Ask HN: Hackerspace run as a business, paid for by equity?

[jodrellblank]

Would there be a market for a hackerspace that you could join and then work there on your startup, and in exchange give up a percentage of the company you are working on?

On the one hand it could be a cross between the best features of a managed office, the Googleplex(?), a good cafe, a good library and so on. A dream place to work before you can afford one, all the hassle of managing an office done for you, on a no-success-no-fee basis.

A chef or two, table service, quiet offices, loud offices, gamesrooms, meeting rooms, general business services (power, maintenance, phones, spare hardware, temporary servers, mercenary coders and admins, tech advisors with experience of popular technologies...)

On the other hand, would you trade part of your future company for it? I don't know how much it would need to become viable, given that most companies seem to fail; 1%? 5%?

Also, and more seriously, does it risk sabotaging the founder's we're-working-from-a-shoebox-it's-is-all-or-nothing drive?

[DenisM]

You will have a freeloader problem - bunch of dudes hanging out and doing nothing. So then you will have to screen them somehow and have an eviction process. Slowly you will morph into a Y-combinator clone. :-)

One great advantage of this idea is ability to bump into other like-minded people, which is the primary benefit of going a university. On this aspect the idea has potential.

[prospero]

In this scenario, the longer a company goes without succeeding, the more money they cost you. If the equity cost were recurring it might work, but if the company doesn't steadily grow you'll just consume it all until there's nothing left.

At the end of it all, you'd be left with 100% of a worthless company, and out the cost of all those meals and games. I dunno if your potential successes would offset all that.

[curiousgeorge]

I don't know about anyone else, but speaking as a founder the issue would be having to give up equity. I have to pay for the time of my lawyer and accountant. So the free service here isn't free even if one viewed one's equity as worthless and the company as doomed.

[kf]

It's called an incubator. There is definitely a market for it; lots of companies would like incubator space. Good luck turning a profit though, especially assuming you are in an area with brutal real estate costs.

[ctingom]

No, because the alternative is that I can work out of my house.

[jodrellblank → ctingom]

If it offered nothing better than your house then it would deserve to fail.

The point would be to offer things to your fledgling business that your house couldn't because you can't afford them or don't have the skill or time to setup, some ideas suggested above.

Or perhaps a lawyer, accountant, graphic designer, available at regular times. Perhaps a stack of servers ready for hosting virtual machines that you can make use of. Perhaps a place to work away from your house for a bit. Perhaps a social gathering spot.

[pbrown → jodrellblank]

While it would be great to have access to the lawyer, accountant, graphic designer etc. on call, the overhead cost of your incubator just went up $250k per year. There's a reason most incubators are subsidized (so they can bleed money all day long), or by successful people with really deep pockets.

As mentioned above, at the end of the day you spent a fortune and you're left with some stock certificates that are pretty much toilet paper. Certificates are worthless without liquidity events.

Just so you're clear, I think shared offices are an awesome idea, but you gotta get paid too, lights don't pay for themselves.

[lionheart]

Maybe you could be paid in either cash or equity? Or a combination of both?

I know I'd love to get out of the house and work in a place like this.

[alaskamiller]

http://plugandplaytechcenter.com/