. Hiring at startups in particular can involve great risk and investment by the startup and the employee so having a working relationship of any sort would reduce that risk tremendously. For me one of the benefits of coworking is the proximity to complementary businesses and certainly one of the benefits of incubators, the challenge of course is finding and developing relationships with complementary business prior to moving in, so to speak.
The MakeInnovation idea was my initial step in trying to bootstrap a coworking space focused on innovation and incubation. I have some ideas for some digital tools that could facilitate that process but they are in the conversation stage right now. Apart from looking for work myself I'm also keen on the idea of finding ways the concept of coworking/maker spaces can help provide support and help to people who are at risk, long term unemployed, or people who want to change jobs learn new technologies and about entrepreneurship. Thanks for the advice, the work you've done with IndyHall is inspiring, Karl On Sun, Aug 21, 2011 at 7:10 PM, Alex Hillman <[email protected]> wrote: > Looking for work in a coworking space is like looking for love at the > bar. If you walk in the door prowling, you're likely to go home alone. > Instead, if you walk in the door friendly, charming, and interesting - your > chances start to go up. > The first step to get work in a coworking space is to DO your work in a > coworking space. > > There's no shortage of opportunities, of course. A statistically significant > percentage of Indy Hall members, for instance, have gotten work from other > Indy Hall members, shared work with other Indy Hall members, or even gotten > work simply by virtue of the fact that they are active Indy Hall members. > But the key focus we've had is maintaining Indy Hall is a place to come > do work, rather than a place to come get work. If you're doing your work > from a coworking space, it's like the best job interview/portfolio piece you > can possibly have - people get to know your personality, observe your work > ethic, and see your work products. These are three of the hardest things to > get a grasp of when looking for talented people to work with, and I don't > think it's any coincidence that the work exchange opportunities and > experiences are higher at coworking spaces that make them easier for their > members to share. > It's simple and almost too obvious to say, but the fact is that the people > who do work from Indy Hall also tend to get the most work from their > experience at Indy Hall. > From reading your MakeInnovation page, I'm curious where you see yourself > fitting into this process? It sounds like you've got some ideas, but they're > not clear from that one-pager. > -Alex > > > /ah > indyhall.org > coworking in philadelphia > > > On Sun, Aug 21, 2011 at 1:50 PM, Karl Long <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> I am working on a couple of projects related to coworking/comaking, >> but am not generating much money at the moment >> (http://makeinnovation.com). I wondered if there was an appropriate >> source to look for work at coworking spaces or with startups in >> coworking spaces themselves? >> >> Thanks, >> >> Karl >> >> >> >> -- >> http://experiencecurve.com >> @karllong >> >> -- >> 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. >> > > -- > 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. > -- @karllong -- 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.
