I am not sure that all Incubators/Accelerators are Top down vs the Co-working bottom up.
However, I think they are different audiences. Our Accelerator is trying to be focused on Traded-sector companies with growth. To support that, we have a mentoring program and workshops about how to be one of these. We use the term Hallway alchemy to talk about the interactions that lead to interesting results, but the space is designed for heads down focus. Our Coworking spaces in town are mostly focsed on independents, wo are not doing growth companies, who don't seem to go for workshops and advising groups (although some could use it), but instead focus on the social and informal support. I think there is an overlap between the two, but they have different missions and they attract different audiences and skill sets. On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 7:07 AM, Jeremy Neuner <jeremyneu...@gmail.com>wrote: > Hi Everyone, > > I could use your help and insights. In May, I'm giving a talk at the > annual conference of the National Business Incubator Association. My plan > is to give a general introduction about coworking (including talking about > many of you) and talk a little bit about how coworking can, in the right > hands, be used as an economic development tool (incubators are primarily > cast as economic development tools, so I thought this idea would resonate > with my audience). Here's my problem: often, when I'm describing NextSpace > to newbies, the response is often something like, "Oh, I get it! You're > running an incubator!" Even though I painstakingly point out the many ways > that coworking is not like an incubator, I think people naturally try to > equate an unknown concept (coworking) with a known concept (incubators). > I'd really like to avoid this problem during my upcoming talk, which is no > small challenge, given that I'm talking to a bunch of incubator people. > > So, does anyone have ideas for how I can gently but firmly encourage my > audience to avoid this tendency to equate coworking spaces with incubators? > I'm assuming that many/most of your have had to make this distinction. So, > what's your best line/tactic that you use? Here's one that I've found > useful: incubators are top-down and prescriptive, while coworking spaces > are bottom-up and organic. I'd be grateful to hear from the rest of you. > > Thanks in advance, > Jeremy > www.NextSpace.us > > -- > 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<coworking%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > -- John Sechrest . Corvallis Benton . Chamber Coalition . 420 NW 2nd . (541) 757-1507 . sechr...@corvallisedp.com . . -- 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.
