Hello! After launching 3 locations we've decided to expand outside of San Diego via a franchise model - mainly because we feel each space needs a strong, local leader... someone who is dedicated to building community. We wanted to mitigate the challenges of building a brand and searching for/setting up systems/back-end, to allow the local business owner to be able focus on what's important.
Franchising is a VERY intensive and expensive process. I self funded for the first three locations and only took on an investor when it was needed to get us through this process. The person I chose is a member of our community and truly believes in what we're doing. She not only brought capital but also expertise. We've been working with franchise experts for the last 8 months and are getting close to filing in a handful of states. I'll keep the community posted on how it goes. Felena On Tuesday, August 20, 2013 9:22:58 AM UTC-7, Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking wrote: > > Hey team, > > I have been approached by three different investors in the last few weeks > for new locations. Creative Density is looking at a second location and > building up the new community for it in a simlar way to how we did it two > years ago. It's very grass roots and will only happen if the community can > be formed before the space opens. Once this process started to happen > that's when investors started to show up. > > I know several others have had similar experience so I am hoping I can > have guidance about important questions to ask and possible structures. > > What I'm thinking: > > Business structure: > Creative Density's current location remains my own domain. They don't get > a chunk of that but they are investing in future locations with the new > location being a new business entity. We will share access to my > intellectual property but in case of a split I will retain control in a > reasonable time frame of transition. > > How much money: > They are looking to purchase the building and renovating it. I'm working > on how much money they need to put in beyound that and how to split revenue > and profits. > > Do they have a good personality match and complimentary skill set? > I'm laying out my principals of what I want coworking to be and that > profit is not the sole driving force. Yes, we want to make money but we > also want this a platform and community that supports freelancers and > remote workers as well as small teams. Private offices sell fast but they > can not dominate the space and must be around only a third of the space. > They do have a good skill set that compliments my own as an experience > coworking space owner. > > Any advice would helpful. > > Craig > > > > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
