
Ask HN: Are hackerspaces viable businesses? - karmicthreat
I&#x27;ve been in and out of involvement with hackerspaces for 5 years now.  It seems like hackerspaces still have not reached any sort sustained viability yet.  Most need to operate as non-profit organizations that are barely hanging on.  Even Techshop and other large makerspaces seem to be doing an awful lot of work for a hardly self-sustaining amount of revenue.<p>Is there a killer business model that hackerspaces are missing out on?  Recruitment and training for businesses?  Providing or referring services that are useful to entrepreneurs?<p>What can make this sort of space a growing business rather than one that builds a little, then just fades over time.
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mindcrime
_Most need to operate as non-profit organizations that are barely hanging on._

Need, or choose? The hackerspace I am part of (SplatSpace, in Durham, NC) is a
non-profit and that was very much a conscious and pointed decision at the
beginning. Nobody involved was interested in trying to make a for-profit
business out of it. Everybody just wanted a cool place to hang out and tinker
/ build / learn / etc. And we got that.

Anyway, to the question of whether or not you can make a viable (for profit)
business out of a hackerspace. I don't know. As you note, TechShop has
struggled, as have some of the other "for profit" hackerspaces I've seen come
and go. My gut feeling is that there's just a sort of fundamental impedance
mismatch of sorts between "hackerspace people" and "for profit" hackerspaces.

If there is a way, I think it would have to be aiming it more towards
businesses and less towards individual hackers. A startup that needs a place
to prototype their new physical -world device (robot, self-driving car, drone,
etc.) might pay more for shared use of tools and equipment. Of course _some_
individuals would probably still show up. I think. :-)

