“It’s kind of like Executive Suites.” (Julie Gallaher of getonthemap.us)
Our business model and culture has always been to be a hybrid of ideas and to avoid leaving ourselves and the community we’re a part of in a pigeon hole. But when it comes to describing our services, people are always confused when we say, “Entrepreneurial Fueling Station.” Sounds cool, but what the heck does it mean?
Here are a couple of the points that describe an Entrepreneurial Fueling Station:
1.) Low cost business services such as copy, fax, print, mail handling, telephones, etc.
2.) Motivated interdependent community members, usually business oriented
3.) Collaboratively independent work stations and shared office space
4.) Comfortable and professional meeting spaces for both business and social settings
5.) Physically and Virtually interactive learning environment with fun and creative challenges
6.) Supportive environment for getting things done and learning new techniques
7.) Energized atmosphere for making the work day enjoyable
But even those points aren’t descriptive enough to delineate our concept. So then the next method is to point out what we’re similar to:
1.) Executive Suites and Office Business Centers
2.) Coworking Communities
3.) Commercial Real Estate
4.) Business Incubator
It’s a wonderful thing when people can work on independent projects in a community setting. I think there comes a point in an office setting when you just want to close the door so you can focus. At the same time, you don’t want to be in a dungeon. I suppose it’s all about finding balance for your work day.
I think the most important thing is the flexibility that comes with being in an environment that is both open and allows for privacy. While the environment should provide all of the typical business amenities; it should include as much concierge type services as possible to accommodate the needs of each community member.
The communities that we’re a part are expansive and we’re very fortunate that we can participate and provide services to more than just a 1 or 2 communities. From small business associations, start-ups, colleges, and community based organizations we’ve found some wonderful people to work with and call colleagues. We’re looking forwarding to meeting more groups, more associations, and seeing Sacramento grow!
Read More
Mike Sullivan
September 14th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
A group of CEOs was recently touring the coworking facility that I call my office (Awesome Inc. in Lexington, KY) and one of the CEOs touched on what you’re addressing here.
The guys who run this coworking place really focus a lot on the incubator side of the business so it’s confusing to a lot of people… So he suggested the retail concept of Aisle and Shelf. If this business was cereal, where would it be? It would be in the cereal aisle along with similar cereals (cocoa puffs with fruit loops; grape nuts with shredded wheat).
So, the guys here have been working on figuring out this location’s “aisle and shelf”. I would say it could be, “Affordable office space for working and networking” and “a place for startups to grow and get funded”.
Good luck! Keep up the good work.
admin
September 14th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Hi Mike!
Thanks for visiting our site. Getting any type of feedback is great for us. We met with some consultants from the local tech incubator (i.e. SARTA) and definitely learned a lot in terms of the idiosyncrasies that come with these models, i.e. Growth in the beginning vs. Sustainability with regards to things like office culture and cost. We learned about Gate 3 Work Club only a couple months ago, so we’re trying to learn from that as well.
I think sites like http://www.abetteroffice.com are great information resources for people to learn the different flavors or “brands” that are available.
We’re hoping that more Coworking / Incubators / Alternative office spaces continue to pop up in Sacramento because I think it’ll help us refine our brands with comparisons.
Thanks again for the support!