Just for fun, My 2 cents, Startups, Think about it, Uncategorized
10 Comments Want to rent a desk in a co-op work space?
Renting offices is expensive, and often problematic. You have to tie yourself in to a lease, pay a deposit and ensure that your business is viable enough at all times to support it: there is very little flexibility. Which is why, I guess, the concept of sharing office space has taken off hugely in the US. There is a whole culture around it, and there are many permutations of the same offering.
The gist of it is that instead of tying yourself to a long lease, you simply rent a space for a desk in a big office, and share it with others who are there under the same arrangement. The advantages are obvious:
- You pay only for the space you use
- You share the office with other cool people
- You are not tied to a lease
- You can add space as you can afford it (if your team grows, for instance)
- You often get the benefits of a receptionist, and business equipment
- You have access to good bandwidth, that you for per usage
You can explore the world of coworking by following the links from this excellent wiki on the subject
Well… Gareth Knight, Brett Haggard and myself would like to arrange a space like that for web workers in Joburg. We still have to finalise details, but the space would probably be in the Rivonia/Sandton area, and would cost about R1000 – R1500 per desk, per month. There wouldn’t be a lease, and I’m sure there would be some sort of crowd law that would ensure that everyone is creating a fun atmosphere, that is conducive to producing good work.
Gareth is going to be running a start up, Brett will run Hypertext Media (custom magazine publishing) and I will play around with some new ventures that I am starting soon.
We are trying to gauge the interest of others who would want to participate, so that we know how big a space we need to find. If you are a freelancer, work from home or runs a small company and want to save on office rent and mix with a cool crowd of people, get in touch with us. You can email me at eved AT ideabank.co.za or leave a comment below. There is no obligation, but please only express interest if this is genuinely something you would want to do. Let us know how many people you would be bringing with you, and if you have a finite time for which you need the space.
We would probably get this going from January or February.
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