Co-Working: Please Build This Space...

Are his kids really that loud? Why doesn't sound proof his office and discipline his kids for being too noisy. (I'm sure this would please his neighbours as well).

I feel like this idea is best executed with a co-op instead of a profit model. That's honestly how I feel about most co-working spaces. I don't really want to work somewhere where I don't have a say in who's there (if I'm paying the rent).. unless it's an 'executive suite'

I can tell you that what makes coworking magical is it's ability to connect people and create friendships that would otherwise not happen.<p>Coworking's weakness is the landlord business model is extremely low margin. In the suggested model in the article, $400 per member X 20 members = $8,000 per month. Now consider the rent of a warehouse downtown, utilities, paying someone to run the place, and buildout. It's a quick way to go out of business.<p>Now, if the coworking space is run as a loss leader for another business, that's another story.<p>At Conjunctured our other business is happy hours at Rio Rita's. We haven't found out how to make that profitable yet, but we're gonna' keep trying by god! :p<p>-Conjunctured Co-Founder

There's a great space in Santa Monica called CoLoft (<a href="http://www.coloft.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.coloft.com</a>) that sounds like exactly what you want. Startup weekend was just hosted here this past Saturday.<p>If anyone is in the area stop by; I've been working here for around 3 weeks and it's been great. Definitely a lot more productive than at home, and the environment, people, and networking is great. Has two conference rooms, a "kitchen area", free organic coffee...

I <i>love</i> the idea, but I'd be surprised if nice space like that can be built in Austin, for $300-$400/month, with room for profit.<p>&#60;Brainstorming&#62;<p>Do you have a garage? (Or, could you build another?)<p>Amortizing your monthly allowance, you could put some cash into the garage, and you're improving something you own.

This looks like the same idea as the hub:<p><a href="http://kingscross.the-hub.net" rel="nofollow">http://kingscross.the-hub.net</a><p>It's a little more expensive, but that's London for you...

The only thing that makes the coworking model work is the community ties. That's also what makes it better than executive suites.<p>This guy just wants a cave, but a cave outside of his home.<p>That's not coworking, that's desk rentals.