[Coworking] New Oakland (CA) space: BizDevHouse; open house tomorrow, opens Sep. 2
Did the Mayor declare this coworking week in Oakland or something while I was outta town? East Bay spaces in general and Oakland spaces in particular seem to be proliferating all of a sudden. There's not just Derby Creek Coworking Cooperative on Telegraph Ave. in North Oakland at the Berkeley border fresh on the scene (where this past Monday's orientation meeting featuring a Concord coworking space creator, a Berkeley Coworking founder, and my long-lost college housing coop roommate is a topic for another post). It's not just a loft space in West Oakland looking to ride on coworking's coattails with a third space community center. It's much more than the meeting last night at a co-creative incubator-esque social-venture shared space that's been together since 2003 just two blocks from my home, NextNow Collaborator. What popped up today on my radar is another new coworking space in Oaktown. BizDevHouse is in the lower Oakland hills/Glenview area, in what looks like a house (a la Cambridge's BetaHouse) a block off of the neighborhood's community-oriented commercial strip (Park Street), close to the Montclair neighborhood and MacArthur bus corridor (with frequent 24-hour transbay service) and 580/13 freeways, one exit up from Grand/Lakeshore business district and Lake Merritt/downtown, near Piedmont and the Parkway Speakeasy Picture-Pub-Pizza theatre with sofas, and also close to the Dimond District and upper Fruitvale neighborhoods. A couple of miles from the BART subway, with a little hill-climbing involved; a similar trek from Berkeley or the downtown Oakland/Oaksterdam, Piedmont, or Rockridge neighborhoods. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=BizDevHousesll=37.806241,-122.221226sspn=172.142289,360ie=UTF8hl=enei=Yh2sSJCULpqcjQPF55zlAQsig2=ApDp7DNwu8XRMsxbGKHEOQcd=1cid=37806513,-12103,5938367018174105568li=lmdt=hll=37.807016,-122.222694spn=0.001168,0.002575z=19iwloc=A (in case of link breakage, try this: http://tinyurl.com/BizDevHouseMap ) I first learned of BizDevHouse via a MeetUp alert this morning. It officially opens September 2 (please remove all playa dust before bringing in your laptop), and seems to feature iPhone app developers and seeks Mac developers and creative tech folks in general. Another listing adds Marketing people to the list, promising a great place for people who can work virtually but understand the value of creative collaboration. BizDevHouse WP blog featuring just the obligatory Hello, World post so far: http://www.bizdevhouse.com/ BizDevHouse MeetUp group: http://entrepreneur.meetup.com/2011/ Open House upcoming.org event listing: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1024271/ This Thurs, 4-8 PM Craig's List ad, including photos: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/off/802515133.html BizDevHouse 360-degree video badly in need of a musical soundtrack, not to mention a 2.0 version with the camera pointed outwards: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87J4O7MtBE0 Here's some free tips from your Coworking Coach (yep, that's me), worth what you paid for 'em: 1. You're doing the right things in terms of visibility, but if you don't cross-link 'em, they don't help build your outreach network. This message should suffice for the 'post here' checklist item. I added you to Google Maps generally and the coworking map in particular while creating the map link above; coworking wiki and main coworking blog posts are also quite helpful and relevant. 2. In Real Estate it's Location, Location, Location. In coworking it's Location. Community. Opportunity. Include more about the people and the vision - names, links, photos, bios, videos, stories, their visions for the space. Don't expect potential coworkers to be able to visualize the full potential from your photos of the empty space (as your C-L post seems to acknowledge). Or to necessarily have the same shared vision (or visions with sufficient overlap), leading to potential conflict down the road. Include something about prices, management structure, hours, etc. If you don't know yet, that's fine, just say so; err on the side of full disclosure (but ask the Citizen Space founders Tara and Chris about where to draw the line) and people will better be able to calibrate their responses and engage most effectively. 3. Give more than 36 hours advance notice for an open house, especially for a just-created MeetUp and not-yet-heavily linked blog, for an event starting during business hours in a location that's more than a walk away for most. 4. Lose the dash: co-working is so 2007! ;-) I'm looking forward to seeing the space and meeting the people behind it. Based on certain clues embedded in the sites linked above, I think I already know some of 'em. Raines Cohen, Coworking Coach http://www.coworkingcoach.com/ Planning for Sustainable Communities (Berkeley, CA) --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Coworking group. To post to this group, send email to
[Coworking] Re: Introducing myself: ATL-based, trying to create coworking space
Thanks Alex. Well, a guy in Atlanta has organized a meetup for those interested in coworking. It's Aug 26th and the details can be found here: http://entrepreneur.meetup.com/1202/calendar/8578597/?from=listoffset=0 Thanks. -Blake On Aug 18, 10:30 pm, Alex Hillman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Blake, Welcome! There are a LOT of people talking about coworking in the Atlanta area. From where I'm standing (which is admittedly about 800 miles away), there needs to be some sort of coworking meetup that's broadcast to the community to get everyone on the same page! Once the whole scene is in one place, I think it will be clearer what specific communities exist and what their needs are, and how coworking can help with that scene. In the mean time...get to action! There are a few others from Atlanta in this list, and I'm in touch with a number of others who have been inquiring. If we can do anything to help facilitate getting the scene together in ATL, you've certainly come to the right place! -Alex, IndyHall -- - -- - Alex Hillman im always developing something digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED] visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com local:www.indyhall.org On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 9:55 PM, Blake Perdue [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: My name is Blake Perdue (http://blakeperdue.com), I'm a graduate student at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. I work part-time at a startup incubator (http://atdc.org). We're trying to learn as much as we can about coworking, the challenges of creating a space, pitfalls to avoid, etc as we look to create a coworking space in our office. I hope to learn much from you all and thank you for your attention. -Blake e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] p: 404-385-2181 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Coworking group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Press results
CubesCrayons gets quite a bit of press just because it is different. In terms of butts in the seat (BITS as we call them), the small local press has yielded about 15% of our BITS. We get the best out of word of mouth. Like Tara said, the larger press and TV has mostly yielded inquiries from investors, people who want to franchise the model, or potential partners. The press seems to be a bit more of a time sync than an actual way to get butts in the seat. Having said that, several of our straight coworkers (not with kids) have found out about us from local press. And I do think for newer spaces it generates excitement in the local community and some validation. We mostly use our press as we go after corporations to provide better flexible work options for their employees AND to pay for it. All the best, Felicity SPACE: www.cubesandcrayons.com BLOG: cubes.typepad.com/blog PERSONAL BLOG: cubes.typepad.com/cake On Aug 19, 10:56 pm, Derek Young [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Re: generations: At least in this town, there isn't much of a generational thing going on. Our primary core tends to be GenX, but our first signed member was a second/third career consultant in her fifties. Our biggest challenge with most of the GenY we've dealt with is that the ones that come through the door tend to be aspirational about working independently. They don't necessarily have their core businesses in a mature enough state where they can sustain the 'rent' of a space. Individuals that have been working from home/coffee shops for at least a year are the ones that have had staying power. Those that are just starting out, tend to last a month or two before fading away. However - back to the press question - the articles in the MSM have brought us a much older group than the word of mouth referrals. Derek Young Suite133 On 8/19/08 9:24 PM, axon [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: So far we have five new members. We've done no promotion whatsoever, and we won't even be open for another month or so. I've got an interview with the local daily tomorrow, and the entertainment weekly is planning to do some sort of feature. But I'm not holding my breath. We're going to do a big honkin grand opening (and I hope @missrogue can attend), but even though we'll promote it as a networking event (and we have some cred in this area), my inside midnight guess is that it will be a bunch of backslapping grip'n'grinners who won't convert. The key thing I've teased out of my analyses is that this is a millennial generation thing. Not that older folks would be excluded or anything, but the core segment for this is the genYers. They live on 2.0, and couldn't be bothered to wipe their noses on the MSM. We'll certainly show the flag, at least as long as it's free, but I feel confident our community will find itself through word of net. --Ax On Aug 19, 1:49 pm, Derek Young [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Here are a couple things: About 10% of our committed monthly users (which works out to 2) came via press articles in the local business weekly and the big local paper. The rest came from word of mouth, pre-existing friends, and friends of friends. Our holiday party filled half our current seats. Ink has given us a lot of traffic that doesn¹t convert. Each time we end up in print, we find ourselves giving a lot of tours. These have resulted in a butt-in-the-seat less than 5% of the time. When someone walks in our doors via a word of mouth referral, we¹re able to get them to commit greater than 50% of the time. Where it gets murky is that some of our word-of-mouth referrals came from people that both knew us and were reminded of us by the newspaper/magazine article. Derek Young Suite133 On 8/19/08 9:40 AM, Tara Hunt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hey, Has anyone tracked how getting ink/television appearances/etc. has helped them? I still find that almost all of our inquiries that turn out to become regulars or desk owners are word of mouth. We haven't had a single committer via the press. Of course, there are loads of inquiries that I get at Citizen Space for partnerships, pitches and general interest in the idea of coworking from the press articles... Tara --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Coworking group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Events and Membership?
Maybe you don't have a membership level that is attractive to them? Why not talk to the people coming to events and find out on what level they'd be interested in becoming members? Our basic membership, for instance, is cheap enough ($25/month) for people to join simply to support our interest in hosting events. Think of it like an association fee. On top of that, we're releasing a new internal/external event policy for another stream of revenue for us. -Alex -- - -- - Alex Hillman im always developing something digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED] visual: www.dangerouslyawesome.com local: www.indyhall.org On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 11:40 AM, felicity at cubes [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This is a question mostly to space owners but also to all of those who use coworking spaces. Do you find that events generate more members? If you are a member of a coworking space, do you go to the events on a regular basis? We are finding we get decent attendance at our events but they do not lead to getting more members and I am debating the benefit of them. Any thoughts are appreciated. -Felicity CubesCrayons Coworking SPACE: www.cubesandcrayons.com BLOG: cubes.typepad.com/blog PERSONAL BLOG: cubes.typepad.com/cake --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Coworking group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Introduction - ideabrian - BizDevHouse - Coworking Oakland, CA
Hi all, Finally getting around to joining this list and introducing myself. I'm Brian Ball. My wife Cheryl and I have been throwing around the idea of joining the co-working community. We're taking a craftsman-style home we have in Oakland and are opening it up. While this is all new, scary, and experimental, we know the value of meeting people and collaboration - so that's what we're focusing on. Raines, the coworking coach - gave us lots of good input and he's in our backyard - so we may have to figure out how to engage his services. There's an open-house this thursday (August, 21st where we'll be hanging out and just talking about the value of co-working over some beers, cookies, and the sound of a couple little people jumping around. If you're in Oakland and want to see what we're up to, I've posted the link on Upcoming: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1024271/ I look forward to being part of a great community. Brian --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Coworking group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] My Intro - Trying to Set up a Cowo Space in North Jersey
Hi all, My name is Igor Alves and I am interested in founding a coworking space in North Jersey. I have introduced myself privately to a few of the coworking guys in NYC and Philly but I feel I should drop a note to everyone on this amazing Google Group. I have been following along for the last 2-3 months as I decided if I was into this project for real and seeing the passion, spirit of collaboration and creativity of the people on here (the coworking pioneers!) has really pushed me ahead further than I would have otherwise... for that I am already indebted to you all. I am looking at Newark, Jersey City or Montclair as my target locations... I am currently searching for the ideal space within my ideal budget... and I have recruited some excellent people to help with different facets of the venture I would love to hear from anyone interested in being a coworker if a space would open up at these locations or from anyone that may have a lead or interest on real estate properties for lease / rent / sale that would be great for coworking... I have started a blog that has a bit more info about me and the idea: http://coworkingnj.com for anyone interested. I thank the community in advance for all the support and I hope I can also be of help some time in the near future... Thanks, Igor P.S. Soon I hope to post up some semi-academic thoughts about what I think coworking represents and maybe you will be interested in responding to that... --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Coworking group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Events and Membership?
Hi Felicity, What kinds of events are they? Do they foster good relationships between the members? I'm wondering what kinds of events work better than others... Alex? Have you gotten any vibe from the wide variety of events you guys have run? Tony Bacigalupo New Work City / CooperBricolage / Jelly NYC On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 11:40 AM, felicity at cubes [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This is a question mostly to space owners but also to all of those who use coworking spaces. Do you find that events generate more members? If you are a member of a coworking space, do you go to the events on a regular basis? We are finding we get decent attendance at our events but they do not lead to getting more members and I am debating the benefit of them. Any thoughts are appreciated. -Felicity CubesCrayons Coworking SPACE: www.cubesandcrayons.com BLOG: cubes.typepad.com/blog PERSONAL BLOG: cubes.typepad.com/cake --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Coworking group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Events and Membership?
Interesting...for us we get a lot of people at the events who aren't necessarily going to become coworkers and/or wouldn't use the flexible childcare in our space. We have some member only events that do garner socializing and are usually a fairly big hit. We are looking at hitting the events that will bring the teleworker/commuter in. For us, if they don't have kids, it only costs $20/half day of work, so the price of admissions is low. I don't think that is the barrier. Would love to hear what kinds of events other people have found to increase membership. It's great to have a variety of events but we also like to use our events as a marketing tool, and to do that we want to make sure the events appeal to the coworking audience, and that might be where we miss the sweet spot. Thoughts? -Felicity On Aug 20, 9:19 am, Tony Bacigalupo [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi Felicity, What kinds of events are they? Do they foster good relationships between the members? I'm wondering what kinds of events work better than others... Alex? Have you gotten any vibe from the wide variety of events you guys have run? Tony Bacigalupo New Work City / CooperBricolage / Jelly NYC On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 11:40 AM, felicity at cubes [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This is a question mostly to space owners but also to all of those who use coworking spaces. Do you find that events generate more members? If you are a member of a coworking space, do you go to the events on a regular basis? We are finding we get decent attendance at our events but they do not lead to getting more members and I am debating the benefit of them. Any thoughts are appreciated. -Felicity CubesCrayons Coworking SPACE:www.cubesandcrayons.com BLOG: cubes.typepad.com/blog PERSONAL BLOG: cubes.typepad.com/cake --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Coworking group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Carrboro Coworking in NC has a lease
Congrats! Tons of new spaces signing/opening soon! Can't wait to watch the map grow and have more places to come visit :). -Alex, IndyHall -- - -- - Alex Hillman im always developing something digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED] visual: www.dangerouslyawesome.com local: www.indyhall.org On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 8:55 PM, BrianR [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Carrboro Creative Coworking now has a lease for office space at 205 Lloyd Street, Suite 101 in downtown Carrboro, NC! It's 3,049 square feet and has nine small offices, two conference rooms, a kitchen, and public work space. The TARGET opening date for CCC is Wednesday, October 1, 2008. Stay tuned for exact dates and grand opening party info. :) -BrianR p.s. all the new news as it happens at www.carrborocoworking.com --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Coworking group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Carrboro Coworking in NC has a lease
OMG Brian! Congratulations x 1 million! I know you have worked hard for this day. Looking forward to the grand opening! T On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 6:58 PM, Alex Hillman [EMAIL PROTECTED]wrote: Congrats! Tons of new spaces signing/opening soon! Can't wait to watch the map grow and have more places to come visit :). -Alex, IndyHall -- - -- - Alex Hillman im always developing something digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED] visual: www.dangerouslyawesome.com local: www.indyhall.org On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 8:55 PM, BrianR [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Carrboro Creative Coworking now has a lease for office space at 205 Lloyd Street, Suite 101 in downtown Carrboro, NC! It's 3,049 square feet and has nine small offices, two conference rooms, a kitchen, and public work space. The TARGET opening date for CCC is Wednesday, October 1, 2008. Stay tuned for exact dates and grand opening party info. :) -BrianR p.s. all the new news as it happens at www.carrborocoworking.com -- tara 'missrogue' hunt coFounder Citizen Agency (www.citizenagency.com) blog: www.horsepigcow.com phone: 415-694-1951 fax: 415-727-5335 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Coworking group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Carrboro Coworking in NC has a lease
Thanks Tara and Alex. You two have been very inspiring! :) -Brian On Aug 20, 10:00 pm, Tara Hunt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: OMG Brian! Congratulations x 1 million! I know you have worked hard for this day. Looking forward to the grand opening! T On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 6:58 PM, Alex Hillman [EMAIL PROTECTED]wrote: Congrats! Tons of new spaces signing/opening soon! Can't wait to watch the map grow and have more places to come visit :). -Alex, IndyHall -- - -- - Alex Hillman im always developing something digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED] visual:www.dangerouslyawesome.com local:www.indyhall.org On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 8:55 PM, BrianR [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Carrboro Creative Coworking now has a lease for office space at 205 Lloyd Street, Suite 101 in downtown Carrboro, NC! It's 3,049 square feet and has nine small offices, two conference rooms, a kitchen, and public work space. The TARGET opening date for CCC is Wednesday, October 1, 2008. Stay tuned for exact dates and grand opening party info. :) -BrianR p.s. all the new news as it happens atwww.carrborocoworking.com -- tara 'missrogue' hunt coFounder Citizen Agency (www.citizenagency.com) blog:www.horsepigcow.com phone: 415-694-1951 fax: 415-727-5335 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Coworking group. To post to this group, send email to coworking@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
