ManIndyArena | Entrepreneurship in Indianapolis: Let's build a coworking space in Broad Ripple tomorrow. I'm kidding (kind of)
In 2008, a partner of mine and I briefly looked into commoditizing (sp?) meeting space. The thought was simple: graduate students, small business people, and philanthropists don’t have a defined space. For example, when you have a meeting with representatives from the IU Medical Center, you meet at their facilities on the IUPUI campus. On the other hand, if you have a meeting with representatives from the Hackers & Founders, a Starbucks or Einstein Bagel is all that’s available. Often a large amount of time is spent on the logistics of when and where rather than what and how.
We wanted to take a large warehouse and outfit it to be a commoditized meeting space. For a small monthly amount, you essentially get access to meeting rooms, workspaces, computers, design technology (think if you could pay a few bucks a month to use design and programming software rather than having to come out of pocket for the entire suite up front), server space, study rooms, and so on.
The mission we envisioned was simple: create the Starbucks for people who need the internet and the couch more than they need the $4 coffee. A Libertarians business incubator. A field that’s been tilled and ready for community farming…ok that analogy’s a stretch, but you get the point.
How wrong am I?
I think that’s all it would take to start a coworking space in Indy right now and I think time is a more important variable than quality of space or amenities.
Obviously the variable missing from this equation is people, but people don’t need funding. People are the…
