I'm in the middle on this, and thanks for the ack Clark. Listening is important, but so is deciding what you want your space to be able and catering to that subset of the population. Like Jacob we have said "no" to "by the hour." We want to build a community, not cater to a set of transients. And like Tara said we try to figure out what they need.
But hey, we've only be doing this 3 months so we've still got a long way to go! -Mike Schinkel Co-founder; Ignition Alley Atlanta Coworking www.ignitionalley.com P.S. For another take on listening to customers there's always "The Innovator's Dilemma" by Clayton Christensen. On Dec 22, 2009, at 3:24 PM, Jacob Sayles wrote: > I disagree. > > We tell folks "no" all the time. It's not about forcing them into our model > or trying to change their behavior, it's about knowing what is important to > us and what business we want to be in. We get folks asking over and over if > they can rent our conference rooms by the hour. We are not in the "rooms by > the hour" business so we tell them no. If we said yes, we could easily fill > them up to the detriment of the residents who are our number one priority. > It all goes hand and hand with the base philosophy that we don't want to be > all things to all people... we only hold 40 or so. > > Jacob > > --- > Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation > http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500 > > > On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 10:45 AM, Clark Covington <talktocl...@gmail.com> > wrote: > Hi, > > Cowork space owner, and active reader of this Google Group here. Let > me preface this note by explaining that I absolutely love this group. > It is a wonderfully rich well of knowledge that I dip into often as > the owner of a new coworking space. Many people in this group have > personally helped me including Mike from Ignition Alley, Tara via her > book Whuffie Factor from Citizen Space, and the folks at CoLab Orlando > to name just a few. So by no means am I trying to argue with those > that know far more about this concept than I. However, from what I’ve > seen the genuine need in what people are at least telling me they want > out of a workspace is the hybrid model of having both private offices > and common space. > > I’ve written a blog post fleshing out my feelings about what people > really want in a coworking space here. After talking with dozens of > building owners, leasing agents, possible tenants, current tenants, > and other facility owners this post was my conclusion of where the > demand truly exists. If you have time over the holidays I’d be > thrilled if you’d give it a look. > > http://clarkcovington.blogspot.com/2009/12/give-them-what-they-want-or-go-home.html > > Thanks and Happy Holidays, > Clark Covington > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To post to this group, send email to cowork...@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. > > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To post to this group, send email to cowork...@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. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to cowork...@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.
