I think you are right in that anything that has strong financial backing could cause some havoc in a smaller market, but therein lies the reason why, if there is going to be any shake up, it's more likely to happen in larger markets. If your operation has investors, as a company you need to focus more on returning funds to those investors. Immediately, that will likely cause any VC backed operations shy away from entrance into smaller markets. They will likely target larger markets where they can play a numbers game to get a return faster.
Other things to consider is, if they do it right, it can be a long road at times to get a community built, engaged and sustained before the space is obtained. The only advantage that one of these may have is that they will have a space, or funding to deploy quicker. But I don't see that they will be any better an creating and sustaining community than anyone else. The other factor is that according to Deskmag, 94% of people in current coworking spaces stick with their space and don't plan to leave. This means that the main area that competition is liable to arise is in attracting new clients. An established community that has grown organically, is going to have a stronger bond and staying power when it comes to an new entrant who wants to "build a better burger" because of that community connection. You may see a small amount of turn to a new space, but I would not expect that to be significant, based on where the numbers are now. You also have wants of the community to consider and whether there is even enough interest or support for an additional coworking space in a given area. In a larger city it may be more easily supported. But in a smaller one, you are liable to see those spaces that try to convert shutter up when they realized the community cannot or will not support two or more spaces. And if that starts to happen, if these spaces convert to coworking and then start closing, that is where I think you will see the greatest impact on the coworking community. Because to people who aren't paying close attention or in the trenches, it is liable to look like a bunch of coworking spaces opened and then closed, signaling that the concept wasn't working out. That's my two cents. Rob C. On Wednesday, August 28, 2013 9:54:36 PM UTC-6, Robert Petrusz wrote: > > > http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-14/waiting-for-the-accelerator-bubble-to-pop > > At the upcoming "Triangle Entrepreneurship Week" there is a panel > presentation on "Co-working in the Triangle". The panelists are all > accelerators or incubators. None of the local coworking spaces are invited > to participate. > > Here is something I apparently worry about more than other coworking space > owners: last I heard there were almost 700 incubators in America. > "Incubators" are now not so cool anymore, so lots of folks seem to be > switching to an "acclerator model". Its not clear that they will do any > better than incubators that failed. > > Is anyone else worried that SEVEN HUNDRED incubators & accelerators in > america could suddenly decide that they need to become coworking spaces?! > There are also about 700 coworking spaces in america. Imagine a world where > every single coworking space was suddenly competing with an > incubator/accelerator that was funded by the local city/chamber of > commerce/university/VC community. > > These new entrants can cause lots of trouble, especially in small markets > where they can outspend a small coworking space by a factor of 10, easily. > > Anyone else pondering these types of issues? > > Robert > Bull City Coworking > -- 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.
