Loading... The CIC team launched the Cambridge Co-working Center today! We are calling it C3 for short.
Co-working is a growing movement amongst early stage entrepreneurs and independent professionals.
A nice definition we’ve seen is that co-working seeks to meld the shared-office concept, which C3 parent CIC has offered for the past 10 years, with café culture: informal social and collaborative interactions. This work-style is not right for everyone, but it is really terrific for some. For those looking for some background reading, there is a good overview of coworking on Wikipedia.
With the launch of the Cambridge Co-working Center, we are experimenting in the hopes of finding another new and compelling way for people to work together. Our goal is to provide a fun, low-cost option for people to work outside their homes, in the proximity of others, in a supportive community environment.
In seeking to launch a low-cost space that people will nevertheless love, we’ve tinkered with many aspects of the traditional shared-space model. We knew, for instance, that supporting and maintaining phones and mail were two time-consuming and costly processes. So we decided to eliminate both of them. These days new entrepreneurs are competent to use Skype and services like Google Voice for phone service. Physical mail can be picked up across the street at the US post office or at people’s homes if it is important (and it is decreasingly so).
Wired Ethernet and switches are expensive to manage, so we left those out.
In its stead we installed really fast (10 mbps measured end-to-end performance), high-tech enterprise-quality WiFi (using access points from Ruckus Wireless with cool beam-shaping technology) to make computers and internet telephony work well.
We know that users of our full-time spaces with dedicated desks are very frequently out of the office, so we saw an opportunity to lower cost further by sharing desks. We introduced cubbies to store personal items when one member is not around.
We have noticed that many people like to work at large tables and even sitting on couches, rather than small desks, so we decided to configure the space primarily with large tables with many chairs around them, as well as with soft seating areas, much like a library reading room.
We installed speakers throughout the space and have filled it with music (at a modest volume) to help provide acoustic cover for conversations. We have added other aesthetic and practical amenities, such as unlimited coffee and spring water.
We provide two private conference rooms for C3 members. We intend to have the occupants of the space develop their own protocols for the space as a whole and for sharing these conference rooms specifically. We are curious to see how those will evolve.
The result is a service we are able to price at $250 per month per person. If it sounds interesting–it is! Come by and check us out.
