[Coworking] Re: Kickstarter Launch
Just an update: we are 4 days from closing our Kickstarter and are $600 away from our goal! The response has been great, both from our personal networks and the community here in Bend. I highly recommend thinking about crowdfunding if you are opening a new space or even renovating an existing one. Our campaign has not only brought us to the attention of the local community, but it has helped us forge relationships with other businesses and we've also gotten quite a bit of press! Here's the link to the project; in case you'd like to be one of the heroes that pushes us past the finish line! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1004966398/the-wilds-coworking-for-creatives-in-bend-or Karen On Friday, June 12, 2015 at 5:43:39 PM UTC-7, Karen Ruane wrote: Hi all, Just trying to get our project in front of as many faces as possible. No need to contribute, unless you are moved to do so. We'd love some shares to broaden our reach. But if all you've got is feedback, I'd love that too! Here it is!: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1004966398/the-wilds-coworking-for-creatives-in-bend-or Happy Weekend! Karen The Wilds Bend, OR -- 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/d/optout.
[Coworking] Re: Advice for a baby coworking space.
Hi Dawn, Thanks! And congrats on starting your own coworking journey! So our Kickstarter campaign is going to cover our furnishing and fixturization. There are three partners total, so when we formed our LLC, we all put in capital contributions totaling about $12k to get us started, This allowed us to pay legal fees, secure the space and do some marketing. We don't officially start paying rent until two months after we take possession of our space, which happens after the build-out is complete. We are currently taking applications and having accepted applicants sign contracts. As we approach our opening date, we will charge most applicants a $40 fee to cover a background check. We are also at that time taking a one month deposit. Some of our applicants have opted to pay 6 months upfront for a 15% discount, so we will have some good funds to begin with. We are also working with local businesses to create strategic partnerships. Most businesses prefer to barter rather than contribute money, at least in Bend. So we have a furniture business donating a conference table and a plant nursery donating a living wall, etc. In return, they become an official sponsor and get top billing on our website and promotional materials. Good luck to you with your space and let me know if you come up with some great ideas for fundraising! We are learning new things everyday!! Karen On Sunday, July 5, 2015 at 6:30:29 PM UTC-7, Dawn Shannon wrote: Hi Karen, Congrats on starting your coworking space - and for your 30% who have already commited. My business partner and I are working feverishly to start our own coworking center in the DFW area (Fort Worth, TX) and are currently seeking an investor / mentor / equity partner to help with funding. My questions to you would be: 1) I saw your Kickstarter campaign and see that you already have your space - hopefully opening by August. Where did you get the funds for your building if that is not what the Kickstarter campaign is for? 2) You say you are currently taking applications; are you charging an application fee (if so, how much?), and are you also currently accepting pre-payment from your potential members to help offset some of your costs? Any suggestions on how to raise funds for our venture would be welcomed. Thanks. On Tuesday, May 12, 2015 at 7:35:00 PM UTC-5, Karen Ruane wrote: Thanks for the feedback, Andy, Alex and Ramon. I will definitely check out that handbook! We are currently taking applications for our space and have reached about 30% of our planned starting capacity, with an August 1 opening! We'll continue to network and advertise, as this seem crucial to a successful start-up. Thanks again, for the wisdom. And please keep it coming! Karen On Friday, May 8, 2015 at 10:26:52 AM UTC-7, Karen Ruane wrote: Hello, My two partners and I are about to open a creative coworking space in Bend, OR. It will be the first of it's kind in this area, but not the only coworking space in our population of 80k. We are a sort of hybrid between art studio space and business desk rental. We have both resident spaces/desks to rent, as well as drop-in memberships at hot desks/tables. Here's my question for you all: What's one thing you learned quickly *after* opening that you wish you'd known and planned for *before* opening? It'd be great to get a few nuggets of wisdom to potentially save us from mistakes! Thanks so much! Karen -- 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/d/optout.
[Coworking] Buy a Coworking Poster, Kickstart our Coworking Space!
Hi all, Just a low pressure FYI. We are 11 days into our Kickstarter to furnish our coworking space in Bend, OR. One of the rewards we are offering is a poster, designed by Gabe Ruane of RANGEcfb (a design agency, based in Bend and San Francisco). The poster is titled Collaborate and directly speaks to the magic that can happen within coworking spaces. The good people at Cowork Buffalo and Impact Hub Oakland have already called dibs, so thank you if you are on this forum! I hope some of our fellow seasoned coworking founders will find a place in their space for this awesome poster! The Wilds, Kickstarter Campaign. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1004966398/the-wilds-coworking-for-creatives-in-bend-or Thanks! Karen https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rCcDnmqhFLs/VYnqv__V4fI/Anw/eIoqCeHY2kI/s1600/IMG_9611.JPG -- 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/d/optout.
[Coworking] Re: Kickstarter Launch
Thanks Jen! We just made STAFF PICK on Kickstarter, which is super exciting. I'm really hope our campaign can become part of a precedent set for crowdfunding coworking spaces. The odds are still against us as we are both local specific and offering no tangible product. But the fact that someone at Kickstarter believes in us bodes well! I guess we'll see how far that will take us in the next 27 days! Karen On Monday, June 15, 2015 at 7:12:13 AM UTC-7, Jennifer Kready wrote: Love the concept of The Wilds. Your CF page looks great and congrats on your funding raised so far. I like how you included the floor plan and exactly how you'll spend the funding. Good luck Jen Austin, TX Engage Cowork -- 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/d/optout.
[Coworking] Kickstarter Launch
Hi all, Just trying to get our project in front of as many faces as possible. No need to contribute, unless you are moved to do so. We'd love some shares to broaden our reach. But if all you've got is feedback, I'd love that too! Here it is!: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1004966398/the-wilds-coworking-for-creatives-in-bend-or Happy Weekend! Karen The Wilds Bend, OR -- 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/d/optout.
[Coworking] Re: Owner Commitment and Hours Put In.
Thank you so much, Tom, Elizabeth and Angel! I'm so impressed with the wealth of knowledge available on this forum - I wish I'd found you all months ago! Best, Karen -- 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/d/optout.
[Coworking] Re: Crowdfunding a new Cowork Space
Hey Eric, I saw that you liked us. Thanks! Yes, sadly there's no category for coworking or anything like it. Most of the spaces I've seen on Kickstarter have listed under the category; design. I think that's where we might put ourselves as well. GO CATS! Karen On Friday, May 15, 2015 at 6:42:49 PM UTC-7, Eric Lituchy wrote: Karen, it sounds like you have it very well thought out. Kudos! I looked at your site and since you are going after the creative crowd I understand having a more polished campaign. I also noticed you went to the U of A. I am also a Wildcat! Bear Down. I already liked you on FB and will put you on my Google Alerts and can't wait to see your Kickstarter! One more questions - I looked at Kickstarter and there isn't really a category for Coworking. Where are you going to post it? Best of Luck! Eric On Friday, May 15, 2015 at 6:07:50 PM UTC-4, Karen Ruane wrote: Hi Eric, If one wanted, they could probably put together a Kickstarter campaign in an afternoon. However, the campaign, and its response, would reflect that. For us, it's been really important to present a professional and well thought-out campaign which includes professionally designed graphics, images and research to back us up. We are also producing a video with a professional videographer. In addition, we've been working on forging relationships with the community and local businesses in anticipation of being able to hit them up once our campaign begins. As part of the final touches on this campaign, I've also been sending out previews to business professionals I'm acquainted with to get feedback on the writing and tone of the campaign. So much of my time has been spent making small adjustments to language and design. Hope that helps! I still totally think it's worth a shot. At the very least, it'll help raise community awareness for our space and maybe bring us a few more members. Best, Karen On Thursday, May 14, 2015 at 8:08:46 PM UTC-7, Eric Lituchy wrote: Karen, thanks for sharing! Can you tell me why getting the campaign is so time-consuming? It is wordsmithing, getting together photos, or something else? Are you producing a video? It seems straight forward, but I know from experience that things are usually harder than they seem. Eric On Wednesday, May 13, 2015 at 10:57:00 PM UTC-4, Karen Ruane wrote: Hi Eric, I am opening a space in August and will be launching a Kickstarter campaign on June 1. I've studied quite a few Kickstarter campaigns for Coworking space, most of which were successful. It's true, the rewards are different because we don't have much of a product to offer. However, there's lots of room for creativity in rewards. We will offer things like short term memberships, art from members who've already signed up, advertising in our space or in our media, Swag with our logo on it... We made sure to create incentives for both local potential clients and everyone else who likes the idea of promoting the coworking industry. There aren't many pitfalls to trying to crowd-fund. Of course, you shouldn't abandon other avenues for raising capital, just in case you aren't successfully funded. And then there's the work of it - I've been working on this campaign for over a month and it is still not ready to launch. Doing it right is quite a commitment and takes hours and hours of work. But other than that, I'd say go for it! Time will tell if I'd repeat that advice! Best of Luck, Karen http://www.thewildsbend.com On Tuesday, May 12, 2015 at 8:59:43 AM UTC-7, Eric Lituchy wrote: I am new to the Cowork world and find this group to be an amazing resource. Thanks in advance! In July, I am opening a coworking space on Long Island. I am currently working on building the community and already have 6 people onboard. I thought of raising some capital from friends and family, but started to think that crowdfunding (Indiegogo, Plumfund, etc.) might be a better option. Capital will be used for rent, furniture, technology, etc. My questions: 1. Does crowdfunding make sense as a way to fund a startup coworking space? My primary goal of the crowdfunding would be to get new members to invest in our community. 2. I expect to offer membership deals(ex. Contribute $1000 and get 3-months of cowork space), Hardship contributions to give out-of-work individuals free coworking space and media/press mentions for larger contributions. Any thoughts on this? Other ideas? 3. Any potential pitfalls of going the crowdsourced route? Any additional advice is sincerely appreciated. Thank, Eric Long Island Cowork (Finaly name TBD) -- 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
[Coworking] Re: Owner Commitment and Hours Put In.
Ah yes, that info. would help! Our space is 2400sqft. It's a bit different in that much of this space will be in the form of art studio space, reducing our membership drastically. We plan to have about 9 resident members, and another 15-20 drop-ins. Out hope is to have about 10-15 people in the space each day. Thanks! Karen -- 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/d/optout.
[Coworking] Re: Crowdfunding a new Cowork Space
Hi Eric, If one wanted, they could probably put together a Kickstarter campaign in an afternoon. However, the campaign, and its response, would reflect that. For us, it's been really important to present a professional and well thought-out campaign which includes professionally designed graphics, images and research to back us up. We are also producing a video with a professional videographer. In addition, we've been working on forging relationships with the community and local businesses in anticipation of being able to hit them up once our campaign begins. As part of the final touches on this campaign, I've also been sending out previews to business professionals I'm acquainted with to get feedback on the writing and tone of the campaign. So much of my time has been spent making small adjustments to language and design. Hope that helps! I still totally think it's worth a shot. At the very least, it'll help raise community awareness for our space and maybe bring us a few more members. Best, Karen On Thursday, May 14, 2015 at 8:08:46 PM UTC-7, Eric Lituchy wrote: Karen, thanks for sharing! Can you tell me why getting the campaign is so time-consuming? It is wordsmithing, getting together photos, or something else? Are you producing a video? It seems straight forward, but I know from experience that things are usually harder than they seem. Eric On Wednesday, May 13, 2015 at 10:57:00 PM UTC-4, Karen Ruane wrote: Hi Eric, I am opening a space in August and will be launching a Kickstarter campaign on June 1. I've studied quite a few Kickstarter campaigns for Coworking space, most of which were successful. It's true, the rewards are different because we don't have much of a product to offer. However, there's lots of room for creativity in rewards. We will offer things like short term memberships, art from members who've already signed up, advertising in our space or in our media, Swag with our logo on it... We made sure to create incentives for both local potential clients and everyone else who likes the idea of promoting the coworking industry. There aren't many pitfalls to trying to crowd-fund. Of course, you shouldn't abandon other avenues for raising capital, just in case you aren't successfully funded. And then there's the work of it - I've been working on this campaign for over a month and it is still not ready to launch. Doing it right is quite a commitment and takes hours and hours of work. But other than that, I'd say go for it! Time will tell if I'd repeat that advice! Best of Luck, Karen http://www.thewildsbend.com On Tuesday, May 12, 2015 at 8:59:43 AM UTC-7, Eric Lituchy wrote: I am new to the Cowork world and find this group to be an amazing resource. Thanks in advance! In July, I am opening a coworking space on Long Island. I am currently working on building the community and already have 6 people onboard. I thought of raising some capital from friends and family, but started to think that crowdfunding (Indiegogo, Plumfund, etc.) might be a better option. Capital will be used for rent, furniture, technology, etc. My questions: 1. Does crowdfunding make sense as a way to fund a startup coworking space? My primary goal of the crowdfunding would be to get new members to invest in our community. 2. I expect to offer membership deals(ex. Contribute $1000 and get 3-months of cowork space), Hardship contributions to give out-of-work individuals free coworking space and media/press mentions for larger contributions. Any thoughts on this? Other ideas? 3. Any potential pitfalls of going the crowdsourced route? Any additional advice is sincerely appreciated. Thank, Eric Long Island Cowork (Finaly name TBD) -- 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/d/optout.
[Coworking] Owner Commitment and Hours Put In.
Hi all, I'm Karen, and along with two other partners, I'll be opening a coworking space for creatives/artists this August in Bend, OR. While the creation of this business has been nearly a year in the making, and has become a full time pursuit, we are looking ahead to a few months after opening, once major wrinkles are ironed out. We are wondering what sort of time commitment we should expect? Assuming we will use some sort of software management system, have keycode access to our space, and be hosting the occasional after-hours event, how much time do you think we will have to put in for operations? Is it a single 40 hour per week job? Or will the three of us likely be putting in near full time hours? We are all working artists as well, so hope to find a nice balance between running this space, and our personal businesses. Pipe dream? Thanks so much, Karen -- 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/d/optout.
[Coworking] Re: Advice for a baby coworking space.
Thanks for the feedback, Andy, Alex and Ramon. I will definitely check out that handbook! We are currently taking applications for our space and have reached about 30% of our planned starting capacity, with an August 1 opening! We'll continue to network and advertise, as this seem crucial to a successful start-up. Thanks again, for the wisdom. And please keep it coming! Karen On Friday, May 8, 2015 at 10:26:52 AM UTC-7, Karen Ruane wrote: Hello, My two partners and I are about to open a creative coworking space in Bend, OR. It will be the first of it's kind in this area, but not the only coworking space in our population of 80k. We are a sort of hybrid between art studio space and business desk rental. We have both resident spaces/desks to rent, as well as drop-in memberships at hot desks/tables. Here's my question for you all: What's one thing you learned quickly *after* opening that you wish you'd known and planned for *before* opening? It'd be great to get a few nuggets of wisdom to potentially save us from mistakes! Thanks so much! Karen -- 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/d/optout.
[Coworking] Advice for a baby coworking space.
Hello, My two partners and I are about to open a creative coworking space in Bend, OR. It will be the first of it's kind in this area, but not the only coworking space in our population of 80k. We are a sort of hybrid between art studio space and business desk rental. We have both resident spaces/desks to rent, as well as drop-in memberships at hot desks/tables. Here's my question for you all: What's one thing you learned quickly *after* opening that you wish you'd known and planned for *before* opening? It'd be great to get a few nuggets of wisdom to potentially save us from mistakes! Thanks so much! Karen -- 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/d/optout.
[Coworking] Re: Coworking in cities under 100,000
I am starting a creative coworking space in Bend, OR (pop. 80k) called, The Wilds, and would love to stay in the loop around this discussion. Though we don't open until this summer, we have a growing membership. I think it's the fact that we have found a niche, being a creative space. We offer art studio space, as well as desks and private offices, and so we attract a more arty crowd. Every other person in Bend is a creative! Time will tell if our niche theory pans out... http://www.thewildsbend.com Karen -- 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/d/optout.
