[Coworking] Re: Coworking and College Students?
Working for a university as I do, I'd say this completely depends on the school. That said, I agree that community support, mentoring, and peer support are key exactly as you say. I also think their is a healthy arrogance among the student entrepreneurs. They believe (true or not) that they've got a leg up on their classmates who are provincially pursuing career jobs. These guys/girls would feed off having their own entrepreneurial den to work out of...presumptively. I think the other keys are proximity to campus and cost. Kevin SpringBoard Accelerator Coworking Center (working title) Abilene Christian University kevin.christ...@acu.edu On May 19, 1:42 pm, James Hall jamesmhal...@gmail.com wrote: A lot of times, the school offers everything student entrepreneurs need as far as meeting rooms, collaborative space, printing and other services. If you want to target the college entrepreneur, you need to focus on community support, mentoring and/or peer support. - James On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 2:28 PM, Chris Johnston cmjohns...@gmail.comwrote: I think that there are many students running startups from their dorm rooms and they could be a potential market. Grad students in CS or MBA programs might also be good candidates also. Christopher M. Johnston 504.208.1766 Google Voice http://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisjohnston On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 3:33 PM, KC kevin.christ...@acu.edu wrote: Actually, we're launching our coworking space in partnership with the college of business and adjacent to the campus. Our (limited) market research has shown that there is a strong interest and a willingness to pay among the right students. For the rest of you, why would you even consider the general student market...you're really only looking for a handful of spots to be filled by students, so why should you even consider what most students might think? Most students aren't your target market. In our case, we have a business plan competition that is open to students and we're virally creating the buzz within that group first. I'm hoping for a dozen students MAX after we launch...building up to that number over the first semester. We're planning to charge $50/ month and so far I've gotten very positive feedback on that from students. We're offering free coffee and high-quality wi-fi, so that offsets some costs that they are already allocating to coffee shops. I think the key is to make it exclusive. For us it will be first-come first served, and we're marketing first to students who we know are entrepreneurial. We have a very depressed office market in our mid-size city, so our prices after launch will be pretty cheap, likely this: $50 students, $100 faculty, $200 community, $350 if you want one of the few offices. We're launching it with a business accelerator (incubator), so my dream scenario would be to house 3 incubator projects, 3 coworkers renting offices, 12 other community member coworkers, 7 faculty coworkers, and 12 student coworkers. Not even sure we could handle that much... If we draw a dozen students and half a dozen faculty I'll be ecstatic. Kevin Abilene Christian University kevin.christ...@acu.edu 325-280-8680 On May 11, 3:34 pm, Norcross and...@coworkingstpete.com wrote: Hey there everyone, I'm part of the CoworkingStPete group currently in the process of getting a space together in St. Petersburg, Florida. Something we've discussed internally is how to approach college students. For those that aren't aware, St. Petersburg is a smaller city, surrounded by suburbs. However, we have two college campuses downtown, both close to the area. Has anyone had any experience with either reaching out to college students, or having them use your space? --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Coworking and College Students?
A lot of times, the school offers everything student entrepreneurs need as far as meeting rooms, collaborative space, printing and other services. If you want to target the college entrepreneur, you need to focus on community support, mentoring and/or peer support. - James On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 2:28 PM, Chris Johnston cmjohns...@gmail.comwrote: I think that there are many students running startups from their dorm rooms and they could be a potential market. Grad students in CS or MBA programs might also be good candidates also. Christopher M. Johnston 504.208.1766 Google Voice http://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisjohnston On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 3:33 PM, KC kevin.christ...@acu.edu wrote: Actually, we're launching our coworking space in partnership with the college of business and adjacent to the campus. Our (limited) market research has shown that there is a strong interest and a willingness to pay among the right students. For the rest of you, why would you even consider the general student market...you're really only looking for a handful of spots to be filled by students, so why should you even consider what most students might think? Most students aren't your target market. In our case, we have a business plan competition that is open to students and we're virally creating the buzz within that group first. I'm hoping for a dozen students MAX after we launch...building up to that number over the first semester. We're planning to charge $50/ month and so far I've gotten very positive feedback on that from students. We're offering free coffee and high-quality wi-fi, so that offsets some costs that they are already allocating to coffee shops. I think the key is to make it exclusive. For us it will be first-come first served, and we're marketing first to students who we know are entrepreneurial. We have a very depressed office market in our mid-size city, so our prices after launch will be pretty cheap, likely this: $50 students, $100 faculty, $200 community, $350 if you want one of the few offices. We're launching it with a business accelerator (incubator), so my dream scenario would be to house 3 incubator projects, 3 coworkers renting offices, 12 other community member coworkers, 7 faculty coworkers, and 12 student coworkers. Not even sure we could handle that much... If we draw a dozen students and half a dozen faculty I'll be ecstatic. Kevin Abilene Christian University kevin.christ...@acu.edu 325-280-8680 On May 11, 3:34 pm, Norcross and...@coworkingstpete.com wrote: Hey there everyone, I'm part of the CoworkingStPete group currently in the process of getting a space together in St. Petersburg, Florida. Something we've discussed internally is how to approach college students. For those that aren't aware, St. Petersburg is a smaller city, surrounded by suburbs. However, we have two college campuses downtown, both close to the area. Has anyone had any experience with either reaching out to college students, or having them use your space? --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Coworking and College Students?
This is what we have found as well; remember most student simply dont have the funds to afford membership and most are not disciplined enough to really work and contribute to the coworking environment that members seek. Having students or even returning students/ grad students to trade their membership rates for study time works out to be the best. I think, primarily because the student population has a unique need more similar to a library than coworking that extends beyond the campus facilities available, the established sense of community already formulated and the numerous cafes. Instead, think about how to incorporate these younger students into your coworking scenes by way of networking events, mentoring, internships, etc. Danielle WHERE: A work lounge for Creatives twitter @wheremmm where...@gmail.com facebook WHERE:Meet, Mix, Mogul (tm) Los Angeles, CA USA On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 8:34 AM, JR Moreau james.r.mor...@gmail.com wrote: At a meeting with some people interested in investing in a Worcester space, we discussed having a college student or two be able to use the space for free and be the administrator (clean, supplies, security, etc). Doesn't have to be a college student, but someone who has a lot of free time to be there and watch the place. As far as having college student's interested in paying for a place to go, I think that may be the wrong market. It would be tough to convince someone they should pay for a space when they've got the school library and common areas that *almost* serve the same purpose. James JRM Gets Creative! http://jrmgetscreative.com On May 14, 1:08 pm, Eric Marden eric.mar...@gmail.com wrote: We have one member that's in school full time (Rollins). He comes to do his homework, network with other members, and ask questions about Ruby on Rails. He found us, but thinks that if we were closer to UCF we'd be able to attract a lot more 'young blood'. Your biggest hurdle will be in showing the value in a membership over the ratty wifi at the local coffee house (where most of them are grabbing internet, when not on campus). Also, internet speed matters. - Eric Marden CoLab Orlando 37 N. Orange Ave, 6th Floor Downtown Orlandohttp://colaborlando.com On May 11, 2009, at 4:34 PM, Norcross wrote: Hey there everyone, I'm part of the CoworkingStPete group currently in the process of getting a space together in St. Petersburg, Florida. Something we've discussed internally is how to approach college students. For those that aren't aware, St. Petersburg is a smaller city, surrounded by suburbs. However, we have two college campuses downtown, both close to the area. Has anyone had any experience with either reaching out to college students, or having them use your space? --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Coworking and College Students?
Now this is something we do as well. Teachers really enjoy having the space to relax and work in the community. We also offer professors discounted rates for private meeting times. Danielle @ WHERE LA/ CA, USA On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 8:52 AM, Mike Pihlman m...@telbitconsulting.comwrote: Somewhat related...since I am a teacher in training, I have invited teachers (or recently let go teachers) to use TracyVirtualOffice for free during the summer. Mike JR Moreau wrote: At a meeting with some people interested in investing in a Worcester space, we discussed having a college student or two be able to use the space for free and be the administrator (clean, supplies, security, etc). Doesn't have to be a college student, but someone who has a lot of free time to be there and watch the place. As far as having college student's interested in paying for a place to go, I think that may be the wrong market. It would be tough to convince someone they should pay for a space when they've got the school library and common areas that *almost* serve the same purpose. James JRM Gets Creative! http://jrmgetscreative.com On May 14, 1:08 pm, Eric Marden eric.mar...@gmail.com wrote: We have one member that's in school full time (Rollins). He comes to do his homework, network with other members, and ask questions about Ruby on Rails. He found us, but thinks that if we were closer to UCF we'd be able to attract a lot more 'young blood'. Your biggest hurdle will be in showing the value in a membership over the ratty wifi at the local coffee house (where most of them are grabbing internet, when not on campus). Also, internet speed matters. - Eric Marden CoLab Orlando 37 N. Orange Ave, 6th Floor Downtown Orlandohttp://colaborlando.com On May 11, 2009, at 4:34 PM, Norcross wrote: Hey there everyone, I'm part of the CoworkingStPete group currently in the process of getting a space together in St. Petersburg, Florida. Something we've discussed internally is how to approach college students. For those that aren't aware, St. Petersburg is a smaller city, surrounded by suburbs. However, we have two college campuses downtown, both close to the area. Has anyone had any experience with either reaching out to college students, or having them use your space? -- Mike Pihlman TracyVirtualOffice A Coworking Community 95 W. 11th Street, Suite 203 Tracy, CA 95376 Mobile: 209-608-4340 Web: TracyVirtualOffice.com ooVoo: tracyvirtualoffice Twitter: @TracyVirtOffice --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Coworking and College Students?
At a meeting with some people interested in investing in a Worcester space, we discussed having a college student or two be able to use the space for free and be the administrator (clean, supplies, security, etc). Doesn't have to be a college student, but someone who has a lot of free time to be there and watch the place. As far as having college student's interested in paying for a place to go, I think that may be the wrong market. It would be tough to convince someone they should pay for a space when they've got the school library and common areas that *almost* serve the same purpose. James JRM Gets Creative! http://jrmgetscreative.com On May 14, 1:08 pm, Eric Marden eric.mar...@gmail.com wrote: We have one member that's in school full time (Rollins). He comes to do his homework, network with other members, and ask questions about Ruby on Rails. He found us, but thinks that if we were closer to UCF we'd be able to attract a lot more 'young blood'. Your biggest hurdle will be in showing the value in a membership over the ratty wifi at the local coffee house (where most of them are grabbing internet, when not on campus). Also, internet speed matters. - Eric Marden CoLab Orlando 37 N. Orange Ave, 6th Floor Downtown Orlandohttp://colaborlando.com On May 11, 2009, at 4:34 PM, Norcross wrote: Hey there everyone, I'm part of the CoworkingStPete group currently in the process of getting a space together in St. Petersburg, Florida. Something we've discussed internally is how to approach college students. For those that aren't aware, St. Petersburg is a smaller city, surrounded by suburbs. However, we have two college campuses downtown, both close to the area. Has anyone had any experience with either reaching out to college students, or having them use your space? --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Coworking and College Students?
Somewhat related...since I am a teacher in training, I have invited teachers (or recently let go teachers) to use TracyVirtualOffice for free during the summer. Mike JR Moreau wrote: At a meeting with some people interested in investing in a Worcester space, we discussed having a college student or two be able to use the space for free and be the administrator (clean, supplies, security, etc). Doesn't have to be a college student, but someone who has a lot of free time to be there and watch the place. As far as having college student's interested in paying for a place to go, I think that may be the wrong market. It would be tough to convince someone they should pay for a space when they've got the school library and common areas that *almost* serve the same purpose. James JRM Gets Creative! http://jrmgetscreative.com On May 14, 1:08 pm, Eric Marden eric.mar...@gmail.com wrote: We have one member that's in school full time (Rollins). He comes to do his homework, network with other members, and ask questions about Ruby on Rails. He found us, but thinks that if we were closer to UCF we'd be able to attract a lot more 'young blood'. Your biggest hurdle will be in showing the value in a membership over the ratty wifi at the local coffee house (where most of them are grabbing internet, when not on campus). Also, internet speed matters. - Eric Marden CoLab Orlando 37 N. Orange Ave, 6th Floor Downtown Orlandohttp://colaborlando.com On May 11, 2009, at 4:34 PM, Norcross wrote: Hey there everyone, I'm part of the CoworkingStPete group currently in the process of getting a space together in St. Petersburg, Florida. Something we've discussed internally is how to approach college students. For those that aren't aware, St. Petersburg is a smaller city, surrounded by suburbs. However, we have two college campuses downtown, both close to the area. Has anyone had any experience with either reaching out to college students, or having them use your space? -- Mike Pihlman TracyVirtualOffice A Coworking Community 95 W. 11th Street, Suite 203 Tracy, CA 95376 Mobile: 209-608-4340 Web: TracyVirtualOffice.com ooVoo: tracyvirtualoffice Twitter: @TracyVirtOffice --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Coworking and College Students?
We've had a couple of students use IndyHall and have said that it's a better study hall since most of the workers here are more motivated than their classmates. We talked about offering a discounted rate to students, but decided to maintain our already low pricing structure since the ones using it got so much value out of it we didn't want to lower the barrier to entry and end up taking in unmotivated people, since that would undo the reason the students were coming in the first place. Furthermore, we've talked with local university administration and public ed programs (Geoff taught multimedia at Philadelphia's University of the Arts for 10 years and is still adjunct along with his staff at P'unk Ave) about putting students and freelancers/small business owners/entrepreneurs in the same room in a mentorship capacity. Down the road, I could see this playing into our IndyHall U model of community-powered peer education. I hope students and coworking start being clear partnerships, and in more than an internship capacity. -Alex -- - -- - Alex Hillman im always developing something digital: a...@weknowhtml.com helpful: www.unstick.me visual: www.dangerouslyawesome.com local: www.indyhall.org On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 11:34 AM, JR Moreau james.r.mor...@gmail.comwrote: At a meeting with some people interested in investing in a Worcester space, we discussed having a college student or two be able to use the space for free and be the administrator (clean, supplies, security, etc). Doesn't have to be a college student, but someone who has a lot of free time to be there and watch the place. As far as having college student's interested in paying for a place to go, I think that may be the wrong market. It would be tough to convince someone they should pay for a space when they've got the school library and common areas that *almost* serve the same purpose. James JRM Gets Creative! http://jrmgetscreative.com On May 14, 1:08 pm, Eric Marden eric.mar...@gmail.com wrote: We have one member that's in school full time (Rollins). He comes to do his homework, network with other members, and ask questions about Ruby on Rails. He found us, but thinks that if we were closer to UCF we'd be able to attract a lot more 'young blood'. Your biggest hurdle will be in showing the value in a membership over the ratty wifi at the local coffee house (where most of them are grabbing internet, when not on campus). Also, internet speed matters. - Eric Marden CoLab Orlando 37 N. Orange Ave, 6th Floor Downtown Orlandohttp://colaborlando.com On May 11, 2009, at 4:34 PM, Norcross wrote: Hey there everyone, I'm part of the CoworkingStPete group currently in the process of getting a space together in St. Petersburg, Florida. Something we've discussed internally is how to approach college students. For those that aren't aware, St. Petersburg is a smaller city, surrounded by suburbs. However, we have two college campuses downtown, both close to the area. Has anyone had any experience with either reaching out to college students, or having them use your space? --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[Coworking] Re: Coworking and College Students?
We have one member that's in school full time (Rollins). He comes to do his homework, network with other members, and ask questions about Ruby on Rails. He found us, but thinks that if we were closer to UCF we'd be able to attract a lot more 'young blood'. Your biggest hurdle will be in showing the value in a membership over the ratty wifi at the local coffee house (where most of them are grabbing internet, when not on campus). Also, internet speed matters. - Eric Marden CoLab Orlando 37 N. Orange Ave, 6th Floor Downtown Orlando http://colaborlando.com On May 11, 2009, at 4:34 PM, Norcross wrote: Hey there everyone, I'm part of the CoworkingStPete group currently in the process of getting a space together in St. Petersburg, Florida. Something we've discussed internally is how to approach college students. For those that aren't aware, St. Petersburg is a smaller city, surrounded by suburbs. However, we have two college campuses downtown, both close to the area. Has anyone had any experience with either reaching out to college students, or having them use your space? --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
