Ask HN: What would be your ideal co-working space? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What would be your ideal co-working space?

2 pointsdesertraven10 comments

I’m not a fan of co-working spaces. I prefer to work at home, by myself. I do like the idea of occasionally socialising with likeminded people though.

Have been considering what qualities a co-working space would have for me to use it. Just thought I’d extend the question here.

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It would be informal and cooperative, put together by people who liked and respected each other. It would not be run by a company trying to make money off of other people “coworking”.

I agree! How would you envision it being informal yet profitable?

Maybe open-sourcing the space to a degree. Transparently list revenue and costs, and cooperating to keep it running?

Any other thoughts?

Not over priced crap like WeWork.

I’m unsure what WeWork is. But good price obviously - any other qualities you’d like in such a space?

You should research WeWork before drawing any firm conclusions on this topic. They've spent enormous amounts of money experimenting with what people want in coworking space.

Thanks for the resource! I’d not have checked it out based on the previous commenter.

So they’ve got something that works, it’s just a bit pricey?

What do you think of open-sourcing a coworking space and being transparent about revenue/costs?

I don't know that WeWork works. They certainly don't make money. I'm not sure coworking space is a viable business at all. No one seems to have cracked it yet.

I think that good networking events have all the benefits of coworking with none of the drawbacks.

Most coworking spaces just end up being loud offices with not much community interaction anyway. Might as well do work in a true office and then network somewhere nice and social.

There are quite a few places that you can visit to see what you like. There are places like Spaces, which is a communal type of situation. And Regus is more of an individual offices which you can meet people in the lobby or in passing each other over time, just like any large company - you don't know everyone at first but you get to know them over time. Regus and Spaces are run by the same large company.

There are a lot of other companies, Premier and Barrister are multi location companies. But there are a lot of independent co-work spaces where I live in a large metro area.

I know after talking to a lot of different independent co-work company owners that you need to have a quite large space in order to make it economically viable.

I do think that if you prefer to work at home and only occasionally show up to a location, you're not really going to get to know anyone. Like in high school or university, you show up every single day and you talk to the same people every day, you develop relationships. If you only go in once every month, or every other week, or even every week, you're just not really going to do much socializing, because it might be a slow day when no one shows up, or are busy with projects, or a million other things. The way you meet people and socialize is to be there all the time and you meet up because you both have free time at the same time, or are in the mood to talk, or whatever. There is a lot of serendipity involved. One naturally gravitates and forms bonds with people they see every single day, rather than someone that comes in every month, or ever other week.

But to answer your question, I have been to dozens of different places, and I've talked to many, many people at them, too. And there's no simple answer. I love the current place I'm at, but I know people that just abhor it. And vice versa. Really, you have to just go to a bunch of different places and feel out which one seems best for you.

Under no circustances would I sign a one or two year lease agreement at first. I'd go month-to-month even if you pay more, in order to see how you like it.

I know 2 people at my current location who are stuck in a 2 year lease and no way to break it and hate the location. If you don't like the current place, you can leave and try out another one. When you find one that you like, then you can do a longer lease in order to save money. However, be advised that the company can change front desk staff and put in a surly asshole that you hate and will change the entire experience, or people you like can move out and new people you don't care for can move in, so that negates, the social part, if you sign a long-term lease agreement. You might love it for the first 4 months then it turns to hell for 8 months on a year's lease.

You really want to get into a big place, though, with lots of people there (or will be there in the future once the pandemic ends), because you get more chances to make friends. More people, more opportunities, statistically speaking.

I think that I'd go to a coffee house instead, if it is an occasional thing. I used to do that a lot, where I would go to a coffee house for 1 or 2 entire days a week, and there are always regulars there that I got to meet after I was there a long time - you start seeing the same people, they see you. Then we strike up conversations eventually.

But I'd check out Spaces, https://www.spacesworks.com/. They are part of Regus, and you can go to any Spaces you want, they are all over the USA and world. So you need to travel to Dallas, or Miami or any other large city, you can work there, rent an office there, rent a conference room there to meet clients and do presentations. That's what I'd recommend.

Thank you so much for this response. I really appreciate it. Much to digest.

On the point of coffee houses, do you just mean cafes? If not, what is a coffee house exactly?

Yes, I mean cafes.

There are many that I have gone to that I could hang out all day and use their internet all day for the price of a few cups of tea. Some will not like you there all day, but that's why you have to go exploring. Starbucks totally got rid of their outlets, so I never go to Starbucks - my charge on my laptop will only last an hour or two, whatever it is. So fuck Starbucks. There were a couple of great ones near me, but they both closed down due to covid, so that sucks.

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