People in the coworking community know and love the “myth of the founding fathers”, a bunch of coders in California who created the first coworking space around 2005.

If you go to coworking conference, you’re likely to hear names like Brad Neuberg, Tara Hunt and Chris Messina.

And, of course, a reference to the Wikipedia page on “coworking”.

A few days ago, though, the person who invented coworking, declared that he had found several inaccuracies on that page.

First of all, Brad writes, he is the one who invented coworking.

Then Tara Hunt e Chris Messina came along to help him, and they worked as a team to share knowledge about coworking, by creating a Coworking Wiki and Coworking Google Group. They also filmed the presentation video that you can find below (with over 10 thousand  views on YouTube).

Brad also said that Bernie De Koven has nothing to do with coworking, apart from owning the coworking.com domain for some time.

The first coworking space was The Spiral Muse (and not The Hat Factory): Brad used to open it twice a week, thanks to the financial support of his father. The space remained open for about a year.

So, now that our founding father Brad Neuburg set the record straight… we need someone to fix the Wikipedia Coworking page accordingly, don’t we!

L’articolo The true story of coworking, according to the guy that started it. And the inaccuracies of Wikipedia on Coworking. sembra essere il primo su Coworking Project by Cowo®.

Many good news from the coworking front in Italy.

First of all, after a year of Cowo (that’s the name/logo we adopted for our [email protected]monkeybusiness) we decided to give start to an idea we’d had in mind for some time.

I’m talking about a network project addressed to all the people actually in the position to open up their space to the coworking community. This includes architects, creative agencies, media offices, small companies, real estate agencies… to these people we proposed “to make a little money with that couple of desks lying in the back of your office under a layer of dust”.

And it’s working.

Our project, called Coworking Project, has been published on the Internet for about two months now, and it already led to the opening of 4 more spaces, which is definitely a success for the budget involved (zero euros, plus an awful amount of hours on my side).

That means Cowo spaces are now five, four in Milano and one in Rome, plus one more (it’s already in, but not published on the website yet), in Genoa. So that makes six spaces.

We are really excited about this contribution to the coworking movement, and also enjoy the experiment of creating a community not only between coworkers, but among coworking space owners, too.

Media coverage on this has been impressive, at least for our standards.

No. 1 Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera” has included CoworkingProject in a recent magazine article about the 45 anti-crisis ideas (leading our blog visits to an astonishing +600 in one day); Tv news of Lombardy Region has dedicated a two-minute coverage to our project; and last, this week we’ve had the incredible experience of seeing the word “coworking” on the cover of superpopular fashion magazine “D di Repubblica”, printed and distributed nationwide in +700,000 copies. Unbelievable!

A nice, in-depth article of six pages is to be found inside the magazine. (For whoever is interested in reading the article – it’s in Italian, but it does have beautiful, stylish photos – here you can find links and a downloadable pdf.

I enclose the cover and one of the inside pages (where you can see our logo and, well, my face) to prove that… miracles can happen.

[Oh, I almost forgot to mention that we also created a social network for nomad workers on Ning, called NomadWork. Everybody interested in nomadic workstyles is invited to join. People from Italy, France, Switzerland and Usa already have. It’s basically a bilingual place, English-Italian, this way we try to keep the conversation open].

Hey Y’all,

Hope you’ll get a minute to check out my latest post at LaunchPad Coworking. 

I interviewed our architect and there are some sketches of some of his great ideas for our space.

Here is a direct link to our architectural drawings. 

[this post was edited to include a direct link to drawings.] 

Thanks,

spike

LaunchPad Coworking
Austin, TX 

Hey Y’all,This is a reminder that LaunchPad Coworking is hosting a MeetUp during SXSWi in March. It’s getting close. We’ve had a lot of RSVPs. Would love to see you there. Also, I’ll be interviewing people so I can post those interviews at our website, www.launchpadcoworking.com. So if you’re interested, please do come by and say hi and chat with me for a bit. Here are meetup details– feel free to email me with any questions: 

Coworking Meetup on March 7 at the fabulous Hotel San Jose in South Austin.

The party starts at 7 p.m. 

If you haven’t RSVPed yet, check us out at [LINK: http://freelance.meetup.com/65/]

Details:

Friday, Mar 7, 2008, 7:00 PM

Hotel San Jose

1316 S. Congress Austin

Austin, TX 78704

512.444.7322

 

Y’all– after looking at a number of options, we found the perfect place and signed a lease. LaunchPad Coworking opens this summer. Meanwhile, we were more than a little happy to release the following announcement:

Julie Gomoll
LaunchPad Coworking

[email protected]
press kit: http://launchpadcoworking.com/press

Released: AUSTIN, TEXAS, February 11, 2008

You’ve been asking — Is LaunchPad Coworking real? Where is it located? How can I find it? When can I start coworking in Austin already?

We are more than a little happy to announce that after months of searching and planning, we have inked a lease, and it’s in the perfect location.

Ladies and gentlemen, telecommuters and mobile workers, creatives and visionaries of all disciplines … Welcome to LaunchPad Coworking. One small step for knowledge workers, one giant leap for coworking in Austin.

LaunchPad Coworking will open this summer in Brazos Place, a fabulous multiuse building at 800 Brazos Street. More specifically: 30.27 longitude, –97.74 latitude. Put that in your geodata pipe and smoke it.

Why are we so happy with these digs?

• We’re in the heart of downtown Austin.
• We have 4200 square feet of space to play with. Plus a spacious mixed-use lobby.
• Murray Legge of LZT Architects is designing the space.
• We have great neighbors: Baby Greens and Anthony Nak.
• We’re right across from a UPS store.
• The Omni is within spitting distance.
• The Paramount Theater is around the corner.
• There’s tons of public parking, metered parking, and Brazos Place has valet parking.
• And of course: bike racks.
• We’re bringing fiber-optic connectivity right to the desk! Talk about fast and secure.

We hope our new lease will become your new lease on a non-isolating work life. Can’t wait to work with you.

About LaunchPad Coworking

LaunchPad Coworking is a unique combination of workspace and cafe where mobile workers work together, collaboratively or privately, with meeting rooms and individual desks available by the hour, ergonomic chairs, ample power outlets, and secure fiberoptic internet access. The coworking model encourages the free flow of projects and ideas, with the belief that when we work together, we work smarter.

###

 

Hi Again from Austin,
So excited that coworking will be repped at SXSW. I’ve been attending and participating in the festival since 1993ish and have paneled a few times, including the first year they offered an interactive component. For those of you attending, please do give us all a shout when you’re getting ready to come down. I might even be able to help with housing which is a scarcity when five billion people descend upon this city in March.

My latest post at is regarding setting policy prior to opening to try to make the place what we’d like it to be from the get-go. Specifically, we’re addressing the issue of a no-baby-policy, not to be exclusive in a mean-spirited way, but to keep the sound level appropriate for coworkers. Please take a minute to post your thoughts on the subject when you get a chance.
thanks,
Spike
www.launchpadcoworking.com

Howdy,
Spike Gillespie here. I’m the blogger for Launchpad Coworking. Launchpad Coworking is a (co)work in progress. We hope to open our space this summer. Currently we’re planning the space, meeting other coworkers, and checking out how other people around North America are interpreting coworking. I’d love feedback and input from y’all so please check out the blog and let me know your experience with coworking.
Thanks,
spike

Click To Play

after helping fortify the idea of coworking in NYC, i’ve set forth to travel the world and meet fellow coworkers. here’s just a few minutes with christopher aguiton, one of the Parisian coworking/barcamp leaders.

if you have a chance, also check out my interview with two freelancers in berlin.

     June was a very busy month.!  It was great meeting folks and their families at the BBQ on Saturday.  For those of you who couldn’t make it, here is an update of what is going on at Office Nomads.

Office Nomads LLC

I just finished up all the paperwork to bring into existence OfficeNomads LLC and we even have a bank account!  Of course we don’t have any money, but we are working on that too.  Special thanks to Julia Youngs, our lawyer, for doing all the heavy lifting.  Also thanks toBizNik for helping me find her.  Now we need a CPA.

The Space

We are moving forward with the Ballard location.  I talked with the building owner last week and I think she liked me.  We haven’t enteredinto official negotiations but I’m hoping that happens in the nextweek or two.  There is 7500sqft and 5-8 conference/meeting rooms.  I’m shooting to have spaces for 50 and an average daily attendance of30-40.

 http://www.officenomads.com/space1/

Pricing Structure

We’ve scrutinized all the different pricing plans of all the different coworking spaces and balancing them with the advice we’ve been getting, and our understanding of what will work best for the indie business crowd.  We are shooting for simple, yet flexible and came upwith three pricing plans.  All three are month-to-month (with deposit)and come with an electronic key so you can pick your own hours.  Each plan includes network access, printing and will have an allowance for conference room time.

Plans: 

1. $450 = Unlimited use  – permanent desk
2. $250 = 3-5 days/week – any available space
3. $100 = 1-2 days/week – any available space

Financing Options

I talked to Ruby and Colleen over at Salmon Bay Community Lending and was VERY impressed and happy they are going to help me get the fundsneeded to get this thing started.  The fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to get the money is going to be to use the equity in my house.  We estimate we’ll need about $50k in startup costs and another $50-80k to keep the lights on while we ramp up to capacity.  There are other options available for rounding up $130k and we will see what is in place when the time comes to write the checks.

Timeline & Build-out

If things go smoothly we could take possession of the space in August or September.  We are hoping to only take a month to do the majorityof the build-out.  We need to rip out the false ceiling, replace the lighting, and maybe expose some of the pine floor.  We also need tosling some paint around and start collecting furniture.

WE NEED HELP!  There is a lot to do and need some elbow greasedonations.  Got an eye for design and decorating?  Good with a hammer? Know a good electrician or where to get a good deal on lighting oroffice furniture?  And if anyone is extra eager to get into the spacewe can setup some desks in an undisturbed corner.  Most work is goingto be done after official business hours.  Of course we won’t chargeuntil the doors officially open.

So who’s in?

That’s the big question!  I’ve seen a lot of excitement, and now Ineed to know who’s with me.  You’ve seen the price points, you’ve seenthe space.  If we opened our doors in September, or October, who wouldsign up and which plan would you choose?  If you are on the fence,what is it keeping you from making the jump?