Hi All, Finally have access to the coworking group. So, I am Tonya Surman, the Executive Director of the Centre for Social Innovation. Eli has done a great job of describing our thinking but I did just want to agree with you Steve and clarify one more thing.
We agree with your strategy Steve. You have kind of captured our long term goals. When we sent out the invite to join the Open Spaces project, it was sent to 60 people who had expressed interest in our model. We thought that this was a fairly tight group that would be interested in helping us out, in lieu of consulting, to get them started on their path. $400, as many have said, it pretty darned cheap to get some of our ideas 6 months early : ).. Most of these people are folks that we have actually spoken to... but you know, the web has a way of letting information be free... I should know this but it kind of went a little further than we expected. We have learned our lesson... I swear! More clarity and better explanation in the future. We are also learning as we go. We are really excited to see how many people will join the open spaces project in its early stages and we look forward to opening it up even further to all of you really soon. Cheers, Tonya On Sep 16, 9:31 pm, Steve Purkiss <steve.purk...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Eli & list, > > Thanks for the reply, and it's great to find out a little more about > what you're achieving back over there in T.O. As a couple of the > points you answered originated from my rant last night I hope you > don't mind if I reply to them. > > First let me say that when I read the OP, I didn't know the person who > posted it wasn't yourselves, so although that was made clear > afterwards, my initial reply was a little terse to say the least! > > I think it's a great idea that you're creating a club of committed > people who you see taking you through this next phase of development > and I wish you all the best in finding those people. Personally I > think you'll miss out on a lot of free consultancy from those who > decide not to pay the $400 tax, and if you have time and haven't > listened to it already, there's a great audio book called "Free" which > goes into further detail about why even 1c/1p is too much a price to > pay. > > It seems like your main issue is the time you've taken so far to > create the business, and the time you'll take in the future to run > this new service. I hate to use the word again, but personally, I > would do the following: > > - make as much information free as possible - the plan, the figures, > etc. in order to increase the value of the offering below... > - charge a higher price for a monthly membership to your online club > for those who wish to make a business out of creating coworking spaces > > This way, you give away the stuff which costs you close to zero to > replicate; you get far more coverage than restricting the docs to the > members only, and you get paid more for the time that you do spend > from now on. > > But of course, that's just my opinion, ymmv ;) > > gnite (again!) > > Steve Purkiss > > http://purkiss.com > > On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 10:47 PM, Eli Malinsky <e...@socialinnovation.ca> > wrote: > > > Well this is all rather exciting! ;-) > > > My name is Eli Malinsky and I am the Program Director at the Centre > > for Social Innovation in Toronto, Canada. I've been on this list for a > > few months now, occasionally posting but mostly following the > > conversations with interest. I’m going to lay out here our plan and > > respond to some of the comments that have been made. Apologies for > > taking up so much space – I hope this will be helpful. > > > The Centre for Social Innovation is a nonprofit organization that: 1) > > provides shared workspace 2) acts as a community centre for Toronto’s > > “social change” community 3) is an incubator of emerging projects and > > programs that are making a difference here in Toronto and across the > > country. Our shared workspace is 20,000 sq ft and includes a mix of > > offices (around 40), permanent desks (around 50) and Hot Desks (around > > 80 members). We have a lot in common with many of you, but we’re also > > somewhat distinct given our other (non-workspace) activities, our > > provision of permanent spaces, and our ‘social innovation’ lens (all > > members are vetted for this characteristic). > > > Over the past two years we’ve been approached by an increasing number > > of people who want to “replicate our model” or learn from what we’ve > > done. Our challenges have been two-fold. First, we’re not big on > > franchising – we believe strongly in local knowledge, networks and > > independence, and we’re not trying to create other CSI’s around the > > world (we think the strength of this sector comes in part from its > > diversity). Second, while we have been offering fee-for-service > > consulting services, we are receiving a ton of inquiries from folks > > who just can’t afford to engage us on a long-term basis. > > Unfortunately, as a nonprofit organization – already stretched to the > > max like every other nonprofit you know – we just can’t spend > > dedicated time working with everyone for free. So we came up with the > > idea of making available all of the information we had developed for > > (what we believe to be) a very reasonable/affordable free. This way we > > would be compensated for the hundreds of hours and thousands of > > dollars we’ve poured into this process, but more importantly, it would > > provide us with the resources we need for stage two. > > > THE VISION > > > Our long-term vision is a globally accessible resource that contains > > as much information (tools, templates, secrets, etc.) from as many > > “shared spaces dedicated to social innovation” as possible. We truly > > want this to be open source. For practitioners around the world to > > react to what we’ve put up, to put up there own materials, and to > > begin a dialogue about this emerging field. It is true that the co- > > working wiki is already doing much of this. But again, our model isn’t > > strictly a co-working one, and while there is certainly great overlap > > there are also great differences. > > > As a first step, we’ve started with this current project. This is the > > 1.0 version which we are making available at a cost of $400. We hope > > that interested groups will join us – access this material and offer > > their feedback to make it stronger. These folks are “first-in” and > > will be part of our growing Open Spaces network. > > > When we close the project at the end of the year, we’re going to take > > all of that feedback, redevelop our contribution, create a new > > platform, and make it available for free. This 2.0 version will > > hopefully be a vibrant space of people interested in the field. We’re > > going to take the revenue – and the contributions – we’ve received in > > the 1.0 version and make the 2.0 version as strong as possible. > > > WHAT WE”VE DONE WRONG > > > Based on some of the feedback we’ve received, we’ve done a few things > > wrong. And we are genuinely appreciative of the responses we have > > received so that we can improve this experiment. > > > First, we haven’t communicated the long-term vision very well. It’s > > unclear precisely what our overall goals and intentions are. > > > Second, we haven’t made it very clear that you have to pay to access > > the material. It was never our intent to “surprise” people with this – > > that wouldn’t have been a very bright strategy. It really was just > > poor design/presentation. > > > We have done our best to rectify this by clarifying the messaging on > > our landing page:http://openspaces.socialinnovation.ca > > > And seriously, if you have other constructive feedback, I’d love to > > hear from you e...@socialinnovation.ca. (you can publicly post too, of > > course – we’ll keep an eye on this thread) > > > But I would also like to address some comments on this list: > > > 1. What’s on the site that isn’t already available out there/why does > > $400 get me that I can’t get elsewhere? > > > I think for many of you, who are up and running with your space and > > familiar with the field, there might not be much that’s helpful. We > > provide copies of our lease agreements, policies, etc. Our pricing > > structure. Tips on design. Results of some research we’ve done. Many > > of you may not benefit from it. But I do know that this is incredibly > > value to folks who are getting started in this field and haven’t yet > > dealt with many of these issues. You can click on the “About this > > Project” link to get a glance at the Table of Contents. > > > The co-working wiki is a great resource, and inside the site we > > acknowledge and credit the wiki and encourage others to make use of it > > too. > > > 2. Isn’t this the same as The Hub? > > > The Centre for Social Innovation is sort-of a “cousin” of The Hub. We > > are big fans of what they’re doing and we started around the same > > time. But we’ve headed in two different directions. The Hub has been > > working to build a global network of Hub-branded spaces. We’ve been > > really just focussing on our practice here in Toronto and exploring > > the non-space aspects of our work. This material is based on our own > > experience – not The Hub’s. As far as I know, only Hub members have > > access to their material. We are seriously big fans of their work and > > in total admiration of their success – we’re just on a different > > trajectory. > > > 3. “I didn't see a way to be kept informed about what's going on that > > didn't include my credit card.” > > > Again – a design error. If you went to the site through our website – > >www.socialinnovation.ca/openspaces- you would have seen a mailing > > list sign-up. This is a great idea and we’ll get this up on the main > > site in the coming days. > > > 4. “You're putting it under a Creative Commons license which means one > > person could pay then post the contents to this list.” > > > Yep. You can. > > > 5. “I just don't like things which say they're one thing, but really > > they're another.” > > > We are definitely sorry that we haven’t been as clear as we could, and > > we admit that the language around “open source” and “creative commons” > > isn’t as accurate is it should have been. We’ve tried to rectify this > > now. More importantly, though, I hope none of you interpret our > > “sharing” philosophy as bullshit. We are deeply committed to this > > practice and to an open source approach – have been since Day One. We > > have spent countless hours helping others create and improve their > > spaces. Any of you who have spent even a moment working with us (or > > for those of you who have visited our space) would know this. > > > 6. “Hopefully not having to resort to trying to sell a $400 membership > > to keep the place going though” > > > We are self-sustaining, staff of 7 and growing every year. This isn’t > > a money grab. It’s our attempt to manage increasing demand on our time > > in a way that recognizes our time/energy investment, and gets us on > > the road toward the bigger vision. > > > -- > > > Thank you for indulging such a long post! 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