Lately, I've seen some tweets going back and forth about a co-work space possibly coming to downtown Phoenix. Living in Phoenix, and being on twitter, we've all heard of Gangplank Headquarters, Gangplank Studios, or just plain ol' Gangplank. I've talked to some people, and I've also seen some innocuous tweets, where people suggested that they feel Gangplank is being challenged. Little ol' non co-working worker me over here had some opinions. So read on and I'd be happy to share why I'm so excited about a co-working space downtown and why there is quite literally no competition between this place, and Gangplank.
I'm from Austin, TX (duh). I hate driving (seriously). I didn't do much driving during high school, just to school and back really, occasional movie or to a friend's house. When I started attending the Univ. of Texas, I lived either on campus or on one of the shuttle routes that goes directly to campus. I parked my car in one of the student lots the beginning of my freshman year and quite literally didn't drive it again until the end of the semester when they closed the dorms for the holidays (don't ask about the noises my car made when I finally drove it though). It's a great way to live quite honestly, and the UT shuttles were always clean and full of other students. So instead of sitting next to the smelly hobo you might get here in Phoenix, you got the dangerously cute hippie guy whose only flaw was smelling like weed.
A few twists and turns brought me here to Phoenix - where people actually think it's NORMAL to drive an hour or more just to get to WORK! Are you friggin' kidding me? When we started looking for housing here, we decided on downtown. This was before anyone told me that downtown Phoenix is practically a joke. Oh, you want to go to the grocery store? That'll be a 15 min drive (it should be a 15 minute walk). Oh, you mean you actually want to go have a drink on a Friday night after 10p.m.? Well, we're not open that late, this is downtown you know. Oh, you want to take the bus to work? That'll take over an hour (it's 15 miles away!).
Aside from traffic, driving is just a drain. A drain on energy, a drain on our tax dollars (hello new photo radar!), and a drain on the thing a person should cherish most - your own time. What's your hourly rate? Now how many billable hours are you loosing in your roundtrip communte? Now before people start accusing me of something, shall I just state the obvious? Gangplank is in Chandler. I am in downtown Phoenix. I hate driving. Ergo, I do not want to drive to Gangplank. Do I still make the trip down? Never by myself.
We've all heard of the "Apple Fanboys". Well, the community I've decided to put myself in is dominated by "Gangplank Fanboys". So let me just say this, Gangplank is amazing. We all know that they have done a miraculous job of building a community that is very loyal to them, and for that, I tip my hat to them. They've opened themselves up to the community and there are a lot of cool people who work there.
That being said, comparing Gangplank to cowork downtown would be like comparing apples and oranges (I almost said Apple's and PC's...but I didn't want either to have a negotive connotation). Gangplank is meeting and exceeding the needs of it's community, but there are far too many people in Phoenix for it to meet everyones needs.
A cowork downtown would be opening doors for amazing things to happen in downtown Phoenix. Downtown has already started rennovating itself, and is on the verge of being a cool place to live. Different people have different needs, and if you're like me, different needs at different times. Phoenix is the sixth largest city in the U.S.; almost twice the size of San Fransico. There's one coworking space I know of in Phoenix (Gangplank-duh!). Now compare that to this list of coworking spaces in San Fransisco (and I'm sure it's not even a comprehensive list).
In the end, I think even just the talk of opening a cowork downtown shows how much the community has grown. People have gotten a taste of something so good, they want more. They just want it closer to wherever they may live. For some people, Gangplank is close. For others, it may be downtown or even Cave Creek. Heck, I hope the community flourishes so much that a cowork opens within 10 miles of everyone who's willing to show up - that would be a beautiful day.
I'm from Austin, TX (duh). I hate driving (seriously). I didn't do much driving during high school, just to school and back really, occasional movie or to a friend's house. When I started attending the Univ. of Texas, I lived either on campus or on one of the shuttle routes that goes directly to campus. I parked my car in one of the student lots the beginning of my freshman year and quite literally didn't drive it again until the end of the semester when they closed the dorms for the holidays (don't ask about the noises my car made when I finally drove it though). It's a great way to live quite honestly, and the UT shuttles were always clean and full of other students. So instead of sitting next to the smelly hobo you might get here in Phoenix, you got the dangerously cute hippie guy whose only flaw was smelling like weed.
A few twists and turns brought me here to Phoenix - where people actually think it's NORMAL to drive an hour or more just to get to WORK! Are you friggin' kidding me? When we started looking for housing here, we decided on downtown. This was before anyone told me that downtown Phoenix is practically a joke. Oh, you want to go to the grocery store? That'll be a 15 min drive (it should be a 15 minute walk). Oh, you mean you actually want to go have a drink on a Friday night after 10p.m.? Well, we're not open that late, this is downtown you know. Oh, you want to take the bus to work? That'll take over an hour (it's 15 miles away!).
Aside from traffic, driving is just a drain. A drain on energy, a drain on our tax dollars (hello new photo radar!), and a drain on the thing a person should cherish most - your own time. What's your hourly rate? Now how many billable hours are you loosing in your roundtrip communte? Now before people start accusing me of something, shall I just state the obvious? Gangplank is in Chandler. I am in downtown Phoenix. I hate driving. Ergo, I do not want to drive to Gangplank. Do I still make the trip down? Never by myself.
We've all heard of the "Apple Fanboys". Well, the community I've decided to put myself in is dominated by "Gangplank Fanboys". So let me just say this, Gangplank is amazing. We all know that they have done a miraculous job of building a community that is very loyal to them, and for that, I tip my hat to them. They've opened themselves up to the community and there are a lot of cool people who work there.
That being said, comparing Gangplank to cowork downtown would be like comparing apples and oranges (I almost said Apple's and PC's...but I didn't want either to have a negotive connotation). Gangplank is meeting and exceeding the needs of it's community, but there are far too many people in Phoenix for it to meet everyones needs.
A cowork downtown would be opening doors for amazing things to happen in downtown Phoenix. Downtown has already started rennovating itself, and is on the verge of being a cool place to live. Different people have different needs, and if you're like me, different needs at different times. Phoenix is the sixth largest city in the U.S.; almost twice the size of San Fransico. There's one coworking space I know of in Phoenix (Gangplank-duh!). Now compare that to this list of coworking spaces in San Fransisco (and I'm sure it's not even a comprehensive list).
In the end, I think even just the talk of opening a cowork downtown shows how much the community has grown. People have gotten a taste of something so good, they want more. They just want it closer to wherever they may live. For some people, Gangplank is close. For others, it may be downtown or even Cave Creek. Heck, I hope the community flourishes so much that a cowork opens within 10 miles of everyone who's willing to show up - that would be a beautiful day.
9 comments:
I think that metro-Phoenix is big enough to accommodate dozens of co-working environments. And since I move around the city to do my job, I'd love a few more places that I could use. Luckily for me, Gangplank is close when I'm at home. But that's not always the case.
But I'll be honest: I have no idea what it takes to put together a coworking establishment -- especially one that operates on an ad-hoc basis like Gangplank. Hard to see the payoff on the investment, from my uneducated eyes.
Final thought: Texas sucks. :)
I love the idea for downtown phoenix, especially since the light rail is almost complete. I hate driving too and have never been to gangplank for that reason... It's so far!
I'm with you when it comes to driving, and I would definitely like to see things in Phoenix become a little more neighborhood-centered, so people don't have to drive across town for every single thing.
As a general principal, I'd say having more than one option is good. And a new thing can be an *addition* to the community rather than a replacement or competition for what came before it.
Let me just say that as a Gangplank regular, we at Gangplank are 100% for expanding the values of openness and collaboration valley-wide.
However, I travel 102 miles everyday to go to Gangplank. Farther than most of those who complain about how "far" it is, but I do it because it provides me something that the rest of the valley cannot. It is worth it to me. I get it, and it gets me.
Gangplank, while it is a specific place with amazing things happening everyday, is more than a geographic position. It is an ideal. A desire to create a culture of collaboration over competition; a tech ecosystem where startups thrive, people grow and amazing things happen. But it is not intended to be confined to one location. So start your own thing. Be cool. Be open. Be dangerous.
I think there's definitely room for more co-working spaces in Phoenix. In a city this large there can be many smaller communities that make up the whole.
Co-working is all about creating community and fostering collaboration. In the end, it's not about the space itself, it's about the community. Ultimately, co-working spaces should be building each other up to strengthen the community as a whole.
Besides Gangplank, have you heard of Canvas 1011 and Club eFactory? Also, check out the coworking blog; looks like quite a bit of interest in Phoenix.
Phoenix is growing and although change is hard, it is also inevitable. Embrace it!
itMonkie, I totally agree and the way you said it is great - it's an ideal. I often tell people that one of the only reasons I even still live in Phoenix is because of my job. It's not because my job is so great, but because the people that I work with are amazing. I think the people that you surround yourself with directly affect your work, your happiness, and the overall quality of your life.
I think that right people will converge at the right location that makes them feel the way I do about my job.
I should also say in response to your "start your own thing"... this isn't my thing. I'll be staying at my job, slaving away for someone else because I love the people I work with. I just think it's an awesome idea and I wanted to show some support to the people who are doing it.
Everything in here is really just my opinion...
I don't think people are "complaining" about a long drive. I think its that the ability to be part of such a rich community shouldn't come at a premium of resources. Gangplank is suppossed to be about new ideas, and yet, ownership of vast space requiring urban sprawl is an old idea.
I hear about Gangplank all the time and think it sounds awesome. Are good things worth traveling for? Hello, Disneyland and France. But if the true intention of Gangplank is to enrich the community and bring great minds together, then what would be the harm of hosting it in Phoenix occasionally? Or even the west or north valley. If its the people, not the space, as many have suggested... its a dynamic environment that can be moved.
If there were to be "competition" to Gangplank (although coworking is certainly not a Gangplank invention and I'm unsure why another coworking space would even be seen as competition), would that actually be bad? Isn't competition a healthy way to motivate people, and thus bring about new, better ideas?
If Gangplank is about creating safe spaces for collaboration, they wouldn't want to intimidate others out of doing something similar. The people who inhabit the space will create the spirit of it, and people will then be able to choose what environment best fits them.
Actually, I'd think it would behoove Gangplank to create a startup kit of sorts so others could copy their model. They've put the man hours in, all that's required is someone committed and willing to do the same for Phoenix.
hmm. that was long. sorry.
Jamie Michelle, I meant the "start your own thing" as a blanket statement for anyone interested. I hope that there are people starting co-working facilities for their own niches or even more tech-focused places all over the valley. And I sure hope they understand that we are entirely supportive of them.
I'm tired of having to drive 50+ miles to get to someplace 'cool'. I am looking into opening some coworking space in the north valley...probably I-17 and 101 area, but still considering other places. I already have a place I use for my "day job" and expanding it would not be that bad. Anyone who might be interested please feel free to drop me an email with your thoughts (good or bad).
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