[Coworking] Re: How many coworking venues are there?

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

We did an informal count in December of last year and came up with 212
coworking facilities in the US.  This was our 2nd annual informal
count and it showed growth of about 60% year over year.  The New York
Times (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/working-in-the-
company-of-strangers/) and others covered it.

The count we did was pretty simple.  We started with this site and
coworking wiki.  We also used a mix of web search methods.  Our
criteria was (1) a facility had to self-identify as a coworking
facility; (2) it had offer memberships to the public; (3) in our view
it had to look like it derived a significant % of revenue from
coworking related activities; and (4) it had to have an online
presence that indicated ongoing activity.

Steve

On May 19, 1:21 pm, Chris Otts  wrote:
> Hi everyone. I am a reporter with The Courier-Journal in Louisville,
> Kentucky and I'm trying to find out how many coworking venues have
> sprung up in the United States. Does anyone know, or know how I could
> find out? Thanks. Chris Otts/ co...@courier-journal.com
>
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[Coworking] Started our Coworking Research Project

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

I mentioned on this group a few months ago that Emergent Research (my
company) was considering conducting a research project on coworking.
We are going forward with the project and started a few weeks ago.

The project details are on our new project blog - www.coworkinglabs.com,
which is still very much in beta form and a work in progress:).  We
soft launched the project today with a post describing our plans on
www.smallbizlabs.com.

We are partnering with the non-profit think tank The Society for New
Communcations Research (www.sncr.org) on this project.

Our project plan includes two surveys.  One of coworking owners/
facility managers and the other of coworking facility users.  We also
plan on creating a census of U.S. coworking facilities working
cooperatively with other groups who are creating directories.  We will
also be conducting in-person and phone interviews.

In terms of timing, we're developing the surveys - which will be as
short and as simple as we can make them - and will field them this
summer.  We hope to have the research completed this fall.

Our goals are:  (1) develop a solid estimate of the size of the
coworking market (facilities and users); (2) gain an understanding of
how users view and use coworking facilities; (3) understand the roles
social media and connective technologies play in coworking; (4) to
make a stab at forecasting where coworking is going and its role in
the future of work.

As we get deeper into this work, our goals may change based on
feedback, input from folks we interview and what we find
interesting.

For now I am just alerting the group to this work.  As we get to the
survey stage we will be reaching out and looking for help getting
facility managers/owners and facility users to fill out our surveys.

We will update this group as we progess.

Thanks,

Steve



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[Coworking] Re: Proof: How Shared Spaces are Changing the World

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

I just quickly read the new book and looked through the materials and
my first reaction is WOW.  This is a great piece of work.  We will
definitely have lots of questions once we fully digest.   But there is
no doubt this is a very valuable addition to the body of work on
shared spaces and collaborative work and will be useful to most anyone
interested in these areas.

Thanks for sharing.

Steve

On Jun 29, 8:19 am, Eli Malinsky  wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> We released the third book in our series...again, it is focussed on
> shared spaces with a "social change" mandate, but you may find some
> material of value. It shares the results of our research into the
> impact we've had on our members... we're hoping it can be used by
> other spaces as a way to encourage investment, buy-in, etc.
>
> You can download it here:www.socialinnovation.ca/sssi
>
> Eli Malinsky
> Centre for Social Innovation
> Toronto, Canada

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[Coworking] Number of Coworking Facilities in the US and a few observations

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Our research assistants have been working away developing a count of
the number of coworking facilities in the US.  While we are not done,
it looks like our estimate will be in 250 range.  Our estimate last
december came to about 215-220.

Several interesting things about the count:

1.  It is getting harder to do this.  The main reason is coworking is
evolving, blurring, hybridizing and shifting.  For example, incubators
are becoming coworking facilities, coworking facilities are becoming
incubators and lots of facilities of various types are adding (or at
least claiming to add) coworking features.  Many of these "semi-
coworking" facilities share some or many of the attributes of a
traditional coworking space, but in other ways aren't coworking as we
tend to think of it.

While I think the evolution of coworking and the growth of hybrids is
a good thing, it makes it much harder to decide whether or not a
specific facility should be counted as a coworking facility.   It also
challenges our ability to do a consistent count over time.  There is
already a risk our we are counting apples and oranges instead of just
apples.

We will post our facilities list once it has been cleaned up a bit.

2.  There is a fair amount of facility churn.  About 10-15% of
facilities on our list in December have fallen off our current list
due to closure or shifts in direction.  There are, obviously, a lot of
new facilities on our list.  Some are green field and others are
existing spaces that have added and/or shifted to a coworking model.

While we aren't focused on coworking business models at this time, it
does appear to be an area ripe for research:).

3.  Coworking has moved beyond the major cities and is spreading
rapidly in mid-sized cities and smaller towns.

4.  The number of niche or targeted coworking facilities (aimed at
writers, or telecommuters, or social entrepreneurs, or makers, etc.)
is growing.  It is a logical extension of the "like minded people"
phrase we so often hear and use when discussing coworking.

5.  There are lots of facilities under development with plans to open
in the next 6-12 months.  It appears to us that the facility growth
rate is accelerating due to the addition of new facilities and re-
purposing of existing non-coworking facilities.

Given how few facilities there are relative to the potential
addressable market, an accelerating growth rate is not surprising.

Steve

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[Coworking] Re: business center vs coworking space

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

We're seeing strong interest on the part of exec suite companies and
operators of business centers in coworking.  So far this consists
mostly of studying the movement and experimentation.

As Alex points out, these firms currently target a different market.
They see their client base as corporations and/or small businesses.
They don't tend to think of freelancers, independent workers, or
people as their market.  They are also pretty uncomfortable with the
community aspects of coworking and how they would provide it.  The
"drop-in" nature of coworking is also challenging to most, both in
terms of facilities and business model.

Most are also serious spaces that aren't fun, social or energizing
places to work.  It is really interesting to us how often "fun,"
"social" or something close to them comes up in our interviews with
coworking facility users.  This cultural difference already appears to
be one way the workplace market is segmenting.

Several exec. suite companies are starting/planning on starting their
coworking efforts by focusing on traveling and telecommuting employees
that work for their corporate customers.  This is closer to their core
business.

I agree with Alex that most of these firms will not be directly
competitive with coworking facilities.  But I do think they will
compete on the margins with their existing spaces.  I also think we
will see some exec suite firms attempt to enter the traditional
coworking market by opening dedicated coworking facilities, or
coworking spaces in their existing facilities.

Quick disclosure:  We aren't getting funding from any exec. suite or
business center company, nor are any clients of Emergent Research.
Given our current research agenda, we feel this would be a potential
conflict of interest.  However, we are talking to these firms to get
their views and perspectives on coworking and the more general trends
around the changing workplace.

Steve

On Jul 16, 6:06 am, Alex Hillman  wrote:
> Articles like this are why I have no concern about competition from
> exec suites.
>
> There is no instruction to "put the people in your workplace at the
> center of your functional universe". Even if there was, it's not in
> the business they run's best interest to do so. It's simply a
> different business with some of the same resources in play.
>
> -Alex
>
>
>
>
>
> On Friday, July 16, 2010, rachel young  wrote:
>
> > Here's an article from the executive suite industry encouraging them to be 
> > more like coworking spaces.
> > "The difference is in their approach to the workspace, the client, and how 
> > they present their solution to the entrepreneur.  Take a look at their 
> > approach and think about how you can modify your space, approach, and 
> > procedures to enter the co-working movement."
>
> > Business Center versus Co-Working Space 
> > - http://www.officingtoday.com/index.php?news=467
> > r.
>
> > 
> > rachel young
> > rac...@camaraderie.ca
> > (416) 801-0196
>
> > Find us in person:
> > Camaraderie
> > 102 Adelaide St E 2nd Floor
> > Toronto, ON  M5C 1K9
>
> > Find us online:
> > Website/blog  and Newsletter 
> > Twitter , Sprouter ,
> >  and LinkedIn 
>
> > --
> > 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 
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> > For more options, visit this group 
> > athttp://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
>
> --
> /ah
> indyhall.org
> coworking in philadelphia- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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[Coworking] Re: Number of Coworking Facilities in the US and a few observations

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Alex:

Our prior counts have been pretty rough - based on Google searches and
some directional estimating.

The current count is the first time we've formalized the count
process.  Having said that, it continues to be an estimate and not a
census.  By that I mean we aren't attempting to get an exact count.
This would take too much time and effort and the additional level of
precision is not needed.  Instead, we are attempting to get a solid
estimate.

We've done two prior estimates.  Last December (09) our estimate was
215-220.  Our December 08 estimate was around 130.  Given the shift in
methods and the simplicity of the prior counts, I wouldn't read too
much into these numbers except to say the number of coworking
facilities in the US is growing rapidly.  Going forward we will be
able to be more confident about growth rates.

We include a facility if:  (1) the facility self-identifies as
providing coworking space; (2) it offers a range of membership options
(daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) consistent with traditional coworking
spaces (does not need to provide all); (3) it offers some form of
community space and/or activities (this is subjective based on our
assessment); (4) coworking appears to be a important part of the
facility offering (again, subjective and in part based on the size of
the coworking space)  (5) the facility is active (we look for recent
website activity and call if needed).

What we've found this time is identifying coworking facilities is a
bit like identifying pornography - you know when you see it, but
different people see it in different ways.  The reason is the growing
number of hybrid coworking facilities and non-coworking facilites
adding coworking makes identification harder.  Incubators and office
suite companies in particular are actively adding coworking
options.

A good example is Semantic Seed in San Jose (http://
www.semanticseed.com/coworking.html).  They are an start-up incubator
that also provides coworking space.  We included them, but only after
a fair amount of debate.

Another interesting segment is the growing number of shared artisan/
DIY spaces (3rd Ward and Tech Shop being examples).  These facilities
cater to both professionals and amateurs/hobbyists.  We tend to
include them if we think the facility is targeting and catering to
professionals, even if a large share of their members are
amateurs.

We haven't looked at the closures at all and I would again caution
about reading too much into this data.  At some point we hope to have
time to better understand what is going on in this area.

Steve

On Jul 18, 7:08 am, Alex Hillman  wrote:
> Hey Steve, thanks for keeping up on this!
>
> > it looks like our estimate will be in 250 range.  Our estimate last
> > december came to about 215-220.
>
> Can you quickly provide other historical counts date/month/year relative?
>
> 1.  It is getting harder to do this.
>
>
>
> What are your research criteria for including a location?
>
>
>
> > 2.  There is a fair amount of facility churn.  About 10-15% of
> > facilities on our list in December have fallen off our current list
> > due to closure or shifts in direction.
>
> Any further information on the bases of these closures/shifts in direction?
>
> /ah
> indyhall.org

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[Coworking] Are Hacker Spaces Coworking Facilities?

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

A quick question for the group.  Would you consider hacker spaces
coworking facilities?  Hacker spaces are physical locations that are a
shared workshop for people interested in making things.  Most are non-
profit and community owned, but private ownership is becoming more
common.

Hacker spaces share many attributes with coworking.  They provide
shared access to space and equipment.  They provide and encourage a
social environoment and community.  They provide training classes and
support services.  Their membership plans are similar.  Many self-
describe as coworking for hackers or makers.

Hacker spaces have traditionally been targeted at amateurs, but are
increasingly being used by professional freelance artisans and other
small business people.   The professional users of hacker spaces use
them for pretty much the same reasons people use traditional coworking
spaces.

Hacker spaces are linked to the broader Maker/DIY movement, which is
chronicled by Make Magazine (www.makezine.com).  Examples include
Alpha One in Brooklyn (http://www.alphaonelabs.com/), Hack DC in DC
(http://hacdc.org) and Noisebridge in SF (https://
www.noisebridge.net).

We're not sure how many hacker spaces exist, but it is likely in the
30-50 range in the U.S. and their numbers appear to be growing pretty
rapidly.

We've included a few hacker spaces in our coworking facility count so
far (Tech Shop being a good example - www.techshop.ws).  But after
spending some time researching these spaces we are considering adding
more.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Steve

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[Coworking] Re: Number of Coworking Facilities in the US and a few observations

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Will:

We're using self-identification as coworking spaces for several
reasons.  First, it greatly simplifies our work finding facilities.
Our first cut method for finding facilities are a set of search terms
and search criteria.  These search algorithms go beyond just searching
on the term "coworking", but coworking is a key term.

The bigger reason is we've found that a focus on building and
nurturing community - which we think is a key component of being a
coworking facility - it tightly correlated with the use of the term
coworking.  This is for office facilities - the hackerspaces and
artisan oriented facilities tend to use other language.

But having said that, we've found several facilities that we include
in our count that don't explicitly self-describe using the term
coworking. But because their language is close and their facilities
fit the rest of our criteria, we include them.

We've excluded most writers and artist spaces mostly because many are
effectively private/semi-private clubs with closed, invitation only or
limited memberships and/or membership options.  This isn't in any way
a bad thing;  we simply consider them to be in a different market
segment.

We originally were planning on doing a global count.  We decided to
start with the US and add other parts of the world later.  Given the
complexities we've encountered with the US count, we're unlikely to do
a full, world count.  But we're still planning on doing some work in
Europe.

BTW one of the reasons the count is complex is the number of coworking
facilities that aren't engaged with the broader community or marketing
themselves beyond their local area.  Your Czech experience is a good
example of this.  This makes finding and identifying them surprisingly
hard.

Steve



On Jul 20, 2:00 am, "Will Bennis, Locus Workspace"
 wrote:
> One last comment about counting coworking spaces that I think is
> interesting. I see now that you're limiting the catalog to facilities
> in the U.S., so this is really not directly for you but just about the
> problem of estimating spaces on a global scale. Here in the Czech
> Republic there are perhaps 7 spaces open (depending on what counts as
> a coworking space) and at least 2 more trying to open. What's
> interesting is that until a couple of weeks ago when a couple of us
> added most of those spaces to the wiki, you'd have no way to know
> there were more than 2 spaces in the Czech Republic by looking at the
> wiki. Apparently, there's one space that's completely full that all
> but one of us (coworking space owners or jelly organizers) didn't know
> existed and that isn't marketing itself anywhere (it's full and in a
> small town where word of mouth is enough apparently). Most of these
> spaces even have coworking in their names, they're simply not engaged
> with the international coworking community. If the Czech Republic is
> any model of what's going on around the world, the majority of
> coworking spaces around the world might simply be off the
> international grid.
>
> Maybe that's even a healthy sign that the world of coworking is
> maturing? If coworking spaces are eventually like cafes, with one on
> every corner catering to distinct niches and neighborhoods, I guess
> we'd all expect many of them to be off the radar and essentially
> uncountable.
>
> Will
>
> On Jul 15, 8:58 pm, "sk...@emergentresearch.com"
>
>
>
>  wrote:
> > Our research assistants have been working away developing a count of
> > the number of coworking facilities in the US.  While we are not done,
> > it looks like our estimate will be in 250 range.  Our estimate last
> > december came to about 215-220.
>
> > Several interesting things about the count:
>
> > 1.  It is getting harder to do this.  The main reason is coworking is
> > evolving, blurring, hybridizing and shifting.  For example, incubators
> > are becoming coworking facilities, coworking facilities are becoming
> > incubators and lots of facilities of various types are adding (or at
> > least claiming to add) coworking features.  Many of these "semi-
> > coworking" facilities share some or many of the attributes of a
> > traditional coworking space, but in other ways aren't coworking as we
> > tend to think of it.
>
> > While I think the evolution of coworking and the growth of hybrids is
> > a good thing, it makes it much harder to decide whether or not a
> > specific facility should be counted as a coworking facility.   It also
> > challenges our ability to do a consistent count over time.  There is
> > already a risk our we are counting apples and oranges instead of just
> > apples.
>

[Coworking] Re: Number of Coworking Facilities in the US and a few observations

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Marilee:

The total potential coworking market is big and growing:).  A few
numbers:

1.  There are about 15 million home-based businesses in the US (SBA
numbers).  Of these, about 6.6 million produce at least half of the
owner's household income ( a good proxy for full-time) and about 3.3
million have employees (data from our study on homebased businesses
based on surveys as part of the University of Maryland/Network
Solution Small Business Success Index).  While not all home-based
businesses are possible coworkers, most at least would fall into the
category of possible.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a slightly broader definition of
home-based businesses and includes contract workers.  Their 2008
number for home-based business workers was 17.2 million

2.  Most studies of employed telecommuters (people who work for a
company but telecommute) find about 17-18 million US telecommuters.
The World at Work study is a good example of these studies.  It is
at:  http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/adimLink?id=31115  While not all
telecommuters are potential coworkers, again most probably would fall
into the category of possible.

So you could start with 34-35 million as the potential addressable US
market for coworking.  To get a more realistic number, you would need
to do some segmentation work to go from possible to viable, and from
viable to interested.  We haven't done this, but a guesstimate that
20% of home-based business workers and telecommuters could work from a
coworking facility seems reasonable.  This would put the current US
addressable market at about 7 million.

But given the number people currently using coworking facilities in
the US - almost certainly below 25,000 and likely below 15,000 (we'll
have a better number when we complete our study),  the current
penetration rate is going to be low no matter how sharp your
segmentation blade is.

Steve

On Jul 20, 7:44 am, marileebowlescarey 
wrote:
> Great inisghts, Steve. I wonder if you have been able to estimate the
> total size of the potential market or how you would measure it?
>
> Marilee
>
> On Jul 15, 2:58 pm, "sk...@emergentresearch.com"
>
>
>
>  wrote:
> > Our research assistants have been working away developing a count of
> > the number of coworking facilities in the US.  While we are not done,
> > it looks like our estimate will be in 250 range.  Our estimate last
> > december came to about 215-220.
>
> > Several interesting things about the count:
>
> > 1.  It is getting harder to do this.  The main reason is coworking is
> > evolving, blurring, hybridizing and shifting.  For example, incubators
> > are becoming coworking facilities, coworking facilities are becoming
> > incubators and lots of facilities of various types are adding (or at
> > least claiming to add) coworking features.  Many of these "semi-
> > coworking" facilities share some or many of the attributes of a
> > traditional coworking space, but in other ways aren't coworking as we
> > tend to think of it.
>
> > While I think the evolution of coworking and the growth of hybrids is
> > a good thing, it makes it much harder to decide whether or not a
> > specific facility should be counted as a coworking facility.   It also
> > challenges our ability to do a consistent count over time.  There is
> > already a risk our we are counting apples and oranges instead of just
> > apples.
>
> > We will post our facilities list once it has been cleaned up a bit.
>
> > 2.  There is a fair amount of facility churn.  About 10-15% of
> > facilities on our list in December have fallen off our current list
> > due to closure or shifts in direction.  There are, obviously, a lot of
> > new facilities on our list.  Some are green field and others are
> > existing spaces that have added and/or shifted to a coworking model.
>
> > While we aren't focused on coworking business models at this time, it
> > does appear to be an area ripe for research:).
>
> > 3.  Coworking has moved beyond the major cities and is spreading
> > rapidly in mid-sized cities and smaller towns.
>
> > 4.  The number of niche or targeted coworking facilities (aimed at
> > writers, or telecommuters, or social entrepreneurs, or makers, etc.)
> > is growing.  It is a logical extension of the "like minded people"
> > phrase we so often hear and use when discussing coworking.
>
> > 5.  There are lots of facilities under development with plans to open
> > in the next 6-12 months.  It appears to us that the facility growth
> > rate is accelerating due to the addition of new facilities and re-
> > purposing of existing non-coworking facilities.
>
> > Given how few facilities there are relat

[Coworking] Re: Are Hacker Spaces Coworking Facilities?

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Will:

I think these are great ideas, but beyond our scope.  We're hoping
someone else will provide a complete, online sortable catalog of
spaces.  We think this would be a very useful tool, but we have
neither the skills nor time to do a good job with it.

Thanks for the pointer to coworkingseattle.  I too like their
coworking definition. It's a broad definition with a concise
meaning.

Thanks,

Steve

On Jul 20, 1:46 am, "Will Bennis, Locus Workspace"
 wrote:
> Hi Steve,
>
> I know it's a big project as it is, so take this suggestion as just
> what I'd want from a dream version of what you're doing, but... I
> think it would be useful to start with the broadest definition of
> coworking that still has any integrity, and then tag individual spaces
> with whatever key words you're encountering that make space
> categorization ambiguous (or that otherwise distinguish spaces from
> one another on a recurring basis). That way people interested in your
> analysis could define coworking in a variety of ways and see how many
> spaces there are of that type. If I'm interested in a particular kind
> of dedicated space (say writers' spaces or hacker spaces), or
> particular membership model (say all hot desks or all anchor desks or
> a mix), I could then see the list of spaces like that. If you're also
> going to have a web or software based catalog, you could then allow
> people to filter by multiple criteria and (maybe for a future
> project :) compare across categories (e.g., # of anchor vs. hot desk
> spaces in the U.K.; # of coworking spaces in the U.K. v. Germany,
> etc.).
>
> If you're looking for a good broad definition to start with, maybe
> just use the short version of the Seattle coworking group's definition
> that Alex pointed to as one of the best he's seen: "Coworking is about
> making the personal choice to work along side other people instead of
> in isolation" (fromhttp://www.coworkingseattle.org). So, a "coworking
> space" could be any kind of space designed, at least with one of it's
> purposes, to facilitate that goal?
>
> Will
>
> On Jul 19, 6:15 pm, "sk...@emergentresearch.com"
>
>
>
>  wrote:
> > A quick question for the group.  Would you consider hacker spaces
> > coworking facilities?  Hacker spaces are physical locations that are a
> > shared workshop for people interested in making things.  Most are non-
> > profit and community owned, but private ownership is becoming more
> > common.
>
> > Hacker spaces share many attributes with coworking.  They provide
> > shared access to space and equipment.  They provide and encourage a
> > social environoment and community.  They provide training classes and
> > support services.  Their membership plans are similar.  Many self-
> > describe as coworking for hackers or makers.
>
> > Hacker spaces have traditionally been targeted at amateurs, but are
> > increasingly being used by professional freelance artisans and other
> > small business people.   The professional users of hacker spaces use
> > them for pretty much the same reasons people use traditional coworking
> > spaces.
>
> > Hacker spaces are linked to the broader Maker/DIY movement, which is
> > chronicled by Make Magazine (www.makezine.com).  Examples include
> > Alpha One in Brooklyn (http://www.alphaonelabs.com/), Hack DC in DC
> > (http://hacdc.org) and Noisebridge in SF (https://www.noisebridge.net).
>
> > We're not sure how many hacker spaces exist, but it is likely in the
> > 30-50 range in the U.S. and their numbers appear to be growing pretty
> > rapidly.
>
> > We've included a few hacker spaces in our coworking facility count so
> > far (Tech Shop being a good example -www.techshop.ws).  But after
> > spending some time researching these spaces we are considering adding
> > more.
>
> > What do you think?
>
> > Thanks,
>
> > Steve- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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[Coworking] Colorado Guy Running for Governor has Coworking as Key Part of his Platform

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

An independent candidate for governor of Colorado has made coworking a
key part of his economic development platform.  He's calling for
coworking facilities in every county in CO.

I know nothing about the guy - his coworking plan is at:
http://www.carrforgovofco.com/?p=149

The plan is not far off what the economic gardening movement is
pushing for.

Steve



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[Coworking] Re: Forecasting coworking

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Just finsihed the book.  Great job; lots of interesting stuff.  I
found it very useful in understanding the architectural issues
associated with choosing a location and designing a space.  And while
the book appears to be mostly targeted at space owners/managers, I
think anyone interested in coworking would find it well worth
reading.

Steve

On May 31, 7:31 pm, Justin White  wrote:
> For our spring semester architecture studio at UW-Milwaukee, which
> focused on designing ways for Milwaukee to adapt to the challenges of
> the new urban age, we looked at the exciting emergence of coworking
> facilities across the U.S.
>
> We discovered that architectural strategies can help coworking
> facilities, but too often a low cash flow turns a coworking start-up
> into a bare-bones DIY project. So we wrote a manual to help facility
> owners, current coworkers, and those new to coworking get the most out
> of their space. We discuss what to look for in selecting the location
> of a new building and common problems of coworking facilities that
> result from combining autonomy and social interaction.
>
> In order to share our work and research with a greater audience, so we
> made the manual available on Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/product/
> paperback/forecasting-coworking-architectural-strategies-for-your-
> coworking-space/10979195). We hope the book can help you in your
> coworking endeavors!
>
> Justin, Ted, and Cassie
> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
> marcusprize2010.com

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[Coworking] Re: Number of Coworking Facilities in the US and a few observations

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Jodi:

Thanks for the excellent feedback.  I'm from Kansas (live in SF area
now)  and have also milked cows:).  You make several great points:

We've been interviewing folks at "non-tradtional" coworking spaces
(the incubators, office suite companies, etc.).  I agree with you that
most are adding coworking due to the buzz and for PR purposes.  Also,
most either don't understand the community side of coworking, or they
understand it but don't really want to offer it.

There are some non-traditional spaces (and yes, I think it is funny
that we're using the descriptors "traditional" and "non-tradtional"
for coworking ) that do, in our opinion, offer real coworking.
Dogpatch Labs, an incubator with space in Boston, NY and SF run by the
VC firm Polaris, is an example.  Their SF space is very coworking-like
and community plays a huge role in what they are doing.  They also
don't have most of the onerous requirements, terms and conditions seed
incubators usually have.  Dogpatch describes themselves as a "Frat for
Geeks" and the SF space lives up to it.

Based feedback like yours and our interviews, we learned that most
office suites and incubators are in a different market segment.
Because of this, we don't think many are coworking spaces.

Having said that, we think their market segments overlap with
coworking.  We've find it very interesting how many facility users
we've talked to who have told us they narrowed their final space
choices down to an office suite and a coworking facility.

A second point you raise - the difficulties in getting members - is
something we've consistently heard from everyone we've talked to.
Obviously you folks understand this issue much better than do, but we
hope to get more info on this through our user survey and
interviews.

I'm very interested in Ft Wayne becoming a film making cluster.
Please let me know how this goes.

Steve





On Jul 30, 12:01 am, "ourspacefortwa...@gmail.com"
 wrote:
> Thanks for the tedious amount of research that you have completed.
> In response to your observations:
>
> 1.  It is getting harder to do this.
> The question needs to revolve around the intent of why coworking sites
> exist.   As I have met on an infrequent basis with the manager of a
> local incubator, who has developed a coworking space inside their
> facility,  I have come to discovered that several virtual spaces and
> incubators do it because they think of the buzz and they think the
> ability to a make an extra dollar - not the community aspect.
> The local incubation cite has a beautiful place with approximately
> $100,000 of Herman Miller furniture, but they don't have the community
> aspect.   The word on the street is that they thought they could
> develop a good base clientel that could move on to their pricier
> sweets.    Hence, they are taking the businesses that seem to be the
> most profitable, not those that really could benefit the community and/
> or the community.
>
> The second factor is that these seem like a great business to run -
> easy, however running a coworking as a quick, operable business, and
> lack the work ethic it takes to build a great site.   Due to the fact
> that I am a unique spot with my space, and I cost sharing, I have been
> able to keep going since January.  Being in Fort Wayne, fly-over
> country, has been a bit tough.   It has taken an enormous amount of
> time and energy, and a bit of stress.  That being said, I had 5 people
> that is the first and several meetings with local economic development
> professionals, who have begun to pay interest to me.   Additionally, I
> am starting to grow my network as our local school system shed 300
> teaching positions, and teachers don't have assignments yet, the local
> Navistar plant will be closing.   It's taken a lot of time, sweat and
> tears to get to the point I am at; I have 5 members and hoping to
> double that in two weeks -- crossing fingers and toes.
>
> 2.  Teleworkers:  Teleworkers are great.  However, in obtaining data
> from the local county recorder's office, there are approximately 5 new
> businesses that are being developing in Fort Wayne per day.
>
> 3.  Coworking has moved beyond the major cities and is spreading
> rapidly in mid-sized cities and smaller towns.
>
> I am in Fort Wayne, Indiana a city of 256,000, county wide population
> of 300,000 plus.   I might add that we are in the midwest, an area
> known for corn and cows more than urban living.  And yes, I have
> milked a cow.  :-)
>
> 4.  The number of niche or targeted coworking facilities (aimed at
> writers, or telecommuters, or social entrepreneurs, or makers, etc.)
> is growing.  It is a logical extension of the "like minded people"
> phrase we so often hear and use when discussing coworking.
>
> While I don't have a niche, I have been able to tape into the growing
> film industries.  Being in Fort Wayne, RE is cheap (The average cost
> of a house is $100,000.), so there are a number of those in NYC and
> LA, who were rais

[Coworking] Re: home based business stats?

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

The stats are in the thread "Number of Coworking Facilities in the US
and a Few Observations."

Here is a quick summary on home-based businesses:

1.  According to the Small Business Administration there are about 15
million home-based businesses in the US.  This is roughly half of all
businesses.  This data is from 2008 - the US gov data wheels turn
slowly.

2.  About 6.6 million home-based businesses generate at least half of
the owner's household income.  This is based on work done by Emergent
Research (that's us) with Network Solutions and the University of
Maryland looking at home businesses that are not hobby or part-time
businesses.  On of the most interesting findings of this work is that
about 50% of these firms have employees.  The report is at:
http://growsmartbusiness.com/2009/10/the-rise-of-the-homepreneur-and-network-solutions-report/

Another interesting study on home-based business was done by the
Cleveland Council for Small Businesses.  It is a bit older, but still
useful and at:  http://www.flipseekllc.com/cosehomebiz.html

3.  Our on-going survey work shows the number of home-based businesses
increasing and the % of all businesses being home-based growing.  We
think about 54% of all US businesses are currently home-based, with
the recession as a key driver of this near term growth.

4.  Recent academic research shows more start-ups are starting at home
and staying there longer than in the past.  A good example is this
very hard to read study by an economist at the SBA:
http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs350tot.pdf  Quick summary:  home is
where the start-up is.

Steve



On Jul 30, 9:10 am, m fletcher  wrote:
> Hey All,
>
> I'm trying, unsuccessfully, to find the group post from earlier this
> month that had some great statistics on the number of home based
> businesses in the US.
>
> Can anyone help me dredge this back up?
>
> Thanks!
> Mark

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[Coworking] Draft Coworking Facility List - Number of US Coworking Facilities

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

As part of our coworking research, we've developed a draft list of US
coworking facilities.  The list (Excel file) can be found at:
http://db.tt/jNpKyiV

As of the end of August, we had found 224 office-based coworking
facilities in the US.  We also found 28 shared hacker/maker spaces
that met our coworking criteria.

We included a facility if: (1) the facility self-identifies as
providing coworking space or equivalent; (2) it offers a range of
membership options (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) consistent with
traditional coworking spaces (does not need to provide all); (3) it
offers some form of community space and/or activities (this is
subjective based on our assessment); (4) coworking appears to be a
important part of the facility offering (subjective);  (5) the
facility is active; (6) the facility caters, at least in part, to
those using the space for work-related purposes.

As I mentioned in a prior post, this task proved harder - and more
subjective - than we expected.  Although this estimate meets our
research needs, the list is likely not complete and there may be
disagreements with facilities we included or excluded.

We would welcome any and all feedback and in particular we are looking
for facilities we may have missed.  My email is
sk...@emergentresearch.com or just post here.

The list is not copyrighted.  Please keep in mind it is a draft.

Thanks for all the help.

Steve

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[Coworking] Re: Draft Coworking Facility List - Number of US Coworking Facilities

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Alex:

We've started looking at Europe, but haven't yet decided how deep to
go.  For now, the rest of the world is not on aour agenda.

Steve

On Sep 3, 12:18 pm, Alex Hillman  wrote:
> As always, this is great stuff Steve. Thanks so much for your work and for
> sharing it here.
>
> Do you plan to continue this draft into non-us territories?
>
> -Alex
>
> /ah
> indyhall.org
> coworking in philadelphia
>
> On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 2:51 PM, sk...@emergentresearch.com <
>
>
>
> sk...@emergentresearch.com> wrote:
> > As part of our coworking research, we've developed a draft list of US
> > coworking facilities.  The list (Excel file) can be found at:
> >http://db.tt/jNpKyiV
>
> > As of the end of August, we had found 224 office-based coworking
> > facilities in the US.  We also found 28 shared hacker/maker spaces
> > that met our coworking criteria.
>
> > We included a facility if: (1) the facility self-identifies as
> > providing coworking space or equivalent; (2) it offers a range of
> > membership options (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) consistent with
> > traditional coworking spaces (does not need to provide all); (3) it
> > offers some form of community space and/or activities (this is
> > subjective based on our assessment); (4) coworking appears to be a
> > important part of the facility offering (subjective);  (5) the
> > facility is active; (6) the facility caters, at least in part, to
> > those using the space for work-related purposes.
>
> > As I mentioned in a prior post, this task proved harder - and more
> > subjective - than we expected.  Although this estimate meets our
> > research needs, the list is likely not complete and there may be
> > disagreements with facilities we included or excluded.
>
> > We would welcome any and all feedback and in particular we are looking
> > for facilities we may have missed.  My email is
> > sk...@emergentresearch.com or just post here.
>
> > The list is not copyrighted.  Please keep in mind it is a draft.
>
> > Thanks for all the help.
>
> > Steve
>
> > --
> > 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.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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[Coworking] CNN Video - The Officeless Generation

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Interesting video from CNN International on the "officeless
generation."  It features WorkSnug, an iPhone app that shows mobile
workers places to work and The Hub in London.

The video is at: 
http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/business/2010/09/01/qmb.quest.mobile.workers.cnn.html

WorkSnug is at:  http://www.worksnug.com/

Steve

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[Coworking] Re: Introduction - CoWorking in Louisville, Colorado

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Deb:

We're big fans of the DaVinci Institute and closely follow your
futures work.  Congratulations on the new coworking space.

For those not familar with DaVinci, it is well worth visiting
http://www.davinciinstitute.com to learn about this think tank/events/
coworking company.  Their newsletter is both free and very
interesting.

Steve

On Sep 14, 5:38 pm, Deb Frey  wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I run a CoWorking space called DaVinci Vault in Louisville, CO.  I am
> really excited to join this group.  It is amazing how many coworking
> spaces there are out there, and until a few months ago we hadn't even
> heard of coworking.

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[Coworking] Re: Co Working -- New Direction

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

We're certainly seeing coworking spaces focused on vertical
industries.  The HUB network is a good example.  These spaces are
focused on social entrepreneurship.  There are also a lot tech
oriented spaces - especially in SF and NY - that cater to tech
startups and their entrepreneurs.  Specialty spaces targeted at
writers, artists and other creative professionals are also somewhat
common.

However, while these space have a vertical industry focus most have a
horizontal membership.  For example, members of The HUB include a wide
range of freelancers and companies looking at social entrepreneurship
from many different angles.  There are freelance lawyers, accoutants,
consultants of all kinds, engineers, etc. working along side of people
starting/trying to start a wide range of socially oriented product and
service companies.

This combination of vertical focus and horizontal membership means
everyone is focused on the vertical, but there is diversity in the
skills and backgrounds of the members.  So you kinda have it both
ways.

I think it's interesting that coworking probably started with industry
verticals - think writers and artists spaces.  Also, British lawyers
have organized themselves in coworking like spaces and arrangements
called Chambers for several centuries.

Steve



On Oct 12, 10:52 pm, Abner Charles  wrote:
> I just wanted to open this topic and ask for some feedback from the
> group.
>
> Co-working spaces are made to be open to everyone from all fields and
> expertise.
> Is there any field specific co-working spaces would they be considered
> co-working space or fall into the incubator category?
> If those spaces do exist what's the selecting process?
> Would love to know what everyone thinks.

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[Coworking] Interesting Study on Coworkers in Germany from Deskmag

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Deskmag has an interesting article on a study of coworkers done by a
German student.  It looks pretty good and they are planning on taking
the study global.  It is at: 
http://www.deskmag.com/en/survey-coworking-spaces-144

There is more detail on the coworking blog:
http://coworking-blog.kapost.com/posts/study-on-coworking-the-coworker

I don't know much about Deskmag, except that I like the pub and enjoy
their concise, well written articles.

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[Coworking] Intuit 2020 Trends Report

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Intuit just released their Intuit 2020 Report.  We are co-authors and
the report contains 20 demographic, social, economic and technology
trends that will impact consumers and businesses over the next decade.

The report started as part of Intuit's annual strategic planning
process.  We worked with Intuit to develop a close version of these
trends as inputs to their plan process.  We realized access to the
trends could be useful to others, so Intuit agreed to release the
report to the public.

Coworking is very briefly mentioned in trend 17.  Please don't yell at
me about it being spelled co-working.  It is truly amazing how
seriously editors take hyphens:).  It was a battle I ended up
retreating on:).

The next phase of this research will be a deeper dive on the new
workplace and new workforce.  Coworking will play a much bigger role
in this research and related reports/memos.  We will also spell it
correctly in the future:).

The report can be found at www.intuit.com/2020

Steve

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[Coworking] Re: Intuit 2020 Trends Report

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

The research behind the report was global and most of the trends are
having a global impact.

One of the trends, Cultural Fusion, is based in part on Brazil.  The
concept behind Cultural Fusion is immigration, travel and the Internet
is exposing more people to different cultures, customs and products.
At first this led to adoption of new practices.  Salsa passing ketchup
sales in the U.S. is an example.

But increasingly we are seeing products and customs from differenct
cultures being tweaked, adapted and merged.  The result of this fusion
is something new - or at least different.  Think Tex Mex food, Korean
Hip Hop music and Cricket 20s.

Cultural fusion has always been around, but we are seeing fusion
increasingly taking the place of assimilation and acculturalization.
Brazil, of course, is a country on the leading edge of this trend.

Steve



On Oct 18, 12:29 pm, Cadu de Castro Alves
 wrote:
> Steve,
>
> Is this research based on USA economy or it is a global research?
> Nice work. I'll print for read. =)
>
> Abs,
>
> Cadu de Castro Alves
> c...@beesoffice.com
> Mobile: +55 21 8464-3958(OI)
> SkypeID: cadudecastroalveswww.beesoffice.com
>
> BeesOffice - Espaço de Coworking RJ - Unidade: Centro
> Rua Teófilo Otoni, 52/1203, Centro - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - CEP: 20090-070 - 
> Brasil
> Tel./Fax: +55 21 2233-5126
> *Antes de imprimir pense em seu compromisso com o Meio Ambiente.
> *Before printing think about your commitment with the Environment.
> ...­...­..
>
> "O emitente desta mensagem é responsável por seu conteúdo e endereçamento. 
> Cabe ao destinatário cuidar quanto ao tratamento adequado. Sem a devida 
> autorização, a divulgação, a reprodução, a distribuição ou qualquer outra 
> ação em desconformidade com as normas internas do BeesOffice Espaço de 
> Coworking são proibidas e passíveis de sanção disciplinar, cível e criminal."
>
> "The sender of this message is responsible for its content and addressing. 
> The receiver shall take proper care of it. Without due authorization, the 
> publication, reproduction, distribution or the performance of  any other 
> action not conforming to BeesOffice Espaço de Coworking internal policies and 
> procedures is forbidden and liable to disciplinary, civil or criminal  
> sanctions."
>
> "El emisor de este mensaje es responsable por su contenido y 
> direccionamiento. Cabe al destinatario darle el tratamiento adecuado. Sin la 
> debida autorización, su divulgación, reproducción, distribución o cualquier 
> otra acción no conforme a las normas internas del BeesOffice Espaço de 
> Coworking están prohibidas y serán pasibles de sanción disciplinaria, civil y 
> penal."
> ...­...­..
>
> On 18/10/2010, at 17:13, Susan Evans wrote:
>
>
>
> > Thanks for sharing this, Steve.  Looking forward to taking a read!  
>
> > S
> > __
> > Office Nomads
> > officenomads.com
> > 206-484-5859
>
> > On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 11:21 AM, Anne Kirby 
> >  wrote:
> > Thanks for the link, I'm looking forward to sharing this with my
> > network.
>
> > Cheers,
> > Anne
>
> > On Oct 18, 1:52 pm, Araceli Camargo-Kilpatrick
> >  wrote:
> > > thanks for covering the industry with or without hyphen it spreads the 
> > > word!
>
> > > A
>
> > > On 18 October 2010 18:43, sk...@emergentresearch.com <
>
> > > sk...@emergentresearch.com> wrote:
> > > > Intuit just released their Intuit 2020 Report.  We are co-authors and
> > > > the report contains 20 demographic, social, economic and technology
> > > > trends that will impact consumers and businesses over the next decade.
>
> > > > The report started as part of Intuit's annual strategic planning
> > > > process.  We worked with Intuit to develop a close version of these
> > > > trends as inputs to their plan process.  We realized access to the
> > > > trends could be useful to others, so Intuit agreed to release the
> > > > report to the public.
>
> > > > Coworking is very briefly mentioned in trend 17.  Please don't yell at
> > > > me about it being spelled co-working.  It is truly amazing how
> > > > seriously editors take hyphens:).  It was a battle I ended up
> > > > retreating on:).
>
> > > > 

[Coworking] Coworking Space Owners/Managers - Please Take Short Survey

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

The Iowa City Development Group has created a very short survey of
coworking space managers/ownersto help them with their planning for a
potential future coworking space.  It is less than 10 questions and
only takes a couple of minutes to fill out.

I've talked with the folks in Iowa and they've agreed to make the
results of the survey public.  We were going to do our own survey of
coworking space owners/managers, but since this survey is already in
place we see no need to survey this group twice.

We also think working together on this survey fits both the spirit of
coworking and our belief in the advantages of making our research
public.

The survey is at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/coworksurvey

Some of you have already taken this survey (it was posted to this site
a few weeks ago).  But we need more respondents to be confident of the
results.  So if you haven't taken this survey, please do.

Thanks,

Steve

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[Coworking] Re: Coworking Space Owners/Managers - Please Take Short Survey

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Thanks for pointing this out.  I will alert the survey owner.

On Oct 21, 2:00 am, "Will Bennis, Locus Workspace"
 wrote:
> the survey is not working for me. When I press "next" the first page
> just reloads.
>
> On Oct 21, 12:22 am, "sk...@emergentresearch.com"
>
>
>
>  wrote:
> > The Iowa City Development Group has created a very short survey of
> > coworking space managers/ownersto help them with their planning for a
> > potential future coworking space.  It is less than 10 questions and
> > only takes a couple of minutes to fill out.
>
> > I've talked with the folks in Iowa and they've agreed to make the
> > results of the survey public.  We were going to do our own survey of
> > coworking space owners/managers, but since this survey is already in
> > place we see no need to survey this group twice.
>
> > We also think working together on this survey fits both the spirit of
> > coworking and our belief in the advantages of making our research
> > public.
>
> > The survey is at:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/coworksurvey
>
> > Some of you have already taken this survey (it was posted to this site
> > a few weeks ago).  But we need more respondents to be confident of the
> > results.  So if you haven't taken this survey, please do.
>
> > Thanks,
>
> > Steve- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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[Coworking] Re: Who from the US is going to Coworking Europe?

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

I'm going.  So is my business partner, Carolyn Ockels. Should be fun.

Steve

On Oct 24, 12:04 pm, Jacob Sayles  wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I was wondering who else from the US or Canada was planning on going to the
> Coworking Europe conference?
>
> http://coworkingeu.wordpress.com/
>
> Jacob
>
> ---
> Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolationhttp://www.officenomads.com-  
> (206) 323-6500

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[Coworking] Re: Does anyone know of any Comaking groups?

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Raines:  Nice reply and good description of the hackerspace
movement.

James:  We included hackerspaces - I like your term "comaking" better
- in our census last summer.  Our list (Excel file) can be found at:
http://db.tt/jNpKyiV

The list is not a complete list of US hackerspaces.  They had to also
meet our coworking requirements.  At the bottom of the Excel page is a
list of 28 maker/hacker space that also met our coworking
definitions.

We also use the term "industrial coworking" for this group.  We did a
post on them.  It is at:
http://www.smallbizlabs.com/2010/08/techshop-ford-partner-on-automotive-innovation-center.html

The post also provides a link to our report on makers as small
businesses.

Happy Holidays!

Steve

On Dec 24, 1:36 am, james rock  wrote:
> Wow Raine... thats an awful lot of really useful information - thank
> you so much!
>
> I haven't heard of Hacker Spaces so will check them out. Thanks for
> the tip about guilds I will also follow that up - although from my
> knowledge they tended to be around a single area of expertise e.g
> tailors; furniture makers; etc whilst at this embryonic stage the
> intention is to offer a wider platform of skills and experience.
>
> Provision of shared machinery; welding area; etc Linking the makers
> with museum and shop / coffee shop for customers is one of the
> benefits - in many respect like an artists studios and we have some of
> those as well as crafts based people.
>
> Merry Christmas to you
>
> Thanks again for all this - James Rock
>
> On Dec 23, 1:41 pm, Raines Cohen  wrote:
>
>
>
> > James -
>
> > It sounds like you're talking about Hacker Spaces 
> > ,
> > a parallel movement to coworking, sharing many principles.
>
> > Perhaps the best way to introduce the concept is with a variant on the old
> > saw: How many coworking space members does it take to change a lightbulb?
> > None, because it becomes a hacker space when you start messing with
> > hardware.
>
> > While some of the first coworking spaces to use the term came together out
> > of programmers, writers, and other creative professionals sharing space and
> > resources and cooperatively managing the project while pursuing our own
> > ventures, we recognize that, at its core, both movements are, in essence,
> > reconnecting to and building on centuries-old
> > practicespursued by craftspeople,
> > attorneys, architects, artists, and others needing
> > access to specialized tools, peers, and types of spaces that would be
> > expensive or harder to create individually.
>
> > Generally speaking (and of course there are exceptions and
> > counter-examples), Hacker Spaces tend to have:
>
> >    - More of a focus on hardware, soldering, creating, D-I-Y, and the like.
> >    - More smoke, less mirrors.
> >    - Replaces garages rather than home offices.
> >    - More welding, less WarCraft.
> >    - If it's broke, we fix it rather than call a service tech.
> >    - Less desks by default, more drawers and dangerous devices in dedicated
> >    spaces.
> >    - More machines and custom tools, less bandwidth and business managers.
> >    - More co-creation and art, hacking and soldering, less coding and
> >    graphics and design.
> >    - Less Wired, more Make magazine.
> >    - When you say "give me a file," they hand you an edge-roughening tool,
> >    rather than attach and email or reach into a filing cabinet.
> >    - More PERL, FORTH, and Arduino, less C++/Java/Ruby on
> >    Rails/JavaScript/Python.
> >    - More microcontrollers, less Microsoft.
> >    - Rather than a Wii, we've got an old-school "insert coin" arcade
> >    console.
> >    - More Wiki than WordPress. Flash is something Hacker Space denizens use
> >    to take pictures, not enliven websites.
> >    - Stitching rather than Pitching to VCs.
> >    - More 3-D printers, less fax machines.
> >    - More freeganism, less catered cappucino coffees?
>
> > Of course, some of these distinctions are reflections more of the stage of
> > different fields of development and their relation to different economic
> > institutions, and the priorities of the space founders, so don't take them
> > as part of a definition of either coworking or hacker spaces - what do you
> > see as key differences in the personalities, projects, and ventures each
> > type attracts? A few coworking communities like Carrboro Coworking
> > Collaborative (NC) are listed as Hacker Spaces, and vice-versa.
>
> > While many hacker spaces, like some coworking spaces, are
> > collective/cooperative ventures, some "second-generation"
> > professional-service-model, dare I say "chain" Hacker Spaces have emerged,
> > like TechShop  (*now with several SF Bay Area
> > locations, including one in the SF Chronicle building next to The
> > Hubcoworking space network that I'm a
> > member of
> > *). I participated in a coworking/hacker spaces presence at Ma

[Coworking] Re: Coworking History and growth

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

The data is at best incomplete in terms of the number of coworking
facilities, especially historic data.  We did a count of U.S.
coworking facilites last summer and there were 252 US facilities based
on our defintion.  We also did rough counts in 2008 and 2009 and we
have a chart showing the growth of US facilities at:
http://www.smallbizlabs.com/2010/09/over-250-us-coworking-facilities.html

Our 2010 count was used in a broader global count of coworking
facilities by Deskmag, a German site on the new workplace.  Their
global count was 601 facilities as of early October 2010.  We posted
on their study and our post includes a link to their count and site.
Our post is at:  
http://genylabs.typepad.com/coworking_labs/2010/10/over-600-hundred-global-coworking-facilities.html

I'm not aware of historic data on the number of non-US coworking
facilities.

We are planning on doing a rough projection of the number of coworking
facility members in the coming weeks.  It will be based, in part, on
the data in the global coworking survey (mentioned in this group).
This will be the first data of this kind I'm aware of, so again no
historical growth rate data.

Steve

On Jan 5, 4:30 am, Colo  wrote:
> d I am looking for information on the history and
> growth of coworking.  What year the first and the number per year to
> it's current population.
>
> I am writing a business plan and am looking for any and all
> information.
>
> Many thanks

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[Coworking] Profiling Coworking Users - Company Employees vs. Freelancers

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

In case you missed it, Deskmag has a profile of US coworking users
based on the respondents to their global coworking survey.  The folks
at Deskmag shared the raw data with us (thanks Deskmag) and one of our
researchers wrote the article.  It is at:

http://www.deskmag.com/en/coworker-profile-usa-coworking-175

One of the more intersting pieces of survey data is more respondents
were company employees (35%) or entrepreneurs running companies with
employees (18%)  than freelancers/solopreneurs (44%).

One of the trends we've noticed is the growing use of coworking
facilities to house startups and small businesses, so we weren't
totally surprised by this data.  But we were a bit surprised by the
high percentage of company employees and entrepreneurs with employees.

We think the data is directionally correct, but the %s may be high due
to the survey's relatively high margin for error (not the survey's
fault - it is a common issue for surveys of new areas).

My question to the group is does this data fit with your experience?

Thanks,

Steve

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[Coworking] Re: How many Coworking spaces in the world?

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Roughly 600 is the last count I'm aware of.  We did a U.S. count last
summer that led to the roughly 250 number here.  Our post on this is
at: http://www.smallbizlabs.com/2010/09/over-250-us-coworking-facilities.html

The global count, from Deskmag, can be found at:
http://genylabs.typepad.com/coworking_labs/2010/10/over-600-hundred-global-coworking-facilities.html

Our current global estimate is around 750, but this is just an
estimate based on anecdotal data.  Since our work last summer we've
seen a lot of new spaces come online in the US and elsewhere.  We will
be doing a formal count again next summer.

Steve

On Feb 11, 8:00 am, Heba Fadeel  wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> Does anyone have a tentative number of how many Coworking spaces are there
> in the world and in how many countries.. I know there is a directory with
> the Coworking spaces in each region and country, but I just thought it would
> be easier if someone knew a tentative figure, rather than counting ! :)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Heba
>
> Cairo

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[Coworking] Re: "I Disagree" ---Should Coworking Spaces Scale and Grow?

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Angel:

When I talked about scale in the context of coworking, I was referring
to the industry – not individual coworking facilities.  But I didn’t
explain this well.

Several years ago we did a study on how small business owners define
success.  The quick summary of the results is most small business
owners are not interested in growing or creating a big business.  Most
simply want their businesses to be large enough to support their
lifestyle, fit with their values, meet their work/life balance goals,
and/or let them pursue a passion.

The blog post summarizing the research is at:
http://genylabs.typepad.com/small_biz_labs/2008/08/how-many-types.html

Our own firm, Emergent Research, is an example.  We are a “lifestyle
business” with no interest in growing beyond our current size.  So we
absolutely agree that small, no growth small businesses can be
successful.  Ours certainly is.

What I was attempting to get across at the Coworking Unconference was
the need for the industry to have business models that enable
coworking to be sustained economically so it can grow to meet an
increasing demand for a place where independent and distributed
workers can thrive.

We believe coworking will play an important economic role in the
future.  Shifts in the economy are leading to increasing numbers of
contingent workers (freelancers, contractors, self-employed, etc.).

Over the next decade that number is likely to approach half of the
overall workforce.  So far, many of these people are not faring well
in the new economy.  We think coworking and coworking facilities could
greatly improve their work lives and their chances of earning a
reasonable living.

To do this, there needs to be thousands of coworking facilities in the
US.  This is much more likely to happen if there is a mix of
sustainable business models supporting the movement.

What is sustainable will vary by coworking space owner based on their
individual goals and needs – and that’s fine.  But given the high
coworking facility churn rate (meaning closures) and lots of feedback
from coworking owners who tell us they aren’t sure they are going to
make it, we feel these models are yet to be fully defined.

Steve

On Mar 14, 9:47 pm, Angel Kwiatkowski  wrote:
> When I disagreed with a statement that coworking spaces need to scale
> and grow, it caused quite a stir at the Coworking Unconference. I've
> been marinating on my decision to make that feeling public and I'm
> real glad I put my feelings right out there. I found this blog post
> that I wrote last August-only 5 months after Cohere 
> opened.http://coherecommunity.com/?p=1377"Business Growth: An
> Argument." [I'm nothing if not extremely consistent!] :)
>
> Cohere got her legs under her at the 5 month mark and every person I
> met out on the street wanted to know when I was going to expand or
> open a second location. Check out the blog post and weigh in here or
> in the comments on the blog with your opinion on whether or not (or
> how) coworking spaces should expand/grow/replicate.
>
> Angel

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[Coworking] Re: Can there possibly be 3x the amount of coworking spaces globally?

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

We did a census of US coworking facilities last year and collaborated
with Deskmag on their global count.  We quickly learned your
definition of "coworking" and "coworking facility" has a big impact on
the census outcome.  After discussing the definition with a number of
folks from the coworking community, we decided to use the following:

"For the purposes of this census, a facility will be deemed a
coworking facility if it meets four criteria:  (1) the facility self-
identifies as a coworking facility; (2) the facility offers public
membership options commonly associated with coworking; (3) the primary
business of the facility is coworking; and (4) the facility is
currently active."

Using this definition, 19 NYC facilities met this criteria as of last
August.  We haven't looked at NYC since the census, but a quick guess
on my part is there are around 25-30 today in NYC that meet this
definition.  We've seen a surge in the number of spaces across the
country since last summer.

The definition we used excludes a variety of spaces that could easily
be considered coworking facilities.  Most incubators, for example, are
available by invitation only.  Because of this, we excluded them.  We
also excluded most office suite companies that offered (or claimed to
offer) coworking because coworking was not the primary business of the
facility.  And we excluded a number of companies/facilities that
offered limited shared space for the same reason.

We are in no way suggesting our definition is the only way to define
coworking.  One of the clear findings from our research is that
coworking is rapidly expanding, evolving and mutating.   There is
almost a Cambrian Explosion of new types and forms of coworking
occurring.  Because of the growing awareness and popularity of
coworking, new spaces that don't fully meet our criteria but still
could be considered coworking are springing up all over the place.

We are planning on doing another census this summer.  We will use the
same definition so our results can be compared with the prior year.
But we will also be trying to develop a broader measure to capture the
broader number of shared spaces and coworking hybrids.

With a broader definition than the one we used, I have no doubt there
are over 2000 coworking spaces globally.  Using our more restrictive
definition, my guess is there are about 1100.




On Apr 10, 8:34 pm, Stephanie Wiegand  wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I'm Stephanie and I'm an intern at the Sarapis Foundation located in
> New York City.
>
> This week Devin (my supervisor) asked me to find as many coworking
> spaces in NYC as I could.  DeskMag says there are 12 self-described
> coworking spaces in NYC but I found about 35 spaces that can easily
> qualify as coworking spaces. These spaces foster community, support
> entrepreneurs, freelancers, and even sometimes label themselves as
> coworking. There are a few shared office spaces that look like they
> could qualify as well.  I will look into each to see whether or not
> they share the coworking movement's values.
>
> I found these spaces by Googling "coworking + nyc", "shared office
> shared + community", "co-working + nyc", and a few other combinations.
> Some spaces were over eight pages into the search, so I really had to
> sift through each search with a fine tooth.  I am sure there are more
> spaces out there, but I think identifying about 40 spaces is a good
> start. We're going to merge our spreadsheet with that of the
> CoworkingRegistry and encourage other coworking space members to
> collect links to the spaces in their area for inclusion in the
> registry as well.
>
> If NYC is an example of a place with about three times the amount of
> listed spaces, then what does that say about the rest of the world?
> There are 700 known spaces. If we assume there are three times as many
> spaces (at least) as there are 'known' spaces, then there are likely
> well over 2,000 coworking spaces operating around the world.
>
> There is little doubt that coworking spaces will continue to open up
> around the world as networked technologies make these spaces only more
> valuable, but how can we ensure that these spaces embody the values of
> coworking and use the term to describe themselves?  Coworkers need to
> reach out to their community and try to encourage people to make
> themselves known, and the coworking community as a whole needs to
> continue creating valuable products and services for 'coworking'
> spaces.

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[Coworking] ING Bank's Toronto Branch has coworking

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

ING Bank has been opening branches with cafes for about a year.  They
have 7 of them in North America.  Their recently opened branch/cafe in
Toronto has a 2nd floor coworking facility run by ING.  Our post on it
is at:  http://bit.ly/kxliBk

The FinancialBrand blog has a good story on this from the bank's point
of view.  It is at:  
http://thefinancialbrand.com/18370/ing-direct-cafe-toronto-downtown/

We've heard from a mix of large companies that they are thinking of
adding coworking or coworking-like facilities to their locations, but
this is the first example we know of.  Anyone else know of similar
examples?

Thanks,

Steve

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[Coworking] Re: Is anyone else reading What's Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

The Mesh by Lisa Gansky is another book on this topic.  The book's
tagline is "Why the Future of Business is Sharing."  It mentions
coworking and several coworking facilities.  It came out about the
same time as Collaborative Consumption and covers the same ground.  I
think both books are quite good.

On Jun 24, 10:16 am, Angel Kwiatkowski  wrote:
> I'm devouring this book right now and it based on the simple concept
> that sharing is the new owning. Is anyone else reading it and thinking
> about coworking? We're starting to vision out Cohere in ways that
> revolve around even more sharing and I wanted to see if anyone else is
> on the same wavelength. Weigh in please!

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[Coworking] Re: What percentage of your membership is made up by women?

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Back when the global coworking survey was done, women comprised about
1/3rd of the US respondents.  Based on our other work, this was
probably a bit higher than the actual female rate, which at the time
we estimated at about 25%.  This data is about 1 year old.

In our interviews with women we often hear that the habits of male
coworkers don't always lead to environments that are attractive to
women.  In particular, the personal grooming and behavioral habits of
young male techies are often highlighted (note to young male techies -
take more showers:)).

Despite this, It seems from our point of view that women's coworking
share is increasing.  Lots of studies show women are more naturally
collaborative than men (sorry guys).  This could indicate in the long
run women coworkers will out number men.

Having said that, self-employment skews male.  So does employment in
the tech industry.  Given that many coworkers are in the tech industry
and self-employed, having more male than female coworkers - at least
today - is not a surprise.

Steve



On Jul 1, 12:44 pm, Angel Kwiatkowski  wrote:
> Just curious as I've seen it vary widely and I plan to put some mental
> energy towards figuring out why. Cohere is 45% women right now. How
> about you?
>
> Angel

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[Coworking] From Freelancers to Telecommuters: Succeeding in the New World of Solitary Work

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Great article in Knowledge@Wharton about the growth of freelancers,
independent workers and telecommuters.  As you can see from the title,
the authors are very concerned about people working without contact
with others.

No mention of coworking, but there should have been.  Coworking fixes
a lot of problems they bring up.  We're reaching out to several of
folks quoted in this article to see what, if anything, they know about
coworking.

The article is at:  
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2806

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[Coworking] WorldatWork Telework Report 2011

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

WorkatWork is a non-profit association focused on HR issues.  The
recently released a report on Telework.  It has lots of data on who is
teleworking, why and where.

It is at: http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/adimLink?id=53034

Their "where" data is pretty interesting.  Home, of course, is the
most common place.  Both Telework Centers and Satellite Centers are
showing strong increases (I can't tell from the report what the
difference is between the two).

Their data shows the number of teleworkers has fallen significantly
over the last couple of years.  They more or less blame the
recession.  Other research also shows a decline in telework, but not
nearly as steep as these guys.

But even with the decline, they say 26 million Americans telework.
That's a pretty impressive TAM (total addressable market) for
coworking:).

Steve

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[Coworking] Looking for Coworking Social Entrepreneurs

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

We're doing a study on coworking and social entrepreneurship/social
organizations and are looking for social entrepreneurs that are
working in coworking spaces to interview.

The interviews are short (10-20 minutes) and will be done on the phone
(unless you are in the SF area).  Our definition of social
entrepreneurship is pretty broad, so pretty much anyone who self-
identifies as a social entrepreneur/social organization will likely
meet our criteria.

We will be releasing our findings to the public.

If intererested in participating, please send me an email:
sk...@emergentresearch.com.

Thanks,

Steve

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[Coworking] Re: Looking for Coworking Social Entrepreneurs

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Angel:  We have.  They're a great place and produce excellent reports
our their experiences as a social accelerator.

On Jul 20, 1:19 pm, Angel Kwiatkowski  wrote:
> Have you contacted the Center for Social Innovation?
>
> On Jul 18, 10:28 pm, "sk...@emergentresearch.com"
>
>
>
>  wrote:
> > We're doing a study on coworking and social entrepreneurship/social
> > organizations and are looking for social entrepreneurs that are
> > working in coworking spaces to interview.
>
> > The interviews are short (10-20 minutes) and will be done on the phone
> > (unless you are in the SF area).  Our definition of social
> > entrepreneurship is pretty broad, so pretty much anyone who self-
> > identifies as a social entrepreneur/social organization will likely
> > meet our criteria.
>
> > We will be releasing our findings to the public.
>
> > If intererested in participating, please send me an email:
> > sk...@emergentresearch.com.
>
> > Thanks,
>
> > Steve- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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[Coworking] Re: Looking for Coworking Social Entrepreneurs

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Mindaugas:

We'd love to learn about social entrepreneurship in Lithuania.  I'll
email you our questions.

Thanks,

Steve

On Jul 22, 1:11 am, Mindaugas  wrote:
> Hi
>
> why don't you contact members of thehttp://the-hub.net/- the largest
> network of coworking spaces for social business and social
> innovation.
>
> although we are not part of the Hub Network we like social
> entrepreneurship. You can email me the questions and I'll share them
> with some of our members, unless you focus on US market.
>
> see you
>
> Mindaugas Danys
>
> Hub Vilnius Coworkingwww.facebook.com/hubvilniuswww.hubvilnius.lt
> Lithuania
>
> On Jul 21, 5:48 pm, "sk...@emergentresearch.com"
>
>
>
>  wrote:
> > Angel:  We have.  They're a great place and produce excellent reports
> > our their experiences as a social accelerator.
>
> > On Jul 20, 1:19 pm, Angel Kwiatkowski  wrote:
>
> > > Have you contacted the Center for Social Innovation?
>
> > > On Jul 18, 10:28 pm, "sk...@emergentresearch.com"
>
> > >  wrote:
> > > > We're doing a study on coworking and social entrepreneurship/social
> > > > organizations and are looking for social entrepreneurs that are
> > > > working in coworking spaces to interview.
>
> > > > The interviews are short (10-20 minutes) and will be done on the phone
> > > > (unless you are in the SF area).  Our definition of social
> > > > entrepreneurship is pretty broad, so pretty much anyone who self-
> > > > identifies as a social entrepreneur/social organization will likely
> > > > meet our criteria.
>
> > > > We will be releasing our findings to the public.
>
> > > > If intererested in participating, please send me an email:
> > > > sk...@emergentresearch.com.
>
> > > > Thanks,
>
> > > > Steve- Hide quoted text -
>
> > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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[Coworking] Feedback on Coworking From Corporate HR Folks

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

I participated in a webinar today on distributed work and presented on
coworking.  The audience (about 200 or so, I think) was mostly
comprised of HR folks from large companies.  A couple of interesting
take aways:

1.  53% of the attendees were not familar with coworking - we did a
webinar poll asking.  Generally speaking these types of polls
understate the results of a question like this, so my guess is closer
to 2/3rds aren't familar.

I saw this as a positive.  It means quite a few in corporate HR are
aware of coworking.

2.  There was a ton of interest in the topic and based on the
questions the major coworking concerns this audience has are data
security, general risks/problems associated with a lack of privacy,
and the potential loss of confidential information.  No major
surprises here.

All in all the group seemed open to the idea of corporate employees
using coworking spaces, they're just very concerned about these
issues.  Of course, it's hard to judge what a webinar audience is
thinking - but that's what it seemed like.

Steve

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[Coworking] Re: Densely Populated Coworking U.S. Cities/Counties

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Based on data collected last summer - which is out of date given the
growth of the coworking movement - I would agree with Anna that NYC
and the SF/Bay Area have the most U.S. facilities.  We didn't collect
data on square footage, so I can't speak to that.

Austin is, obviously, another city where coworking is flourishing and
it may have the most metropolitan coworkers per capita.  In that
sense, it may be the city with the greatest coworking density in the
US.

SF is interesting because of the rise of startup incubators/
accelerators that describe themselves - at least in part - as
coworking spaces.  Most don't fit the standard definition of coworking
(too closed), but they are an interesting hybrid.  And you can't throw
a rock in SOMA (the high tech neighborhood of SF) without hitting one,
so if you include them SF wins pretty easily (there are also a bunch
in Silicon Valley).

Steve



On Jul 28, 8:13 am, Orchestrator  wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Someone had asked for the list of active coworking establishments.
> (maybe loosecubes has this list)
>
> I'd like to add to this in asking which U.S. cities has the most
> densely populated coworking establishments, and by square footage?
>
> For example, in San Diego we have about 11 coworking places HIVEHAUS
> has three locations with over 40,000 sqft. available, and we have
> HeraHub, Kohworkn, GravySD, SDLaunchPad, AICenter, EcoHub,
> Cedrosworks, Co-Merge, etc.
>
> Which are the popular coworking cities with a large pocket of
> coworking establishments, and with the largest square feet available
> to coworkers?
>
> Obviously, Los Angeles is a densely populated coworking city/county
> and BLANKSPACES has over 12,000 sqft of coworking space available.
>
> This month, PC Magazine came out with their list of 10 great coworking
> places in the 
> UShttp://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/266509/10-great-co-working-space...
>
> Curious to see which U.S. cities has the most Coworking
> establishments, and by square footage?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> -ray

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[Coworking] Re: full circle

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Mark:

Ok, I'll bite:).  Why is Anoka the Halloween capital of the world?

Steve

On Aug 3, 9:34 pm, Mark Gilbreath  wrote:
> Hey Y'all
>
> As many of you know, I have a serial coworking problem.   There, I've
> admitted it.   My first coworking foray ("VengaWorks") in Boise Idaho
> suffered an early end of life after launching in what turned out to be a
> so/so location and incredibly bad market timing (Nov '08).  But it was a
> "fail forward" experience.  The lessons learned from our operational
> experience with VengaWorks were the inspiration for LiquidSpace.
>
> We were thrilled to launch a major new
> LiquidSpacerelease today with a slew of
> features inspired by direct input from our
> coworking friends (thank you - you know who you are - please keep
> challenging us).   One new feature in particular that I wanted this group to
> hear about directly, is the ability to self administer your basic listing in
> LiquidSpace.  Follow this
> linkand in a few
> minutes your space can be live in the LiquidSpace mobile and
> web app.
>
> More great stuff coming.
>
> ...oh and by the way, we are diving back into the Cowork (just can't get it
> out of our system).  Our engineering team in Minneapolis has launched AnoCo,
> a terrific new cowork space in Anoka Minnesota (the self proclaimed
> Halloween capital of the world).  Book a visit through LiquidSpace and come
> hang with us.
>
> Thanks
>
> Mark
>
> mark@liquidspace

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[Coworking] Research on Independent Workers and Coworking

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

For the last 6 months we've been partnering with MBO Partners
(www.mbopartners.com) on a deep dive research project on independent
workers - freelancers, contractors, temps, solopreneurs, etc.

The results of the first phase of the study (there’s a report and a
slide presentation) are at:  
http://info.mbopartners.com/mboindependentworkforceindex-2011.html

There's also a nice infographic at: 
http://info.mbopartners.com/whoaretheindependents

Some of the key findings include:

 - There are about 16 million US independent workers today and the
numbers will likely grow to over 20 million over the next 2 years.

 - Independent workers are satisfied:  58% of independent workers
stated that they are highly satisfied with their work situation.  Only
6% are highly dissatisfied.  36% were neutral.

 - Most chose independence:  55% of independent workers say it was
their proactive choice to become independent.  Relatively few (15%)
said it was entirely due to factors beyond their control (job loss,
etc.)

 - Most Plan on Staying Independent:  75% indicated that they will
continue working as an independent worker and/or grow and become an
employer business.  Only 19% of the respondents said they plan on
seeking a traditional job over the next 24 months.

 - The Rewards of Independence Come with Risks: While highly
satisfied, independent workers feel their path is riskier than
traditional employment and they are worried about their future.
Respondents were most concerned about a lack of predicable income
(56%), job pipeline worries (46%) and planning for retirement (46%).

This research relates back to coworking in several ways.  Obviously,
this is a large and growing potential market segment for coworking.
About half (48%) of this group works primarily from home and 21% of
the survey respondents listed social isolation as a problem with
working independently.

More broadly, while independent workers enjoy their freedom,
flexibility and control, they also are burdened by the
responsibilities of being on their own.  Coworking offers a way to
reduce some of those burdens for a modest cost.

We'll have more on the study - which is continuing - in the near
future.

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[Coworking] Re: Research on Independent Workers and Coworking

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Eli:  Our numbers on independents are lower than a lot of other
folks.  The reason is we excluded people working fewer than 15 hours
per week.  We did this because our research focus was on people who
derive a significant amount of their income from working independently
and/or those starting a new business or profession.

If you include part-timers who work, on average, less than 15 hours
per week as independents the total becomes roughly 33-35 million for
the U.S.  This is more inline with other sources, who tend to include
anyone who works at least 1 hour per week.

Steve

On Sep 19, 7:50 am, Eli Malinsky  wrote:
> Fantastic - thank you. We are often referring to a rise in the number
> of independentsturns out we weren't lying. very interesting
> results
>
> Eli Malinsky
> Centre for Social Innovation
> Toronto, Canada

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[Coworking] Re: Coworking to Quick-Start Rural Innovation

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Mark:

Good article.  Having grown up in a small town in Kansas, I like the
idea of coworking spreading to rural areas.  I'm looking forward to
seeing how the Radford space goes.  I also think the economic
development angle is quite interesting.

Keep us posted.

On Sep 19, 6:56 am, "Mark W. Kidd"  wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> Here is my piece on coworking (full article at the link). The Daily
> Yonder has a readership which writes about and works on economic
> development in many rural areas in the US. I think this will be the
> first time most of their audience has heard the term 'coworking,' and
> hopefully it will get folks interested.
>
> If any rural space owners or catalysts are interested in being contacted
> by that audience, I think it would only enrich the article for you two
> give a couple-sentence pitch for your space and its location in the
> comment area. Maybe it will be a chance to connect with someone who
> works in policy or funding in your region.
>
> --
>
> http://www.dailyyonder.com/how-coworking-can-work-small-towns/2011/08...
>
> *Coworking to Quick-Start Rural Innovation*
>
> In a new model for "the office," diverse groups, local business people,
> and drop-in workers share space, wifi and expertise. Why not in your town?
>
> By Mark W. Kidd
>
> When we arrive at CoCo, a year-old coworking space in St. Paul,
> Minnesota, about two dozen members are occupied at desks on the second
> and third floors; several other folks cluster by the kitchen, where
> coffee is fresh. This is where "the library meets the coffee shop," a
> phrase common in co-working literature, because the analogy fits.
>
> On our tour are leaders and advocates from Central Appalachia who are
> interested in applying the coworking model in rural areas. Also present
> is Carl Mitchell, President and CEO of Virginia Economic Bridge
> , which is adapting coworking at
> its new facility in Radford, Virginia, set to open fall 2011. This visit
> is an opportunity for Mitchell and fellow staff member Kimber Simmons to
> compare notes with their counterparts at CoCo.
>
> Coworking refers to a shared work environment and a set of community and
> cultural values that guide the development and operation of office
> space: facilities where freelancers, entrepreneurs, telecommuters, and
> drop-ins work side-by-side. The benefits of a coworking space come from
> allowing independent and startup ventures to bypass rote logistical
> obstacles, like obtaining office or workshop space, and from valuing a
> free-form collaborative environment for sharing resources, expertise,
> and ideas.
>
> Read more...
> 
>
> --
> Mark W. Kidd
> Roadside Theater - Thousand Kites - Appalshop
>
> 606-536-0115 (cell)
> roadside.org
> thousandkites.org
> appalshop.org

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[Coworking] Re: Coworking on CBS3

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

I'll ask them for a list of the stations that run the story.

Steve

On Apr 29, 6:24 pm, Suzi Edwards <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Give It Upp for Alex and Brad - yo yo yo
>
> I guess you can tell it's a syndicated piece because they don't
> actually mention Philly or where anyone is from. Would be cool to find
> out exactly what markets this got picked up in.
>
> Hey, why the heck can't we seem to get people to kill the hyphen in
> coworking? Geez.
>
> Suzi E
>
> ;)
>
> On Apr 29, 2:02 pm, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
>
>
>
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > The company that did this segment is a syndication company with about
> > 40 domestic TV stations as their customers.  They create several
> > editable versions of their story and then send them along with
> > supporting materials to all their customers.  The customers then
> > choose whether or not to run the story.  The service is designed to
> > make it look like the local TV station put the story together.   I was
> > told that generally speaking 20-30 stations run their average story.
>
> > Steve
>
> > On Apr 29, 8:30 am, "Alex Hillman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > wrote:
>
> > > Myself, a bunch of our members, and a sweet cameo from Brad showed up on
> > > CBS3 morning news today in a story about Coworking. Good clips, good 
> > > shots.
>
> > > We snagged the video and posted 
> > > it:http://www.viddler.com/explore/alexknowshtml/videos/40/
>
> > > This was part of a shoot that included a few other spaces (I believe 
> > > Sandbox
> > > Suites was one of them), and it's my understanding that other markets will
> > > utilize the same/similar footage. Let us know if you see this or a similar
> > > spot in your area!
>
> > > -Alex, IndyHall
>
> > > --
> > > --
> > > -
> > > --
> > > -
> > > Alex Hillman
> > > round(3)media new! ask me about it
> > > digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > visual:www.round3media.com|www.dangerouslyawesome.com
> > > local:www.indyhall.org- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
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[Coworking] Re: Coworking on CBS3

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

I talked to the Newspronet folks.  They are the company that produced
the coworking story.  They said they put together their usage reports
once per quarter, so it will be a while before they can tell us which
stations showed the story.  For a list of the stations that subscribe
to their service, go to:  
http://www.newspronet.com/npn/sweepsfeed/sweepsfeed.htm

Steve

On Apr 30, 12:30 pm, Julie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Good stuff.
>
> On Apr 29, 8:30 am, "Alex Hillman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Myself, a bunch of our members, and a sweet cameo from Brad showed up on
> > CBS3 morning news today in a story about Coworking. Good clips, good shots.
>
> > We snagged the video and posted 
> > it:http://www.viddler.com/explore/alexknowshtml/videos/40/
>
> > This was part of a shoot that included a few other spaces (I believe Sandbox
> > Suites was one of them), and it's my understanding that other markets will
> > utilize the same/similar footage. Let us know if you see this or a similar
> > spot in your area!
>
> > -Alex, IndyHall
>
> > --
> > --
> > -
> > --
> > -
> > Alex Hillman
> > round(3)media new! ask me about it
> > digital: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > visual:www.round3media.com|www.dangerouslyawesome.com
> > local:www.indyhall.org- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
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[Coworking] Coworking Mentioned in Key Trends List (sort of)

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

The DaVinci Institute's annual forecast trend list includes two
related to coworking.  One is an increasing number of single person
businesses.  The other is a trend they call "business colonies", which
sounds like coworking meets economic development meets clusters.  Key
quote:

"Colonies will form around shared resources. Equipment that is too
expensive for one person to own will be owned by the colony for all to
share. Colonies will vary in size and structure as communities begin
to experiment with the essential ingredients needed to make it
successful."

It is at:  http://www.davinciinstitute.com/page.php?ID=621

DaVinci can be a bit flakey, but their work is almost always
interesting and well thought out.

We did our trends list for small business, but did not mention
coworking:).  It is at:  
http://genylabs.typepad.com/small_biz_labs/2008/12/2009-top-10-small-business-trends.html

Steve


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[Coworking] Reuters on coworking in a recession

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Mentions Indy Hall, Imprompttu Studio, Citizen Space and Office
Nomads.  The article is at: 
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE51G49R20090217

Steve

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[Coworking] I'm Outta Here book review

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

I did a book review of the coworking book I'm Outta Here on the US
News and World Report website.  It is at:
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/outside-voices-small-business/2009/03/11/is-the-office-obsolete.html

The short version of the review is read the book if you are interested
in coworking.

Steve
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[Coworking] Coworking Study

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Hi:  My name is Steve King and I am a long time lurker and occasional
poster on this group:).  I'm a partner at a research firm - Emergent
Research (www.emergentresearch.com) - that focuses on the small
business sector of the US and global economy.

We've been following coworking for several years and are thinking it
might be time for a more formal study on this topic.  I'm curious to
see if the members of this group agree.

What we are thinking of is:

1.  A more in-depth look at the number of coworking facilities in the
US today.  We keep an informal count, but it is for directional
purposes only and probably not too accurate.

2.  A survey of coworking facility owners/managers focused on the size
and scope (number of facility users, how often they visit, etc.) of
the industry.

3.  Possibly a survey of coworking facility users to see what they
think.

4.  Interviews with both coworking facility owners/managers and
users.

5.  Possibly a forecast of where this heading.  We won't know if we
can do this until we are farther along.

If we go forward with this study, we would make our full results
publically available.

As you can tell, we are just starting to scope this study.  Some
questions I have for this group are:

1.  Would this be useful and would you be willing to fill out our
survey?

2.  Is anyone else already doing this?  No need to reinvent the
wheel.

3.  Do you have some suggestions as to what we might cover or include
in the survey/research?

Thanks for the help.

Steve

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[Coworking] Re: Coworking Study

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Thanks for the responses and emails.

Chris:  I wouldn't use "exhaustive" to describe our research plan, but
we try to do a good job:).  We would make as much of our data public
as possible.  We will likely do this work jointly with the non-profit
Society for New Communications Research (I'm a senior fellow there)
and will be bound by their disclosure rules.  Shouldn't be an issue,
but they have very strong rules around data privacy.

Ryan:  Thanks for the pointer.  Interesting study.  We've done a lot
of work on home-based businesses and remote work, and we've also seen
the growing role of "hidden tech."

Susan:  Thanks, will do.

Steve

On Feb 17, 10:17 am, Susan Evans  wrote:
> Hi Steve,
>
> Sounds interesting!  You might want to get in touch with the crew at
> La Cantine (www.lacantine.org), as they were working on a coworking
> survey and report as far as I know.
>
> Try contacting Dilara - she's at dil...@siliconsentier.org.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Susan
>
> On Feb 15, 10:29 am, "sk...@emergentresearch.com"
>
>
>
>  wrote:
> > Hi:  My name is Steve King and I am a long time lurker and occasional
> > poster on this group:).  I'm a partner at a research firm - Emergent
> > Research (www.emergentresearch.com) - that focuses on the small
> > business sector of the US and global economy.
>
> > We've been following coworking for several years and are thinking it
> > might be time for a more formal study on this topic.  I'm curious to
> > see if the members of this group agree.
>
> > What we are thinking of is:
>
> > 1.  A more in-depth look at the number of coworking facilities in the
> > US today.  We keep an informal count, but it is for directional
> > purposes only and probably not too accurate.
>
> > 2.  A survey of coworking facility owners/managers focused on the size
> > and scope (number of facility users, how often they visit, etc.) of
> > the industry.
>
> > 3.  Possibly a survey of coworking facility users to see what they
> > think.
>
> > 4.  Interviews with both coworking facility owners/managers and
> > users.
>
> > 5.  Possibly a forecast of where this heading.  We won't know if we
> > can do this until we are farther along.
>
> > If we go forward with this study, we would make our full results
> > publically available.
>
> > As you can tell, we are just starting to scope this study.  Some
> > questions I have for this group are:
>
> > 1.  Would this be useful and would you be willing to fill out our
> > survey?
>
> > 2.  Is anyone else already doing this?  No need to reinvent the
> > wheel.
>
> > 3.  Do you have some suggestions as to what we might cover or include
> > in the survey/research?
>
> > Thanks for the help.
>
> > Steve- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

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[Coworking] bioCurious - a biotech coworking space

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

The biotech Maker/Hacker space bioCurious opened last week in Silicon
Valley.  It's an interesting example of coworking expanding beyond
office spaces.

One of their selling points is members can "Make genetically-
engineered bacteria."   Seems like a great disaster movie plot.

Their blog does a nice job of describing the space:
http://biocurious.posterous.com/biocurious-meets-world-the-next-big-thing-to

Steve

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[Coworking] Voices of Coworking Video

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

The Voices of Coworking video was released today on the Intuit
Network.  The URL is: http://network.intuit.com/2011/10/26/voices-of-coworking/

The video was produced by us, Emergent Research, and based on a series
of interviews we did over the summer at SF Bay Area coworking
facilities.  In the 4+ minute video coworkers from Altamont Coworking,
The Hub SF, Mission*Social, Nextspace and Parisoma discuss why they
cowork, the benefits of coworking and where they see this new style of
work going in the future.

We conducted over 80 interviews with coworkers across the country and
filmed over 40 of them (for logistical reasons we only filmed in the
Bay Area).  The video is our synthesis of their views on coworking.

This is part of our ongoing research into coworking and the future of
work, which we are doing with our partners at Intuit.  The filming and
video production was done by our trusty band of summer interns
(college students).

Let us know what you think.

Steve

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[Coworking] Re: Regus says they are the world's largest provider of coworking space; and that they invented coworking 20 years ago...

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

The move by Regus to claim the coworking space validates the growing
power of coworking and the coworking movement.  It also shows how
mainstream coworking (or at least the term coworking) has become.
Regus wouldn't have done this unless they were seeing rapidly growing
interest in coworking.

Their pitch is an attempt to co-opt the term and redefine it to fit
their business goals and objectives.  Classic marketing move - right
out of the positioning 101 playbook.

I'm a bit surprised they claim to have invented coworking.  This seems
too easy to dispute and of limited marketing value.  I would have
stuck with "the world's largest coworking company."   That's more
defensible (even if it's wrong), and the more powerful claim.

The good news is this should increase the awareness of coworking,
especially in the corporate market where Regus plays.  It also
provides a differentiation opportunity for the real coworking spaces.


On Nov 7, 6:55 am, Ky Ekinci (Office Divvy ™) 
wrote:
> I chuckled when I read this press release by Regus today.
>
> http://www.marketwatch.com/story/coworking-revolution-regus-cites-ris...
>
> Obviously they realize that their existing business model will not
> sustain, and is now passé.  It is concerning though that they claim
> overnight that they are not only a coworking space provider but also a
> pioneers in the movement.
>
> Thoughts?

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[Coworking] Office Business Center Association International (OBCAI) LinkedIn Group

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

The OBCAI has a LinkedIn group.  You have to be approved to join, but
several coworking folks (Alex Hillman, Jean-Eves Huwart) are members.

There's several discussions on coworking and it's very interesting
seeing the POV of folks from the traditional business centers.  They
are looking at the shifts towards distributed, mobile and
collaborative work and trying to figure out what they mean for them.

On average they seem pretty well informed about coworking and
differences between what they offer versus coworking facilities.  And
while there seems to be differences in opinions about whether or not
business centers should offer coworking (they seem to prefer the term
"touch down space"), it's pretty clear a bunch of them are
experimenting with coworking and most of the others are at least
closely watching what is going on with coworking.

It's a good group and I learned a lot by reading through the
discussions.

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[Coworking] Re: Regus & Elance "partnership"

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Related, Coffee and Power (www.coffeeandpower) is an online
marketplace startup that allows people to buy and sell small jobs from
one another.  Part of their business plan is to create a chain of
coworking spaces (they call them "work clubs") that provide space for
the work to be done.

I don't know if Elance/Regus is responding to or inspired by Coffee
and Power (I'm seeing Elance next week and will ask), but it's
interesting to see more firms looking at the entire value chain of
independent work and trying to provide more pieces.

On Dec 3, 11:52 am, Jerome Chang  wrote:
> You know, I'm not sure I follow Alex's view. Do the community relationships 
> hinge upon people to hire each other? I thought the primary focus is to build 
> camaraderie and collaborate, but not necessarily hire each other. If an 
> Elance worker is making quick transactions with the 'outside' world, but 
> still making relationships with his desk neighbors, shouldn't that be good 
> enough, if not great?
>
> Elance is just a platform to get work. Not where you do work.
> To me, that's the difference.
>
> Jerome, from his iPhone =)
>
> On Dec 3, 2011, at 10:42 AM, Alex Hillman  
> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Thought exercise:
> > What would an Elance look like if it were more like coworking?
>
> > What would be different? How would it work?
>
> > -Alex
>
> > /ah
> > indyhall.org
> > coworking in philadelphia
>
> > On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 9:35 PM, Julie Scanlon  
> > wrote:
> > The people who use elance - the freelancers - are the community i am
> > thinking of, i should have specified.   The folks in my space are
> > sometimes veterans of elance.
> > Julie
> > 949.682.9141
>
> > On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 6:02 PM, Alex Hillman
> >  wrote:
> > > I'm not so sure. I'd say that the elance community isn't "our" community. 
> > > At
> > > least not Indy Hall's community. Maybe we're different.
>
> > > Elance, along with lots of its competitors, have built massive enterprises
> > > on the commoditization of freelance talent. Is there value in brokering
> > > quick transactions between freelancers and companies that need them?
> > > Absolutely.
>
> > > But this removes one of the differentiating factors that coworking was 
> > > built
> > > on repairing & supplementing: the relationships we have with the people we
> > > work with.
>
> > > Without that, it's the hiring transaction equivalent of desk rental
> > > businesses. Complimentary to the desk-rental and "quick fix" model that
> > > Regus is built on? Absolutely. But take a good hard look at the kinds of
> > > business transactions and collaborations that go on in your coworking 
> > > spaces
> > > and try to find why people enjoy it so much. It's because they're working
> > > with people they like, people they care about.
>
> > > I'm not anti-Elance, mind you. I'm also not anti-Regus. I just don't think
> > > they're a fit for the elements that have made coworking a new and 
> > > favorable
> > > option for droves of workers around the world.
>
> > > It's like this post, but for hiring instead of office space:
> > >http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2011/07/i-dont-think-were-solving-a-cub...
>
> > > -Alex
>
> > > /ah
> > > indyhall.org
> > > coworking in philadelphia
>
> > > On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 8:46 PM, Julie Scanlon 
> > > wrote:
>
> > >> Yes this is interesting, i posted the article on my fb page, the
> > >> elance community is our community. We should build a bridge.
>
> > >> Julie
> > >>www.collaboc.com
> > >> 949.682.9141
>
> > >> On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 11:37 PM, Will Bennis, Locus Workspace
> > >>  wrote:
> > >> > Just thought this was interesting. Not sure how a bottom-up coworking
> > >> > community could coordinate well enough to offer things like this (or
> > >> > whether they'd want to), but my sense is it would be nice if we could.
>
> > >> >https://www.elance.com/p/blog/2011/10/build-a-virtual-office-with-reg...
>
> > >> > --
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> > >> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
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> > >> >http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
>
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> > > For more op

[Coworking] Re: Journalist looking to interview travelling coworkers

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Dan:  I enjoyed your article.  Nice job.

On Feb 9, 7:16 am, Dan Haugen  wrote:
> Here's a link as promised to the article I wrote for GOOD. Thanks to
> those of you who helped me out with interviews/contacts, etc.
>
> http://www.good.is/post/how-big-business-are-using-coworking-spaces/
>
> Dan Haugen
> Freelance Journalist
> Minneapolis, MN
> PH: 612-217-1057
> d...@danhaugen.comhttp://danhaugen.com
> Twitter: @DanHaugen

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[Coworking] Re: Nonprofit status

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

The Wall Street Journal has a good summary of some of the new legal
structure options for socially oriented firms - LC3, B-Corps and
flexible purpose corps.  The article is at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203413304577088604063391944.html?mod=djemSB_t







On Feb 15, 1:04 pm, Niki  wrote:
> Are any of your centers nonprofit? Do you think it makes sense to be
> nonprofit as opposed to a private enterprise? I keep running into brick
> walls with my county and city because they see me as a private business
> entity and don't want to support the center. (This is a discussion we've
> been having in a different thread). I'm now wondering if the center would
> get more respect as a not-for-profit. I know I would be able to get grants
> and financial support not available to me at this point. Thoughts?
>
> Nancy
> Business Success Unlimited
> where we help business grow: connecting, motivating, and 
> collaboratingwww.success4biz.biz

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[Coworking] Regus Study on Flexible Work - Quite Interesting

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Regus released a study on Flexible Work.  You can track it down at
their blog: 
http://regusblog.tumblr.com/post/17546401989/five-mind-blowing-new-stats-about-flexible-working

Their "five mind blowing stats about flexible working" are:

 •72% of global businesses report increased productivity as a direct
result of flexible working practises
 •68% of firms said flexible work means staff generate more revenue
 •80% of company managers are expecting to see a surge in people going
part-time
 •64% of workers are more energized and motivated because of working
part-time
 •81% of firms now offer their staff alternatives to fixed office work

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[Coworking] Re: The Trouble with Open Source

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Eli:  This is an interesting and complex issue.  When we started
Emergent Research we decided to do open source research.  By that we
mean we try, as much as possible, to include 3rd parties in our
research process and release our work to the public.

We started doing this in 1999, well before applying open source
techniques beyond software development was common.  In fact, few
outside of the software developer community had even heard of open
source.  Over the years we've encountered the same issues and problems
you have.  We describe them as the "2 Rules of Content Creation":

Rule #1: Content will be borrowed by others.

Rule #2:  Content producers can't change rule #1.

We see our stuff on the web without attribution all the time.  If you
produce content - and especially digital content - it's going to get
borrowed.  It happens so much to us we don't bother with licenses or
copyrights, except when we release work jointly with a client (their
lawyers require it - but it doesn't stop the borrowing).

In most cases the borrowing of our content is quite innocent and often
the borrower builds on our work in some way.  This is good. In other
cases the borrowing is less positive.

We've learned to accept the borrowing and not worry about it.  We use
a "freemium" business model.  We give away a lot of work in hopes of
attracting a small subset of our audience to our for fee premium
services.  In our case, this has worked.

Others seem to agree - the number of analyst/research firms using some
form of "open source/freemium"  approaches has skyrocketed over the
last 5 years or so.  Even the historically secretive strategy
consulting firms (Bain, BCG, McKinsey) are using freemium approaches.

I think the key is figuring out your goals and objectives and whether
or not open sourcing your work fits.  If one of the key goals is
monetary, I suggest exploring the freemium/premium model.

If the goals are more around thought leadership and branding, I
suggest adding a PR program.  Your work is both excellent and topical
and I'm confident the press would be very receptive to you.  A PR
program would take little in terms of time and money and would brand
the information as yours.

BTW, while on the topic of borrowing, our 2 content rules are based on
the 2 rules of war mentioned in a MASH TV show.  These two rules are
#1 young men die in war; #2 doctors can't change rule #1.

Steve

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[Coworking] Re: Permission for video

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

We always get a release form from participants in our videos.  By this
I mean anyone who speaks or is featured in any way.  We don't get
releases from people who are randomly in the background.

We do this as more as a courtesy than for legal reasons.  But having
said that, our lawyer likes that we do it.

Steve
On Feb 25, 8:06 am, Niki  wrote:
> We're getting ready to do a video of Business Success Unlimited, it's rooms
> and participants in meetings, and members. My sister, who's a professional
> photographer tells me I have to have a release form in order to photograph
> or videotape these individuals -- getting them to say it's okay for me to
> use their images. My question, have any of you, when you've made a video,
> had your "stars" sign release forms or is it just understood? I want to put
> this video up on the website, on YouTube, and various media. I want to
> protect myself, BSU and those who are being taped. Thoughts?
>
> Thanks, Niki
> Collaborative Director and Connector
> Business Success Unlimitedhttp://success4biz.biz

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[Coworking] Re: Industry Specific Communities

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

While it depends on your definition of industry, based on our
definition there are a lot of industry specific coworking facilities.
 In SF area alone examples include The Hub (social entrepreneurs),
Writers Grotto (writers and media), Mission*Social (social
entrepreneurs), Biocurious (biosciences) and many others.

Also, many of the coworking spaces in the SF area are effectively tech
industry spaces.  It's just the nature of the bay area.  And
obviously, there are many vertical spaces elsewhere in the US and
world.  The rapid growth of collaborative kitchens across the US is
another example.

We see these spaces as industry mini-clusters.  Industrial clusters
are groups of similar or related firms in a defined geographic area
that share common markets, technologies and worker skill needs, and
which are often linked by buyer-seller relationships.  Firms and
workers in industry clusters benefit from the advantages that a shared
base of sophisticated, industry specific knowledge brings.

Silicon Valley in technology, New York in financial services and
Detroit in automobiles are famous examples of large clusters.  But
small industrial clusters are also common.  We think many of the
vertically oriented coworking spaces exhibit many of the same benefits
as industrial clusters.

We've done a lot of work looking at coworking spaces that serve social
entrepreneurs (we're hoping to get a paper out on this soon). We've
found that social entrepreneurs in spaces catering to social firms
collaborate more and report higher levels of business networking than
social entrepreneurs that are members of other types of coworking
spaces.  We think this is due to the cluster effect.
Having said that, we agree with Alex that diversity of skills,
backgrounds, views and opinions are important.  Clusters achieve this
by having a mix of participants from across the industry supply and
demand chains.  Large clusters also benefit from the diverse nature of
most broad industries.

Coworking facilities achieve this by having people from different
professions (designers, programmers, lawyers, etc.) and different
skill sets. This brings strong weak tie benefits (yet another paper
we're trying to finish).

But we also think vertical coworking spaces could, at least in some
cases, add additional value by bringing together people that are
diverse by profession/skill set, but serve the same broad industry.

Obviously, little work has been done on this topic.  A lot more needs
to be done before drawing strong conclusions.

Steve

On Mar 16, 1:11 pm, OC Houston  wrote:
> Does anyone have an industry specific coworking space? Or, does that
> defeat the purpose of the concept?
>
> Toni

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[Coworking] Coworking Moving Beyond Offices??

[sk...@emergentresearch.com]

Hi:

My name is Steve King and I do research on small business and small
business trends.  We're starting to see "coworking like" facilitities
cropping up outside of traditional office space environments.  Two
examples are:

1.  Techshop (http://techshop.ws) which provides workshops and
equipment for (from their website) "inventors, "makers", hackers,
tinkerers, artists, roboteers, families, entrepreneurs, youth groups,
FIRST robotic teams, arts and crafts enthusiasts, and anyone else who
wants to be able to make things that they dream up but don't have the
tools, space or skills."

2.  The National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (http://
www.nnin.org) which provides access to university nanotechnology labs
primarily to small businesses and start-ups, although big businesses
can also rent space.

There are other examples, but these two are pretty representative.  My
question to the group is do you see this happening??  Also, do you
think coworking concepts can be successful outside of office spaces??

Please let me know what you think.

Steve
www.smallbizlabs.com
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