Making good progress on coworking

We’ve been pushing pretty hard with the new coworking spot in downtown Grand Rapids (The Factory). We have a lease in hand that just needs to be signed, some awesome furniture that’s about to be ordered and a planed opening day target of November 2nd.

We’re going to start out in 1,800sq/ft of space that should seat 25 people rather comfortably in a mix of regular desk seating, high top tables and sofas, chairs and other “soft” seating.

I’m really amazed at how quickly things have started to come together, now it’s just getting everything in and organized and getting the word out.

Check out workthefactory.com for more info on coworking, and we’ll be launching a new site soon and stay tuned to twitter.com/coFactory

Startup In Grand Rapids

A great conversation pop’ed up in the office the other day about the how we feel like there’s a wave effort and ambition forming around the startup, tech and design scenes in Grand Rapids. Rumblings of sorts powered by enthusiasm and commonality around the idea that the best way to fix our city and state is for each of us to do our part, whatever that may be.

This past week saw a great effort put forth by some incredible people:

Monday brought a kickoff meeting for the organizers of the Grand Rapids Give Camp, a weekend based event aimed at helping out local nonprofits. The event brings together a group of volunteer designers and developers over a weekend to build some sort of application for nonprofits.

Tuesday brought the first meetup around opening a Grand Rapids coworking space. The goal of the space is to bring together the local network of entrepreneurs, engineers, designers and thinkers and give them a place to work, mingle  and help grow entrepreneurship and business.

Wednesday brought two events. The first being a weekly dinner for the startups participating in the Momentum project. I’ve been fortunate enough to be a mentor for these companies and am always excited after these dinners. The invigorating dinner conversation was provided by Dug Song and Zach Steindler from Ann Arbor. Dug and Zach are playing a pivotal role in helping Ann Arbor continue to grow into a neat and stronger community.

The second event was the first meeting of the Grand Rapids Startup Weekend, an event meant to bring together a group of people to think up, develop and design a new company over the course of a weekend.  Even if a company doesn’t make it two days past the event, its still a great time and good exercise to get together with super creative people and learn more about starting businesses.

Events like these are just the little supporting artifacts that there’s something of a ground swell here in Grand Rapids. We have the people with the passion to help GR grow into something new.

Coworking meetup

Next week Tuesday, the 30th we’re having a quick meeting for those that are interested in a coworking space in Grand Rapids. Come join us at HopCat at 6pm to talk with other interested people, discuss what we all want in a space and see what kind of community we can build.

Grand Rapids coworking in the works

UPDATE: please see workthefactory.com for details on The Factory

A lot of talk is going on around town about opening a coworking space in downtown Grand Rapids. I’ve been having great conversations with a bunch of people, pulling together some numbers and things are looking good. People really seem to be excited about the potential of having a space that’s driven to help independnt workers and provide a unique creative enviroment.

In the next couple of weeks I want to meetup with people that are intrested in the community around a coworking space. We need to start thinking about what a coworking space in Grand Rapids should offer, where it should be and how big it really needs to be.

I’m thinking just an informal night, maybe at HopCat or another great local eatery to discuss some of these points and see where it all leads.

Let me know if you’re intrested by contacting me on twitter or leaving a comment here on my blog.

Measuring the Success of a Coworking Community

A great set of goals that are universally applicable to anyone looking to bootstrap a coworking community for themselves:

• People would rather come into the coworking space than work at home, even when they have no work to do.
• Successful residents will eventually outgrow the community and need to move out.
• Corporate workers will use the space to jump from being employees to entrepreneurs.
• New businesses are formed based on relationships between residents.
• Residents become evangelists for the space.
• The space becomes a catalyst for other social groups and clubs.
• There is diversity in the range of professions and disciplines practiced by residents.

Via Webworker Daily