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Ask HN: Startup idea – disconnected, physical space charged by hour

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Re: Ask HN: Startup idea – disconnected, physical space charged by hour

#71

Post by chouchinhua »

sowbug wrote: post #37

Lots of good feedback so far. My first thought was to analogize to gyms. In the United States, and maybe elsewhere, gyms fall into two camps. One hopes you'll sign up and never go, or if you do go, then you'll treat it more like a spa visit -- buying a massage, or a "healthy" smoothie -- so you're either free money or else profitable per visit. The other kind of gym keeps membership to a fixed number, and will actual…

Not only gyms, I can also see similarities to country clubs and golf clubs. So it wouldn't surprise me if the business model turns out similar to these membership structures. I'm not sure the take is necessarily cynical, or just price discretion for different levels of needs.

Marketing would be absolutely crucial, as you and many people have rightly pointed out.

Re: Ask HN: Startup idea – disconnected, physical space charged by hour

#72

Post by chouchinhua »

jsty wrote: post #5

Love the idea of a space specialised to deep work, although if you're offering a space to work I don't think "no screens" should extend to a disconnected laptop. If you're offering people to disconnect completely for several hours, some form of "we'll hold your phone / offer an emergency contact number" service would be attractive. Like it or not people - especially parents - have gotten used to being contactable at…

I fully understand the anxiety to stay contactable, as a father of two children myself. I haven't figured out a good solution to balance the needs to stay connected and the needs to stay disconnected, though. One solution is a concierge operator, like what you mentioned. I've heard some luxury villas provide such service. iPhone and Android provides call forwarding function, so the guest could set up a temporary forwarding to the concierge number during stay.

Re: Ask HN: Startup idea – disconnected, physical space charged by hour

#73

Post by chouchinhua »

rvnx wrote: post #39

"It's essentially a hotel room, but only bookable for one person, for a few hours only. There is no internet provided, and cellular signal is blocked." - "your meditation room with noise-proofing, privacy guaranteed. As an additional purchase you can hire a paid-by-the-hour buddy that will meditate with you in the room" This can be your marketing.

Thanks! I understand the marketing needs to turn from selling the negative ("no internet") to selling the positive ("focus").

Re: Ask HN: Startup idea – disconnected, physical space charged by hour

#74

Post by chouchinhua »

FumblingBear wrote: post #66

In my experience, every local library (both public and collegiate) have had exactly this kind of space available for free use. You just sign up and get to utilize a closed quiet room with a desk, some chairs, and whatever other resources the library has to offer. I suppose the one difference is that they don't confiscate your electronics, but many have had places to store personal things, so with a tiny bit of discip…

Discipline is the key word here. Exercise is free in any open space, but many people (including me) maintains regular exercise only after hiring a personal coach, and only in a proper gym. And they're better for it. If staying offline is beneficial to human, maybe it's worthwhile trying to monetize on helping people stay offline once in a while?

Re: Ask HN: Startup idea – disconnected, physical space charged by hour

#75

Post by chouchinhua »

relyks wrote: post #51

What you describe exists somewhat in a form in the US. Most major universities have some type of "friends of library" program. You make an application and donate some money. You're then allowed to use the facilities for studying/reading/working. The donation is usually tax deductible. You're given the same access to the areas as the student population. The libraries all have quiet areas (or floors) and reservable enc…

Thank you. I didn't know of these programs. In my city, public libraries are not used enough. Most are used by students preparing for national tests, or people just hanging out, enjoying the air conditioning.

I think the use cases overlap a bit. But the space I'm thinking about will also have a bed (or reclining chair) and a (shared) bath facility. It would be more private, internet-free, and more clean. I'd have to study why people don't step in library as often.

Re: Ask HN: Startup idea – disconnected, physical space charged by hour

#76

Post by chouchinhua »

maurits wrote: post #38

This reminds me of Korean bath houses. They offer way more than just the spa, to disconnect. [1] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jjimjilbang

Yes. Korean bath house, Japanese spa and "manga coffee" are all inspirations. City could use more spaces dedicated to different kind of offline activities.

Re: Ask HN: Startup idea – disconnected, physical space charged by hour

#77

Post by chouchinhua »

comboy wrote: post #9

I think you can make it work if your marketing is good enough. It should probably be a Faraday cage, I don't think you could do jamming in highly populated areas, but also providing a landline seems like a good idea in case of emergency.

Landline is a good idea.

Re: Ask HN: Startup idea – disconnected, physical space charged by hour

#78

Post by chouchinhua »

faderud wrote: post #57

I've been working on a very similar idea. I called it "Pause Room". The assumption I started from was that such an experience has a potential of improving participants' overall productivity and self-perception of mental wellbeing and focus during and post-experience. The key was to measure and improve those metrics while refining the experience itself. I have managed to successfully complete a 3-month pilot with clea…

Thank you for such precious feedback. I could not have asked for more. Glad to know someone is working on something similar and have found some success. Do you have a website that I can see your work? I would also be interested in knowing what metrics did you use to measure, and how did it improve.

I can also foresee the high cost of B2C business, given it is a physical business after all. But I thought it's the only way to control the quality at first. Building rooms to spec for a B2B client is quite innovative! Best luck to you as well.

Re: Ask HN: Startup idea – disconnected, physical space charged by hour

#79

Post by chouchinhua »

evgpbfhnr wrote: post #11

manga cafes in Japan have a fairly similar concept where you can rent different level of accommodations (a small chair in a corner, a proper box or in more expensive places even small rooms with a bed) for hours or days. Common spaces have plenty of books you can bring into your room to read quietly, not necessarily just mangas. These obviously also have internet in rooms, but contacting one to try to setup and adver…

Thank you. Great idea on working with manga cafes at first.
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