
Office politics at the local coffee shops - peter123
http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/articles/2009/01/22/office_politics_alive_and_well/?page=full
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TooMuchNick
About one in ten of my tech-industry friends (and because I edited
Valleywag.com for a year I made a lot of them -- more enemies, but that's
another story) have at some point told me they wanted a longterm cafe,
something like a cozy shared office.

That's coworking: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coworking>

San Francisco coworking spaces include Citizen Space in SOMA near South Park:
<http://citizenspace.us/>

And the Hat Factory in Potrero: <http://hatfactory.net/>

But these places have their limitations, and everyone thinks they can do one
better. In fact, Digg founder Kevin Rose likes to say that when he cashes out,
he'll start a teashop, but he once fantasized to me about starting a tech
artists collective. I even encouraged him to try it, but I have a feeling
it'll never happen.

Because to be honest, running a co-working space for people too cheap to find
their own offices, going full-service without the high margins of a high-
volume walk-in cafe, dealing with customers with serious entitlement issues,
is not nearly as fun as all the other businesses a talented tech professional
could start in SF or Silicon Valley.

~~~
RobGR
If working space is not going to make money, but is useful to you, perhaps you
should consider some type of co-operative arrangement.

If it were structured as a joint ownership, and all customers had to be
members, you might also avoid certain licensing requirements aimed at a place
open to the public. Think along the lines of the Gentlemen's Clubs of
Victorian London, or a Freemason's lodge.

If I were to join, I'd like for a back room or upstairs attic or something to
be designated the "Diogenes Club" were no talking or phone usage was allowed.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes_Club>

------
tsally
Am I the only one that finds it prohibitively difficult to focus on
programming at a coffee shop?

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matthias
And on the other hand, when I pay £5 for half an hour on your wi-fi, can you
please grant me an aura that protects me from the dirty looks only a laptop
and an empty coffee cup can bring?

~~~
gaius
Maybe a system of colour-coded hats.

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noonespecial
Seems like there's a market for a place full of private cozy nooks where $20
buys a bottomless cup of coffee, an all day wifi pass and a plug at every
table.

~~~
akd
$20 can't cover the cost of that in many markets (NYC/Bay Area/Boston/etc.)
The rent on my tiny studio apartment in Manhattan was $45 a day.

~~~
noonespecial
So all you'd need is 3 regular patrons to make a profit.

If they're gonna sit in there anyway, buy one cup and generate animosity, you
may as well turn it into a good thing instead. The goodwill created by
offering such an environment may attract many customers that do not loiter as
well as food and other sales for those that do.

~~~
silencio
Having shopped around for businesses like coffee shops and having considered
opening a (hacker friendly) coffee shop in Los Angeles, I can't decide if even
$20/person is enough for bottomless coffee, a sofa/desk, free wifi and power
for a coffee shop given size, employees, rent, bills, cost of goods, limited
space..even parking spaces.

There is no denying good wifi access (fast and preferably "free") and
comfortable surroundings brings more customers. But I've seen one business for
sale that was always packed full of customers but never really turned a
profit..everyone bought like $2-3 worth of coffee and snacks and then sat down
at one of the roughly thirty desks with their laptops for a couple hours at
the minimum, never again getting up to buy something else. Customers that just
wanted to have a seat to wait or sit for a few minutes never got a chance
anywhere: all the desks/chairs, sofas, bar stools and all the patio seats
outside were always occupied. It was truly bizarre...a haven for anyone
wanting to use their laptop outside, but completely awful for all other
customers.

There must also be something said about how a busy cafe can bring in more
customers, but those customers will typically be turned off by the inability
to find any seating that isn't the floor if they wanted to eat(rather,
drink)-in.

That being said, I've visited theOffice once down in Santa Monica near me,
which is a nice little place for working. I think a day pass there was $40,
which at that point I think is overpriced (see below)..but they have
memberships that make it as cheap as a few bucks a day to get free beverages
and wifi and power and a place to chill quietly. No noises of grinding and
banging and customers walking in and out and names being yelled out. I also
know of blankspaces which provides more amenities (i.e. conference rooms), but
they are just as expensive.

I must mention my reasoning for the $20-not-enough/$40-too-much: coffee shops
are usually located where space is at a premium. Workspaces like theOffice and
others can be located, frankly, anywhere where there is commercial real
estate. They don't need to be located at a prime area of a mall or at a busy
intersection, they can be hidden in a little side street office building where
rent is typically cheaper. That alone is probably enough to make a huge
difference in cost and services that can be provided.

------
nikete
"It's enough of a phenomenon that there are bloggers who've blogged about
laptop etiquette."

This is a joke, right?

~~~
MaysonL
[http://www.google.com/search?q=coffeeshop+laptop+etiquette&#...</a>

~~~
nikete
94k hits, seems to be about what any 3 random words will bring up, for
example: <http://www.google.com/search?q=kangaroo+fries+blue>

~~~
tdavis
You could have saved time by clicking on the first link from the previous
query, realizing that, literally speaking, it is not a joke.

