Keith, Indy Hall started in a roughly 1800 square foot space, not much bigger than you are describing.
A few things to remember: - 10 people doesn't mean 10 full time people. Indy Hall had 2 full time people when we opened <http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2015/10/the-ultimate-guide-to-structuring-your-coworking-space-memberships/> . - It's absolutely better to have diversity than to have a room full of people who do the same thing. But be careful about overthinking curation - that's distracting you from the real goal which is having people who share things in common *other* than their work, and so regardless of what kind of work they do. When you ask "who is your coworking space going to be for?" think less in terms of demographics and more in terms of who they are as people and how they view the world <http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2015/11/who-is-your-coworking-space-for/>. Think of your coworking space like a garden where it's your job to tend, not sim-city where it's your job to "play god." - Especially crucial at small scale, find ways to bring people together OUTSIDE of the space. That way, the space becomes a place where people can come together more easily. - Small is sexy. Take this opportunity to REALLY get to understand how people interact in a small space, and work with them to make those interactions turn into lasting relationships. Truth be told, it's much easier to understand what's really important when you start small than when you start big. Good luck - :) -Alex ------------------ *The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.* Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com Listen to the podcast: http://dangerouslyawesome.com/podcast On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 9:50 AM, Keith Pandeloglou <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello everyone! So glad to find a community to share ideas and learn best > practices! I've started the planning phase to explore the feasibility of > opening a location in my hometown. Currently, we have 3 others in > surrounding towns, but none in my town. We are an up and coming town with a > brand new mall, and being in Florida, not many options for professionals > looking for this type of environment. > > I've met with our local Business Alliance, and the Dean of our our local > business school. Both will be key in the adoption and growth. Thanks to > everyone here, my next step is to start building a community of people > before signing a lease. > > Here's my thought (and challenge): as most of you know, this isn't an easy > balance for determining how to even break even. I'm also all for starting > small. The best locations i'm finding that would work financially (assuming > a group of 10 to start) are in the 1200-1600 SF range. Being in such a > small location, I wanted to know if anyone has tried this? And if you have, > what about the thought of making sure the initial 10 are all in different > verticals? > > I'm trying to target the young professionals who have an idea, but not > throw them into the typical incubator/accelerator. If we can provide the > "core" team as part of the founding group, (think WebDev, Marketing, Tech, > Startup Coach, IP Lawyer), my thought is this would work better in the > small environment. > > I thank you all in advance, and am also planning on taking some road > (possibly air) trips to check out some of my new friends! > > Best, > > Keith > > -- > 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/d/optout. > -- 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/d/optout.
