This corresponds well with why I think the Hacker Dojo is successful. They focused on the community first and foremost. Startups and remote workers followed after. On Oct 19, 2012 10:06 AM, "Alex Hillman" <[email protected]> wrote:
> 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]> 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 > > > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
