Hi all, Thanks for all the great comments.
I do want to clarify to everyone, especially to anyone else out there reading this, that I believe that in the long run coworking spaces will be part of a new normal and they have nothing to fear from incubators or accelerators. I also agree completely with Alex's comment that incubators/accelerators serve a completely different group of people. Tom's comments from Workantile sound familiar... we see similar patterns here in the Carolinas. Rachel - I would LOVE to see 10 more real coworking spaces in my hometown. In fact, I keep telling folks locally to please accept it because it will happen. I would also LOVE to see 700 genuine coworking spaces in america. And honestly, I think it will happen. I just think that outside of big metros, building a viable space is a very different ballgame... its no comfort to the small space owner that a year or two later when the giant space goes out of business and everyone in town says, "yeah, your space was so much nicer". That space owner feels burned. They have moved on. And their town is poorer for that fact. I really do believe that coworking spaces will be a part of the new normal and will be as normal a part of the landscape as restaurants within a few years. I am proud to be a part of the movement. But it does pain me somewhat to think of all the "little guys" who are doing things right and are simply copied and marginalized in their communities. Rachel, your idea about offering to provide another space owner for the panel is excellent. I'll keep you guys posted. Robert On Wednesday, August 28, 2013 11:54:36 PM UTC-4, 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.
