Boston’s Startups Need Office Space - Let’s Talk
I just had a conversation with Brian Shaw from the excellent BYE company Social Boston Sports. Among other topics, we discussed the pressing need that startups in Boston have for office space. As Brian said, you can only work in your living room for so long before going insane.
Brian’s been looking at all kinds of options, from striking out on his own with his SBS co-founder Justin Obey to joining up with 2 or 3 or 4 other companies from BYE to lease a bigger space. There are some issues with both approaches and Brian hasn’t been able to figure out the best way to navigate them.
So, I’d like to throw it out there for the BYE community to respond with your thoughts.
First, have you had success finding space as a startup? Where and how? What are some options out there?
Second, would you be open to co-leasing with another BYE company in order to get space?
Third, do you have any outside the box ideas about how we, as a community of entrepreneurs can solve this problem?
And last, since BYE is part of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, do you have any outside the box ideas for what the City of Boston could do to support you?
Please use the comments thread as a discussion forum for startup space related thoughts.
betahouse: http://betahouse.org/
Jake and I have talked about this quite a bit. One of the factors that could make Boston more appealing for young entrepreneurs is access to a co-working space that was geared toward us and cheap in the city living space. I like to think of it as a bachelor pad first where we just happen to do our work.
The issue however is how to monetize…
One idea that Jake and I have been talking about is a start-up hostel or e-dorm (as Tim Rowe coined it when I met with him). The idea would be to take a building that had 2-3 floors. The first floor was a huge co-working space, free and open to all young entrepreneurs in Boston. The upper two floors were rooms for rent (two to a room style like at a college or hostel).
The point being, entrepreneurs in my eye will only pay for two things, rent and food. I don’t think we would want to create another venture cafe because for this demo I don’t think it’s sustainable. However if we could pull of a BRA experimental space for a year, charge subsidized living cost for people just out of school working on a start-up, that would kill two birds with one stone.
Now kids who couldn’t afford to live in the city can afford it and can now reap all the resources have here and Boston now has a space where we can go and work.
Anyway, it’s the start of an idea, we just need someone to execute…
Thoughts??? Devin, how do we make this happen?
check out house2.0 in new york. not quite what youre looking to do, but they have an interesting model: http://www.amitgupta.com/house2.0/
There are actually quite a few coworking spaces out there. Greenhorn Connect lists them here: http://greenhornconnect.com/resources/general/category/11
Now the problem is that most of these are out of reach for most young entrepreneurs for one of a few reasons:
1) It’s not available yet (Venture Cafe isn’t finished, not all Geek Offices are open)
2) Some are very selective in who can use the space (Dog Patch Labs)
3) Too expensive. (most of us can’t afford much. The best I’ve seen is $15/day, $150/mo from Workbar).
So that likely leaves us to the tough discussion Devin opened and Cort started running with.
Ashkan and I have had similar conversations to Jake and Cort’s. The problem lies in covering costs. Real estate is massively expensive in the city and where it’s not…you probably don’t want to be launching your business there. There’s also a question of productivity; I have a nice desktop setup with dual monitors in my apartment, but a really terrible laptop. Unless I could have that set up with me, I’d lose what productivity I’d gain by being out of my bedroom.
This is a tough question, but I think one potential solution is more incubator programs (http://greenhornconnect.com/resources/general/category/6) Almost all of them provide office space and more importantly mentorship. Creating an e-dorm could be cool and have great collaboration opportunities, but to maximize the potential, there would need to be a senior set of entrepreneurs to be around to help at least sometimes.
So where could the funding gap be filled in?
1) Can the city help find us space at a better rate?
2) Would any well off entrepreneurs be willing to sponsor the site? (and potentially volunteer some mentoring time)
3) Could we create a scholarship/sponsorship program where an entrepreneur/investor or two would sponsor your business to get you so you can at least live off ramen for 6 months to get something off the ground? (Big question would then be who decides who is worthy?)
4) Creation of a new type of investment? (I’m not a fan of this, but it’s worth sharing: http://emergentfool.com/2009/10/30/investing-in-superstars/)
These are some tough questions, but creating an ecosystem like that could really start a fire in the community.
I’m definitely interested in where this conversation could go…
-Jason
My big issue is I have no need/desire for dedicated office space. I would like a place I can pop into every now and then and have meetings and just have people to interact with and bounce ideas off of, but I really don’t need a place I can to 5 days a week.
Basically, I need a freelance version of office space rent.
I already have a similar setup with the excellent BzzAgent, where twice a week I can pop into their offices and get a desk to myself, but it’d be better if it was a space filled with other entrepreneurs.
I like Cort’s idea of a dorm-office hybrid. I think that’s one of everyone’s favorite parts about dorm life is the community that develops (at least on the good floors).
Still, I’d probably pass. But if someone had something almost akin to a day pass or a pay as you go type of setup (like prepaid cell phones, where you pay $200 a month and get $200 worth of office space time) would be awesome.
Having talked to other people in my shoes (small teams/freelancers), we really just want a place to escape the day to day of working from home, a place we can go when the home office is too distracting or frustrating and work and interact with similar folks.
Maybe a hybrid of Cort’s idea with a freelance lounge added in?
Adam,
There are places that have that. Geek Offices has that feature as does Workbar’s “gym” style membership.
See: http://greenhornconnect.com/resources/general/category/11
-Jason
What is the Venture Cafe? Anyone have a link to more info?
Venture Cafe on Greenhorn Connect: http://greenhornconnect.com/resources/general/venture-cafe
Guys, I can’t recommend Geek Offices highly enough. I’ve been in there for over a month now and it has been great for my team to finally get in a space. John Smith, who runs it (in Inman Square) has been awesome and has fulfilled almost all my (mostly bazaar) requests (including working to get a ping pong table in there!). It is insanely cheap (you won’t find anything cheaper unless it’s free) and you’d get to hang out with me all day.
If you are at all interested or have any questions feel free to get in touch with me jeremy [at] starstreetsports.com or contact John directly - (617) 823-6400 - or johnsmith [at] geekoffices.com.
-Jeremy
So from a lot of the other entrepreneurs that I’ve spoken with out there, it seems like what everyone needs is something similar to workbar but without the prices associated. For instance, $400 for a dedicated “desk”, is just over the price range that we are comfortable with. I have looked into a lot of the available shared office space, and none of it has worked for my needs or the needs for a lot of other entrepreneurs in Boston… hence why we all still need space.
It seems like everyone has different demands on what type of space they want (dedicated vs occasional), but can all agree on the other factors. Factors like low price, proximity to Boston and public transportation, working in/around other entrepreneurs, etc. Devin and I feel like this can definitely be accomplished somehow in the city. We’ve discussed the possibilities of city-owned office space to lease out as well as starting some sort of city policy (similar to affordable housing policy).
We’ll keep everyone posted as we move forward with ideas.
Hi,
I have 20,000 of office/warehouse/r&d space in various configuration located near the Manchester airport (about 1 hour from Boston).
I would consider taking equity in a company in lieu of cash for rent.
gkurzon@fundascientist.com
The only place in Boston where young entrepreneurs can find workspace and mentorship (by “incredibly seasoned, successful entrepreneur”, according to Maria Cirino of .406 Ventures) at an affordable price is the new Venture Development Center at UMass Boston, on the Red Line. Check it out: http://www.umb.edu/vdc/entry_workspace/workspace.