CoWorking… Have You Heard of It?
Over the past year or so, I’ve been hearing the term “coworking” more and more frequently. I haven’t really paid attention to the term until recently when Noel Hidalgo, a highly motivated and astute NY’er (who I’ve had the fortune of playing dodgeball with) talked about it at a recent event and for whatever reason, resonated with me deeply. Recently, Nate Westheimer has come up with a concept called Cafe Bricolage as well, which is in the same vein as co-working.
What is Coworking?
Coworking is a movement to create a community of cafe-like collaboration spaces for developers, writers and independents.
As an early stage entrepreneur, it’s not always beneficial to code in a closet, or to write your business plan in a vacuum. There are many reasons why conversing with like minded individuals can be extremely helpful to your project. Coworking essentially brings people together and allows them to work on their projects in a communal atmosphere. It can be as laid back or as uptight as you want to make it, but generally, there is a social component to whatever you’re trying to accomplish when you’re in a coworking environment.
After IGA Worldwide took it’s seed funding, we moved into Sunshine Suites, down at 419 Lafayette. The floor plan was cubicles with high walls, but the atmosphere was very social and they mixed like minded individuals and companies together. This fostered even further creativity amongst the companies and allowed us to share resources with each other. I never had thought of Sunshine Suites as a coworking facility but now that I understand the underlying meaning, it certainly is.
I am not the only person being educated on coworking. BusinessWeek just ran a story on coworking and showed many different alternative workspaces across the country. There is also a coworking wiki here.
If you’re interested in the coworking model, you might want to check out Cafe Bricolage which is an upcoming movement and potential entrant into the market in the NY scene.
What is cafeBricolage?
cafeBricolage is a concept for a cooperative community cafe, run by a diverse group of freelancers or small teams who use each other and their community as resources while making themselves a valuable resource for others
Would love to hear other people’s experiences with coworking… feel free to share.
(a video of Noel Hidalgo explaining coworking)