I'd also argue that focusing on "startups" is a part of you problem, far greater than things like cost.
Startups are definitively a transient, and I've noticed that people struggle to differentiate from one startup-space to the next. Almost every space other than Indy Hall in Philadelphia is focused on startups. Our community contains some startups, but it's mostly "everything else". There are really two prominent problem patterns for startups and coworking spaces: 1) they can't grow fast enough so they go out of business and stop being members 2) they grow as fast as they wanted to and outgrow the coworking space Retention is generally an edge case. The positive outcome of startups out growing your space, of course, is them being able to provide support/mentorship back to the community but that also depends on the type of community you've developed. Most startup coworking spaces that I've studied are "communities of interest", where the only real thing that bonds the group is their common interest in startup topics. Communities of Practice, on the other hand, focus on mutual advancement and knowledge sharing. That's the "rising tide" that you always hear about. There's a LOT of people who need and love coworking that don't identify with "startups". Looking for those people can help keep your retention rates higher. I'm working on a post about growth and retention patterns in coworking businesses (including a lot of self-sabotage that I've noticed) so this was well timed - I'll be sharing that soon :) -Alex -- /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia building a community? http://masterclass.indyhall.org On Friday, October 19, 2012 at 12:55 PM, Frederick Kautz wrote: > What is the cost of renting a place and what is the startup culture like over > there (size and actual culture)? I suspect those two combined will have an > impact. > On Oct 19, 2012 9:48 AM, "David Thach" <[email protected] > (mailto:[email protected])> wrote: > > Would be interested in everyone's opinion on why coworking has not taken > > off in Dallas, TX. > > > > I have started 2 coworking locations in Dallas this year. We struggled for > > some time, started to do well, then we are again not doing so well. > > Building community is a big factor that has been written about often. And, > > from what I can tell all the founders of past coworking locations have been > > passionate about building communities. They have blogged, discussed, and > > taken action to try and build community, but their space nonetheless have > > closed over time. But, I wanted to learn more about other factors that > > might be contributing to the failure rate. > > > > Within the past 4 years, I have counted 5 coworking locations in Dallas > > that have closed, and this year alone 5 have started up in their place. > > Although the demand is there, I wonder if the demand is large enough or > > growing fast enough to sustain the economics. And, because the barriers to > > entry into creating a coworking space is so low, the supply of space by > > ambitious entrepreneurs is always ahead of the demand. We were the first to > > start up this year on January 1, 2012 and we noticed after each new > > coworking space opened this year in Dallas, we lost some ground. > > > > A rising tide lifts all boats, as more and more people are learning about > > coworking. But, I also fear we are chasing the same small group of > > demographics that generally float from one space to another. > > > > -- > > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > > > > > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
