Well, the photos of the place looks good, I can see potential for this to be really useful for many people. But I wonder if a Burlingame location is a symptom of trying to appeal to too many people. In the process I'm concerned that it won't appeal to anyone.
To me, convenience is still the most important aspect of this office space, since office space is optional for the startups and individuals you're targeting. My hunch is that Burlingame is too far from both San Francisco and Silicon Valley -- not convenient to people in either location. (Is it near the BART/Caltrain stop? That could help.)
I'd suggest you check with others near SF to gauge their "location elasticity." You might get a much better response with a location in the city, even at a higher price.
Hi Ryan,
First of all, sorry I didn't reply you in my previous YC post. I was going to but got sidetracked looking in the startup hub thing.
Thank you for the advice. To me Burlingame is not far at all from SF. I was thinking I'm forgoing all the south bay people since it's quite a drive from down there. But from SF, it isn't too far, especially when this location is right off the 101 freeway exit. But more importantly, I was not really trying to suit everyone. Actually, yes, I _was_ trying to suit most people at first. But after not getting much replies, I figure I had to go a different route. I figure that I may have to choose a location first, and then let them decide if that's what they want. So I try to look at different locations available and imagine what I can do with the space. Once I can imagine what I can do with it (how I can setup and divide up the space), I let everyone know about it. Those who happen to be close to that location will be "lucky". Those who aren't will have to decide whether they want to make the commute or try to setup carpooling or forget about it. So if this location doesn't work out (still not too much response so far), I'll see what the next location brings. That may be in SF or further south. Hope you get a better idea of what I'm trying to do here.
oh, yes, this Burlingame location is right between 2 Bart stations, but I won't call them close by since it's like 1 mile away from each station.
Yup, that all makes sense. I bet the San Francisco response depends a lot on whether or not you own a car. My impression of San Franciscans is that none of them own cars, and don't want to drive, because my 3 or 4 Frisco friends are like that. If most of your target market does own cars and is OK with a commute, then my hunch is totally wrong. ;-)
A recent survey we did of over 120 people on the coworking list stated that location, location, location was crucial. Oh...and that meant close to public transportation and not a big commute (on buses and trains) from their homes.
Hey gang...there is already a 'hub' in San Francisco. The Coworking movement (that Cafe Bricolage in NYC is hooked into) started here with Chris Messina, Brad Neuberg, Ryanne Hodsen, Jay Dedman, Ted Tagami and myself (Tara Hunt).
We currently have several coworking spots in the city:
please up vote so more people knows about it so we can get started sooner! My last post regarding this only got 3 votes so it was buried in less than half a day.
To me, convenience is still the most important aspect of this office space, since office space is optional for the startups and individuals you're targeting. My hunch is that Burlingame is too far from both San Francisco and Silicon Valley -- not convenient to people in either location. (Is it near the BART/Caltrain stop? That could help.)
I'd suggest you check with others near SF to gauge their "location elasticity." You might get a much better response with a location in the city, even at a higher price.
Hope this helps -- good luck!