Craig, This is a very interesting topic and I was thinking about introducing a similar question to the group. I was recently talking with someone involved with coliving down in SF and thoughts about real-estate came up again. I'd love to buy the building we are in but the hard assets Office Nomads has is mostly a bunch of Ikea desks and that's not exactly good collateral for a loan that size. Navigating the relationship with investors is tricky as you are highlighting. I don't know how to make someone millions, but I do know how to make a profitable business and a strong community of loyal members. Seems like a lot to work with if the right investors came along.
Jacob --- Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500 On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 9:22 AM, Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking < [email protected]> wrote: > Hey team, > > I have been approached by three different investors in the last few weeks > for new locations. Creative Density is looking at a second location and > building up the new community for it in a simlar way to how we did it two > years ago. It's very grass roots and will only happen if the community can > be formed before the space opens. Once this process started to happen > that's when investors started to show up. > > I know several others have had similar experience so I am hoping I can > have guidance about important questions to ask and possible structures. > > What I'm thinking: > > Business structure: > Creative Density's current location remains my own domain. They don't get > a chunk of that but they are investing in future locations with the new > location being a new business entity. We will share access to my > intellectual property but in case of a split I will retain control in a > reasonable time frame of transition. > > How much money: > They are looking to purchase the building and renovating it. I'm working > on how much money they need to put in beyound that and how to split revenue > and profits. > > Do they have a good personality match and complimentary skill set? > I'm laying out my principals of what I want coworking to be and that > profit is not the sole driving force. Yes, we want to make money but we > also want this a platform and community that supports freelancers and > remote workers as well as small teams. Private offices sell fast but they > can not dominate the space and must be around only a third of the space. > They do have a good skill set that compliments my own as an experience > coworking space owner. > > Any advice would helpful. > > Craig > > > > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
