Why a space is so important?
Long before buying our building at 151 Spring Street we debated the value of how a building supports the startup community in Atlanta. By now the initial concept of coworking has been proven by large & thriving collaborative work spaces. They proved that there is a great deal of demand for spaces that are extremely flexible with pricing (eg pay-by-the-desk), lease terms (eg month-to-month) and general amenities (eg shared conference rooms). While this major shift in the overall real estate industry was important in supporting startup ecosystems across the country, at Switchyards we believe what we can build on top of coworking is what’s even more valuable to startups.
We also can’t ignore the strengths and weaknesses of Atlanta, our home. Besides the fact that most of Atlanta centers around very large companies, the startup ecosystem doesn’t focus much on how to create strong product & design-focused consumer companies.
With all of this in mind, here’s why we started with a building…
1. Startup density
In startup hubs like Dumbo in NYC or The Mission in SF, there’s less of a need to pull together startup folks, but outside of those small pockets of the country it’s important to have entrepreneurs with new ideas in the same place for a few reasons. First, there’s value in being around like-minded people for morale reasons. Starting a new venture is psychologically difficult, so emotional support — during good times & bad — is important. Second, there’s value in general learning from each other to help the whole community (see first video here). Finally, there’s value in sharing startup-up-specific services amongst companies like legal, accounting and recruiting. Just thirty days into ATV and David Cummings was experiencing the true value of startup density.
“People share, people connect, and people are able to accomplish more faster with the help of others.” — David Cummings, serial entrepreneur
2. Domain expertise
It’s related to startup density, but is worth its own mention. Typical coworking space is increasingly becoming commoditized. Over the next few years, the real value to colocation will be much more than just space and general knowledge sharing. As Switchyards is doing with its focus on product/consumer/design, buildings will be the center of gravity for various domain areas. How do you develop your product? How do you acquire users? Who do you recruit? The keys to launching and scaling new B2C businesses aren’t the same as B2B or big-data companies (for example) and many times this type of focus and pattern recognition is the difference between one idea taking hold and another stalling.
“One of the core beliefs in Silicon Valley is that if something is not your core focus, someone who makes it their core focus will beat you.” — Michael Carney, PandoDaily
3. Ingredients
Besides the founders (who have the initial passion & idea), there are many other necessary ingredients for early-stage success. In cities like Atlanta those ingredients often aren’t aware of each other, so too much time and effort is spent pulling them together in the beginning. How to develop your brand? How to get your first app coded? How do you meet local angel investors? In a building many of these ingredients can be pulled together more efficiently, so those early-stage ingredients can coalesce around a new business quicker and easier when the time is right. This becomes even more powerful when a building is highly curated around a common theme (eg consumer & design).
“The most important thing is admitting what you don’t know and leaning on other people for help. That’s really the way to take what you have that’s starting to catch on and grow it.” — Kevin Rose, Internet entrepreneur
4. Buildings have personalities
Having said all of this, buildings have personalities. Increasingly the creative class of people who start companies blur the lines between their work and personal lives. As a result, we want to work in places that just feel right with people who just feel right. It’s like the difference between a Ace Hotel and a Hilton Hotel. They both have a lobby, beds, bathrooms and room service, but people choose one or the other based on what just feels right to them and who they want to be around.
“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” — Walt Disney, entrepreneur
If this resonates with you — as a founder with a new idea or an ingredient of a startup — email us at hey@switchyards.com…we’d love to talk with you!
