Ask YC: Thinking of Launching Coworking in Silicon Valley, with a twist
Myself (Publictivity) + Roommate (uStream) are thinking of starting a coworking space using extra space in our house (it's a three story townhouse) in Palo Alto. We're thinking of turning the living area + garage into a coworking space for hackers, entrepreneurs,etc. in the next month. Thoughts?
a) it's our place, so different than most coworking. b) we've never done this before. what are the downfalls. c) most coworking spaces are open. were thinking of at least making sure we meet people online or in person before they drop by? d) what would make it interesting to you?
ps- if interested in more email me: jason [at] publictivity [dot] com
6 comments
[ 6.7 ms ] story [ 21.1 ms ] thread1) I think it'd be most interesting if you let random people drop by whenever they want. Before letting them in, ask them what their deal is and determine whether or not they pass your coolness test.
2) Have extra desks, chairs, power cords ready for us to ravage.
3) Stock up on food/booze and/or require your guests to contribute.
Good luck!
1) yeah, i think well do that. the people it attract will most likely be in line with our thinking.
2) power cords- check desks- were gonna get a good amount of "daves" from ikea chairs- we have a ton of extra chairs in the living room now. like comfy leather ones
3) when do we not have booze? food, gets ravaged by Mazy or certain other guests cough cough ;-)
I think I would have trouble saying to someone's face that they're not welcome.
I invite you to check out what's been going down at Boston's awesome coworking space Betahouse. Check out how they structure their areas (look on Flickr, etc. for pictures.)
Also, a shameless plug: Poolify might be a worthy addition to this. It's wifi based social networking. http://poolify.com (DanGrover and I hacked this together in a weekend, so it's rough and was only to mess around with the technology - definitely working on expanding it.)