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Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

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Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is such a startup in London (and elsewhere maybe) but the problem is the costs are greater than the cost of a true co-working space. WeWork in London has hot desks from about £10/day (monthly) and £20/day (pay as you go). A homeowner isn’t going to let someone use their home all day to make a few £. https://www.vrumi.com/

> A homeowner isn’t going to let someone use their home all day to make a few £. Are you sure? I mean if I had the space and situation (that is, an office room separate from the rest of the house, e.g. a garage) it's something I'd consider. It probably doesn't fall under hotel / lodging laws either.

You’re looking at 1/10th of the earnings you’d generate from AirBnB with the same amount of work. You have to manage bookings, grant access (working around your own availability), handle insurance and clean up. Would you deal with all of that for less than £10/day once or twice a week? The pitch makes sense for larger spaces that can accommodate teams — like the examples on the site — but for individuals there’s no value.

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#83

They should invest in getting those large collapsable umbrellas for shade, working in 'on-road parking' during summer doesn't sound practical.

Or an RV or van converted to an office space.

I did this (in an RV) for a few years in my younger days, when starting my first business. It worked very, very well for me and came with the added benefit that I could move my office any time I wanted to be in a place that was more convenient or enjoyable.

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony is that all the companies and startups work on internet companies which could happen anywhere with internet access. It's not like there is a gold mine under San Francisco streets that requires on site mining. And before you say "the people are the gold mine", those people could be interacted with remotely quite easily.

If you're a techie, young with no family, and you want good culture, good climate, good outdoors, and good job prospects...the valley is hard to beat. Yes I know about droughts, we can debate all day if the culture is good or terrible, all these tech people are ruining the parks, yadayadayada. Point still stands, the san fran area has a unique and sought after position. And to address your point about gold mine of pe…

> yadayadayada

You claim all of these to be unique characteristics, then wave off all reasonable (and in some cases, strong) arguments to the contrary that the Valley is hard to beat.

If it’s “hard to beat” because of X, Y, Z, and there are many other places with better examples of X, Y, and Z qualities, then there’s little about the position that should make SF “unique” or “sought after.”

Climate + outdoors + good job prospects are pretty much everywhere. In fact, you might be able to enjoy them more in other spots because of better commutes (less driving and/or better public transit,) better living conditions, and more purchasing power (lower prices on everything + lower rents / housing prices.)

But I guess the views are nice...?

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#85
post #15
post #9

Welcome to Silicon Valley: where everyone has somehow bamboozled themselves into believing that working in a cramped parking space is more valuable than buying office real estate in LITERALLY any other state... Remember kids: you don’t HAVE to live in California.

Can’t tell if you’re serious but this was a joke/stunt. The point being to show how poor of a use of space it is to have street parking lining every street in an expensive and crowded city.

Yeah I did catch on, but my read was that the conclusion of this stunt could drive thinking in a few directions.

One of the more popular directions would be to push for more building, and/or better transit options.

My recommendation was to push for more rational / sanity in the labor market choices: right now, it seems like it’s blasphemous to consider _NOT_ living in SF.

Rather than trying to push for enormous change at all levels, you can just say “nah there are better choices for me to live.”

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#86

In a similar vein I'm working on an idea to monetize cemetery plots and crypts in and around San Francisco. They're quiet workplaces with scenic views (lots of flowers and greenery), often centrally located and many are close to coffee shops. With a little cabling/wiring and some temporary structures they would make ideal workplaces.

You might be half kidding. But one thing I loved in the UK was that people went to cemetery to jog. That is a great multifunctional use of a plot of land.

I live pretty close to a cemetery, however due to cultural customs, I would never think of going there to jog. Unfortunately, there is no other place nearby my house were I could go jogging.

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of states have laws against office and living spaces being in the same building, if I recall. Maybe someone else has more expertise and correct me. This would obviously make it difficult for someone to rent out their living room to $Startup, for example.

Did Uber let local laws strangle its business? NO! Did Airbnb let local laws strangle its business? NO! Did PayPal let money transmitter licenses and rampant fraud strangle its business? NO! Did YouTube let rampant piracy strangle its business? NO! Now go start your residential hot-desking business!!’

I guess the moral is that if you make enough money fast enough, you can hire lawyers to keep you out of jail.

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#88

They should invest in getting those large collapsable umbrellas for shade, working in 'on-road parking' during summer doesn't sound practical.

Or an RV or van converted to an office space.

I think the motive of this group is to organise people to the streets with bare minimum costs, sounds more like an agenda to show that it's possible than to be a practical working space.

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#89
post #72
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having people work remote in a non-remote culture is a completely different experience than working with a fully remote culture. If the entire team/division/org doesn't fully embrace it, it usually just doesn't work. That doesn't mean everyone had to be remote, either.

Can you please suggest some ways how to fully embrace this? I don't think offices are going away at least in my fang world. I saw a note about everyone headphoning in - I can try this, but am skeptical because those people are still going to be more present than me (I mentioned this in my op). There are going to be side conversations, notes, glances, eye rolls, sighs I miss - the things I definitely need to get the f…

Well, we went through the transition at my last job so I kind of have some incite. We had 3 or 4 people on my project who had came over from Invision, who are a fully remote company and I have a good friends at other well known fully remote companies that I gleamed things from to help us transition from 0 remote company to a fully remote project team (50ppl-ish).

1. Every meeting should be video first. Going without video should be extraordinarily rare. Even if that's just an impromptu meeting with 2 or 3 people. Kill conference phones completely. Get used to screen sharing. Good reliable tools like Zoom are invaluable. You miss a lot from body language and facial expressions if you use audio only, which will fix your major issue. It also makes people feel more included and that the people working somewhere else are actually real people and not just voices. Make good use of Slack video

2. Every meeting should be able to be taken as remote, even if that means just from your desk (or personal meeting room if you're in an open office). This means that the people who are in a conference room must be on video with an open mic, unless there is uncontrollable excessive background noise or something. No cross the table talk on mute.

3. Don't be afraid to make temp rooms with multiple people when you have conversations on Slack (or whatever you use), it'll help more people get involved as if you were talking at someone's desk.

The first 2 things are extremely important. Invision has recently released some blogs about cultivating a good remote culture that are pretty good. I don't have any links handy, however but it's worth a look if you're interested.

Re: Newest coworking space costs just $2.25 an hour, because it is a parking spot

#90

Has anybody tried to create something like AirBnB for co-working/office spaces? There must be people willing to rent out a spare bedroom they never use, etc. All you really need to provide is a desk and internet.

Airbnb does this already. I used to work remote and they have digital nomad housing... Specially WiFi and private workspace as part of the amenities you can require.
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