Hola everyone. Hopefully I'm not butting into the conversation, but I did just want to quickly share the reasoning behind part of what we are trying to do with Meshwork. I totally get that software platforms that try to do too much (i.e. Swiss Army Knife) often times just end up being masters of none. And I'm sure that some could argue we're trying to do too much. I think Meshwork does a pretty good job in a lot of areas but I'm sure there are some things that could be improved on. But really, with respect to that, what we are trying to do is provide most of the functionality you need to run a coworking space, but still enabling a space to use and integrate with single function tools if they choose.
A good example would be our CRM. Currently, most of the coworking industry doesn't even really use CRMs to track and follow up with prospective members. So we wanted to provide that ability with Meshwork, but at the same time realize that some people want to stick to the more robust CRMs that they're used to (e.g. Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, etc.) By doing this, we put a fairly simple CRM in the hands of the people that didn't have one before and we allow the more advanced CRM users to continue on with a system they know. Plus (and perhaps most importantly in my opinion anyway), our CRM kind of acts as one spoke in a hub that you can use to run a coworking space. By running everything through a hub, you aren't forced to enter the same information in multiple systems and you are able to get analytics on your business in a way that I think using separate systems makes a little harder. Was it absolutely necessary to build a CRM into Meshwork? Nope. Can a space just use Salesforce as their CRM and then use something else for member management? Of course. But would they be able to create prospects out of people doing one-time conference room bookings or people visiting the space just for the day to attend an event? And have their payments for the bookings or events processed and recorded as part of their user history? Or follow up with them and convert them over to full-time members? And have reporting and analytics on all of it in one place? I'm sure it is possible, but in my experience so far, people running coworking spaces don't have a whole lot of extra time to figure that stuff out. Alex, I've actually been in your space and worked for a day while I was in Philly in February. And you do have a great system put together. And it's probably super cost effective. Really, I'm in no way even saying don't piece together more of a custom solution. Before Meshwork I owned a property management company in Atlanta for 7 years and that is exactly what I did. And we're not really trying to replace that, just offer an alternative for spaces that aren't as tech savvy as you guys. Anyway, I'm sure we are missing the mark in some ways and perhaps not perfect for everyone, but we're giving it our best shot and really trying to work with our customers to figure out the most ideal solution for them that we can. Lol oh yeah, I'm Doug Maschoff, one of the founders of Meshwork. Happy to chat with anyone directly if they're interested :) On Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 2:57:05 AM UTC-6, Jeannine van der Linden wrote: > > Alex, what do you mean by membership managemnet? What do you want it to > do? > > > > On Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 4:39:22 PM UTC+2, Alex Hillman wrote: >> >> I'm with Jon on this one. The all-in-one approach just doesn't make sense >> to me. >> >> Instead, we've assembled a toolchain of individual apps that let us >> incrementally improve and focus our efforts where we know it'll get us the >> most results. This reddit comment I made about a year ago is *slightly* >> outdated, >> but includes a large part of our toolkit. >> https://www.reddit.com/r/CoWorking/comments/30ltlx/coworking_software_recommendations/cptm1og/ >> >> Case in point - I've been hunting for a tool to handle a collaborative >> community calendar for YEARS and finally found it! >> >> One recent addition that's missing from that comment is Teamup Calendar >> <http://www.teamup.com/>, which is the BEST calendar tool I've found by >> a longshot. Google Calendar is a common default, but it requires giving >> people permission to be able to add things to it and even then, there's no >> audit trail of activity. Teamup is awesome because it doesn't even require >> logins - it uses URLs for permissions e.g. admins get a special URL, >> members get a different special URL, and the pubic website gets yet another >> special URL. >> >> As a result, members can add stuff to the calendar without needing to >> remember a login, meaning more stuff ends up on the calendar and more >> people actually LOOK at the calendar, too. We can embed the calendar in our >> member site, directly link to it, and people can still subscribe to the >> feeds in their iCal or Google Calendars. We have members across time zones >> who even remarked how awesome it is that Teamup automatically adjusts for >> time zones. >> >> It's so f'ing awesome. It's *so* affordable. And we'd never get to use >> it if we relied on an all-in-one! >> >> Ironically, the one thing missing from our kit right now is a membership >> manager that *just* does membership management. We've definitely >> outgrown our current solution, but every other option I look at is trying >> to do a dozen things at once and none of them especially well! :( And I >> can't help but laugh every time a new app launches that promises "build >> more community" and then designs their entire app around managing desks. >> ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ >> >> So much love for my software peeps - for real, it's the world I came from >> before I started Indy Hall. But I'd looooove to see more single-serving >> apps that pick one problem and solve it REALLY well. There's a lot of money >> to be made there. >> >> -Alex >> >> >> >> ------------------ >> *The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.* >> Better Coworkers: http://indyhall.org >> Weekly Coworking Tips: http://coworkingweekly.com >> My Audiobook: https://theindyhallway.com/ten >> >> On Wed, Oct 26, 2016 at 10:07 AM, Jonathan Markwell < >> jonathan...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Swiss Army Knives look great and are extremely useful in an emergency. >>> But how would you feel depending on one to solve the same series of >>> problems every day? Switching to using another multitool might improve >>> things a little but for how long? >>> >>> Member communication, room bookings, CRM and billing are worlds apart. I >>> can't imagine any one provider being able to do a good job of all of them >>> in one go. >>> >>> Meshwork might be able to put together something that works well for a >>> small number of spaces. But those spaces would have to work within a very >>> strict set constraints. If they try to be all things for all coworking >>> spaces you'll have to put up with ever increasing complexity in the user >>> experience. >>> >>> I'm much happier using simple single purpose tools that do a really good >>> job of solving one or two specific problems >>> >>> Why not consider different providers for each of the problems you have? >>> >>> On Tue, 25 Oct 2016 at 16:02, Stacy Kessler <st...@platform53.com> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Hi All, >>>> >>>> We are thinking of switching coworking software. We currently use >>>> Cobot, and while there are a lot of great things about that, there are >>>> still limitations. We have talked many times with product development and >>>> customer service. While they are open to feedback, there are still things >>>> we want out of our coworking software that have not come to fruition. For >>>> example communication with and between members (no need to use Slack), >>>> doing room bookings and invoicing for non-member revenue, some funky stuff >>>> with user experience, etc. Just got a Meshwork demo and it seemed pretty >>>> great. Some of these features aren't live yet, but if they live up to >>>> their >>>> promises, seems they should have most everything we need with a few >>>> shortages in customization on a few items, but more of the items we are >>>> currently missing. >>>> >>>> Anyone have any experience using Meshwork or any of the other new >>>> software providers? There was a thread on Nexudus about 3 years ago, but I >>>> think that was the most recent discussion on it. We want to be able to do >>>> all of our billing, member communication, CRM, have members be able to >>>> manage their own membership, etc. all in one place with the ability to >>>> customize how you want to bill and the limitations you want to be able to >>>> set for your members. >>>> >>>> Thanks for your thoughts! >>>> Stacy Kessler >>>> Platform 53 >>>> >>>> -- >>>> 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+...@googlegroups.com. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>> >>> -- >>> 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+...@googlegroups.com. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> -- 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. 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