http://gigaom.com/2006/02/22/the-new-office-space/
By Jackson West.
Forget Palo Alto garages San Francisco coffee shops are where to get your
startup off the ground. Internet cafes are emerging as an important place to
get work done, hold meetings and network. Since writers, designers,
developers and anyone else who can work from their laptop are going to show
up, you can even recruit talent, publicize your project and even demo your
product for potential users and investors.
On Charter Street, Greg Olsen writes about ³Going Bedouin.² The idea is that
instead of worrying about leases, infrastructure and support staff, a
startup can stay nimble and focused by using third party services and mobile
technology:
By focusing almost exclusively on service-based infrastructure options,
a business could operate as a sort of neo-Bedouin clan - with workers as a
roaming nomadic tribe carrying laptops & cell phones and able to set up shop
wherever there is an Internet connection, chairs, tables, and sources of
caffeine.
My own experience helping to organize the WebZine conference pretty much
echoed this. No office space was rented, communication was primarily through
email lists and a private wiki, and meetings were held at cafes with free
internet, with notes and ideas quickly disseminated to those who couldn¹t
attend. When a contact was needed to help out with services such as
advertising, sponsorships or donations, cell phones came out and calls were
made, and issues were often resolved before the meeting was even over. Even
during the conference itself, local cafes served as press rooms, panel
development forums and, of course, somewhere to get some lunch.
Of course, the business of coffee shops is to sell food and coffee, not to
take the place of VC-run incubator offices. While some have dealt with the
problem of freeloaders by charging for their Wifi, this often turns geeks
away. Coffee to the People in San Francisco¹s Haight-Ashbury is trying to
come up with guidelines, and the issue of coffee shop etiquette is a popular
topic of discussion among digerati. Some cafe owners only share the WEP or
WPA key with paying customers, limit the number of wall jacks to recharge
batteries, or shut down wifi on the weekends to encourage offline
socializing.
Niall Kennedy has proposed a number of ideas for proprietors to keep up
their cash flow and the loyalty of the laptop-toting set. Other services,
such as community office space offered by Coworking, have also begun to
answer the needs of freelancers and small startups who need a place to plug
in. Backoffice wikis, group chat and social calendars also promise to make
it easier for teams of nomads to work as a group even if scattered across
the four corners of the globe.
Here¹s a list of cafes in San Francisco chosen by popular acclaim and
personal recommendation. Any one of them will keep you fueled with caffeine,
connected online and give you a chance to network with fellow travellers.
Ritual Coffee Roasters
This is the current it¹ cafe, and at any given time you can probably find a
blogger who¹s been BoingBoinged there, like Scott Beale. It¹s Mission
location makes the move from work to play just a short walk away.
1026 Valencia Street [map | site | yelp]
Caffe Trieste
This North Beach establishment has been around since Jack Kerouac lived in
the neighborhood. Word on the street is that Wired News¹ Tony Long regularly
holds court there.
601 Vallejo St [map | site | yelp]
Reverie Coffee Cafe
Located in quiet Cole Valley, this is where angry newspaper publishers can
find Craig Newmark on any given day. With a patio out back, it¹s also great
if you¹re a smoker.
848 Cole St [map | yelp]
Coffee to the People
This Haight-Ashbury is a favorite of cute couple Chris Messina and Tara
Hunt. Second only to Ritual Roasters in terms of Dodgeball check-ins. They
even have their own blog.
1206 Masonic Avenue [map | site | yelp]
Quetzal Internet Cafe
Designer and cartoonist Kevin Cheng of OK/Cancel recommends this as an oasis
is a relatively barren nexus of the Nob Hill, Hayes Valley and Civic Center
neighborhoods.
1234 Polk Street [map | site | yelp]
Thinkers Cafe
Potrero is the neighborhood of choice for those who need to be close to 101
and 280. Before heading to Dogster headquarters nearby, Ted Rheingold often
gets some work done there over his morning coffee.
1631 20th Street [map | yelp]
Zig Zag Cafe
With AnchorFree now providing free WiFi in a number of upscale neighborhoods
including the Marina and the Castro, any cafe will do, but this is the one
that Annalee Newitz recommended.
476 Castro Street [map | yelp]
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