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Can’t Afford an Office? Rent a Desk for $275

Long Popular With Tech Start-Ups, Shared Workspaces Grow in Popularity as Workers Seek Affordable Facilities

By EMILY GLAZER

Forget privacy. Shared workspaces are the latest trend in office space.

The offices, set up in a variety of ways but emphasizing open space and the ability to rent a single desk, are also known as co-working spaces. Such offices have long been popular with technology start-ups in the San Francisco Bay Area looking for cheap space, but as the latest tech wave rises, shared workspaces are popping up in cities around the country.

Besides the cost advantages, entrepreneurs in technology and other fields say they like co-working spaces because their open floor plans boost collaboration, offer more flexibility on leases and can even help land investors.

“Nowadays with the shared workspaces you don’t need to buy furniture, you don’t need to set up Internet, you don’t need to sign a long-term lease,” said Saeed Amidi, founder and chief executive of Plug and Play Tech Center, a co-working space in Sunnyvale, Calif., with about 1,000 workers. “You can just get started… within two hours of walking in.”

Enlarge Image

Emily Glazer/The Wall Street JournalWorkers share deskspace at General Assembly, a New York co-working space that opened in January.

Plug and Play is exploring expansion to Pittsburgh, Chicago, San Diego, Denver and Vancouver, said Mr. Amidi.

Meanwhile, reserved desks at General Assembly, a new 20,000 square foot co-working space and educational center that opened this past January in New York, are filled, according to the company.

Investors are also showing some interest. General Assembly said last month it raised $4.25 million from Yuri Milner of investment firm DST Global, and venture firms affiliated with Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos and Starbucks Corp. founder Howard Schultz.

Loosecubes, a start-up that has created an online marketplace for office sharing, lists more than 2,300 spaces across almost 500 cities and 60 countries, and claims 7,000 registered users. Last year, it raised $1.23 million led by prominent venture capital firms Accel Partners and Battery Ventures.

Office spaces amenable to co-sharing are proving to be more popular and lucrative than traditional Dilbert-like offices both for established companies looking to change their atmospheres and companies hosting the spaces for start-ups. The total vacancy for a “creative” space with open floor plans ideal for co-working was 2.54% in San Francisco in July, and the asking rent ranged from $32 to $53 per square foot per year. Meanwhile, more “historical” spaces with closed-door offices that lack open space had a total vacancy of 10.55%, while the asking rent ranged from $21 to $36 per square foot per year, according to commercial listing broker The CAC Group.

Owners of stodgier office spaces are tearing up their floor plans to chase the market. Earlier this year, a building at 115 Sansome St., in downtown San Francisco, started remodeling for a more flexible layout to appeal to high-tech start-ups.

“We are transforming this project because we think we will achieve greater demand for the space as well as higher rents than could be attained by maintaining the traditional office space,” says John Winther, founder and managing partner of Emeryville, Calif.-based Harvest Properties, which is leasing the building.

Other spaces, like the roughly 12,000 square-foot Launchpad in New Orleans, help entrepreneurs by housing service providers that can help expand their business. Launchpad, which is popular with “techies” and creative types such as filmmakers, has expanded twice since its June 2009 opening.

Common workspaces are spurring innovation and providing start-ups with the collaborative atmosphere one might find in academic settings, but with more opportunity for venture capital. WSJ’s Andy Jordan reports from New York’s “General Assembly”.

Workers pay $650 to $1,600 per month for a closed-door office, $450 per month for a permanent desk, file cabinet and personal landline and $275 per month for any available desk. The space can handle 70 companies and up to 170 people.

“If you need your LLC started, there’s a lawyer upstairs; if you want to get your books down, there’s an accountant right there; if you want a commercial start on the Web, there’s a filmmaker in house,” said Co-founder Barre Tanguis. “We’ve done a lot to nurture that and deliberately curate so we have the right people around and the right dynamic.”

Collaboration is another part of the appeal of sharing space. Software firm Atlassian lets start-up Odiago use its space for free. In return, Odiago engineers offer Atlassian their expertise in open source software. “It’s a full on win-win,” said Jay Simons, Atlassian’s president. “We take our people and basically embed them in [Odiago's] team…. the best way to learn is to sit next to each other.”

The emphasis on learning has been such a draw at some workspaces that they organize workshops or demonstrations of the latest technologies. General Assembly hosts lectures regularly in addition to events such as a recent start-up demo night. Its layout includes a communal area with large, cushioned couches and industrial wooden tables in addition to breakout rooms, small phone booths or even cocoon-type seating for privacy.

Since the action is growing at co-working spaces, investors are also hanging out there more. At Plug and Play, angel investors, including Sand Hill Angels, Band of Angels and The Angels’ Forum, typically visit every Monday afternoon to review the business plans of start-ups. More established venture capitalists including Sequoia, Menlo Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, typically drop by every other month for deal reviews, Plug And Play’s Mr. Amidi said.

Write to Emily Glazer at emily.glazer@wsj.com

Its hard to believe it just a month ago we gathered for Launch Fest to celebrate the startup spirit in New Orleans. Having Brad Feld and Scott Case in New Orleans was truly a highlight!

It’s been an amazing month since then with the Launch Pad Ignition founders hitting New York for TechCrunch Disrupt last week and headed out to Silicon Valley for meetings next week.

We want to take a moment to reflect on the experience and share the impact of Launch Pad Ignition and Launch Fest on the entrepreneurs who we fund and support.

LAUNCH PAD IGNITION

Please give our 2nd Annual Impact Report a read to see all about what was accomplished through Ignition.

We funded 6 high-growth startups in March. Those startups went through an intensive 7-week program prior to Launch Fest that has continued over the last month. We’re proud of what we’ve built:
Most startups funded in Louisiana in 2011.
First startup conference in Louisiana – completely free and open to the public.
The first Launch Pad Ignition class includes:
Dydra – cloud-based database as a service
Gamebuilder Studio – cross platform game creation tools
Badger – social picture sharing around interests
Rayku – peer-to-peer micro-tutoring network
Kinio – sell films online
Liveset - HD streaming platform for live concerts
MEDIA & LINKS
Tech Cocktail – Launch Pad Ignition Blasts Off First New Orleans Startup Class
Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital – New Orleans Start-Up Accelerator Ignition Launches Six Companies
NOLA.com / NOLAVie – Six local startups pitch their ideas at Launch Fest
TechCrunch – Absolute Must Watch: Office Hours With Paul Graham at TechCrunch Disrupt
TUAW – Companies to Watch at Disrupt
Pictures from Launch Fest
Videos of the presentations
Videos of the Ignition pitches

SUPPORTERS

Thank you to all of the investors, speakers, mentors, attendees and volunteers who came together for the event and supported these founders. A big thank you to all of our sponsors, without whom it would not have been possible.
Microsoft BizSpark, New Orleans Downtown, UEP Kauffman Foundation, Louisiana Entertainment, FBT Investments, BVM Capital, LGDI, Jones Walker and Launch Pad.
NEXT STEPS

Stay tuned for big announcements coming from Launch Pad Ignition companies. Applications for Launch Pad Ignition open December 1st. And you can get a leg up on things by kicking off your entrepreneurial venture now by joining Launch Pad.

Thanks again!

- Chris, Barre, Peter, Will, Katy & the Launch Pad Ignition founders

Scene Magazine

You can check out the digital edition of Scene here. (Very cool)

The final aspect of the hugely comprehensive festival was the SXSW tech scene. “For the second year in a row, New Orleans showcased authenticity, passion & community that has been brewing in the tech scene in Louisiana.” said Chris Schultz of Net2NO and Launch Pad. “The panel about ‘The future of work’ focused on the trend of co-working and highlighted Launch Pad which we are expanding to Baton Rouge and Lafayette this year. And the panel ‘Seed Accelerators’ gave us the tools we need to fill the seed capital gap in Louisiana and start competing on the national startup scene.”

It’s great to see the highlights of the Dear New Orleans pictures that Robert Fogarty took based on the sponsorship of the trip provided by TribeCon.

Give it a listen here.

You can hear Launch Pad at the 15:18 mark of the full show, or right at the start of segment B.

In a media turnabout, we featured them on an episode of LPTV on March 26th when they were here.  Watch it here.

Launch Pad eyes Lafayette for new office

POSTED: 08:36 AM Friday, April 23, 2010
BY: Jennifer Larino, Staff Writer
TAGS: Chris Schultz, FiberFete, Intellectual Property building, Lafayette Economic Development Authority, Launch Pad

New Orleans-based collaborative workspace group Launch Pad said it plans to open a new office in Lafayette within the next few months.

The announcement, made Thursday at the FiberFete conference in Lafayette, comes at a time when grass-roots technology communities in the two cities are attempting to bridge a gap across the Interstate 10 corridor, said Chris Schultz, founder of Launch Pad.

“We want people from Lafayette to come work in New Orleans and the other way around,” Schultz said.

Launch Pad has not signed a lease for a particular location but has viewed commercial spaces in the city.

Schultz said he approached the Lafayette Economic Development Authority about a Lafayette Launch Pad two months ago following a Twitter message about the possibility that generated immediate positive response from both the New Orleans and Lafayette technology communities.

“It’s reflective of all of these things kind of clicking for digital media. Things are happening,” Schultz said.

Launch Pad is interested in leveraging the speed and economy of the Lafayette fiber-to-home network expected to be up and running by the end of summer, Schultz said.

Launch Pad New Orleans pays just under $1,000 a month for Internet service; the much faster fiber service in Lafayette will cost $29 a month.

“It’s one of the only networks in the country like that,” he said. “I really think it’s a wonderful thing and will attract our type of technical, creative people to Lafayette.”

As Launch Pad approaches its one-year anniversary it will also be adding another floor to its office in the Intellectual Property Building as well as testing the waters for a Baton Rouge opening.•

We were highlighted in a recent NY Times post that covered the 504ward business plan competition one year later.  While 504ward did not produce its business competition for 2010, it did produce BizCamp which was hosted at Launch Pad, and continues to execute

on its mission of retaining talent in New Orleans by providing career opportunities.

Why a New Orleans Business Competition Decided to Shut Down

By LORA KOLODNY April 6, 2010, 12:48 pm

As it was getting started in 2008, the New Orleans nonprofit 504ward wanted to make a big splash while advancing its primary goal: to retain or draw talented young professionals and their businesses to New Orleans, a city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

The main beneficiaries of last year’s 504ward competition were the winner of its grand prize, playNOLA, and the second-prize winner, LaunchPad.

Meanwhile, LaunchPad — a k a  LaunchPadNola — which was started by Chris Schultz, offers co-working space and business classes in New Orleans. It has 43 tenants today.

I was thrilled that Scott Satchfield and WWL put together such a nice and relevant story about what is really going on here right now, and the energy around the NOLA startup scene. Lot’s of the members of Launch Pad who were around on Monday & Tuesday when WWL was filming made cameo’s in the piece.

We had a great StartSpark event at Launch Pad and appreciate the support that Microsoft is offering entreprenuers through the BizSpark program, of which Launch Pad is a network partner. The attention that Microsoft bringing to the local tech community by hosting its WPC conference here is a real tribute. Here’s a snippet from the story:

Last month, he introduced what he hopes will become a spark for entrepreneurs in the New Orleans tech industry. It’s called Launch Pad — and the name says it all. It’s an incubator, where Schultz will help companies clear hurdles standing in the way of most tech startups.

“We’re seeing a lot of activity, and sort of the entrepreneurial eco-system is coming together from all of the facets that you need to start a business,” Schultz said. “You know, from a capital standpoint, from a space standpoint.”

Entrepreneurs work in a shared space, where the exchanging of ideas and skills is encouraged.

Software developer Matthew Tritico said new companies seem to have the mutual goal of helping the New Orleans tech community become a major player both nationally and globally.

“That’s really what it’s all about,” he said. “It’s just getting different people from different backgrounds — designers, entrepreneurs, coders, all of us together to talk it out and see what we can do.”

Thanks to Tiffany Ingargiola, Scott Satchfield, GNO, Inc, Tiffany Starnes, Christian Thilmany from Microsoft, Matt Tritico, Neel Sus and the NOLA Ambassadors and most of all the incredible Launch Pad members for making this happen.

Chris Schultz, a 34-year-old principal in Launch Pad, said he’s stoked by his $25,000 prize. He moved from Los Angeles after meeting his future wife at the 2002 Jazz Fest.

A serial entrepreneur who operates a Web strategy company, Voodoo Ventures, Schultz and partners Will Donaldson — a Tulane MBA student — and Barre Tanguis, a real estate developer — will be based at the Launch Pad’s offices.

There, they’ll rent desk space to technology and business professionals at monthly rates of $750 for a closed-door office, $450 for a desk in the open environment, and $275 for a shared “co-working desk.”

“Getting into office space is very expensive, especially with three-year leases,” Schultz said. “We’re going to work with startups and creative class knowledge workers who may be freelancers who otherwise would work from home and who might need office space.”

Check out Launch Pad discussions @ the 18:20 & 22:30 marks.

Will Donaldson typifies the spirit behind the IP. The Tulane MBA student is one of the partners in The Launch Pad, which will provide workspace and meeting facilities at the IP for fledgling entrepreneurs who aren’t ready to commit to a long-term office lease.

Congrats Will, great stuff.