It’s about time for an update.
The past few weeks have been spent looking at potential coworking spaces in Austin.Late last week we came across a spot in the 501 Studios complex, most notably the home of Progress Coffee and tons of other cool companies just east of downtown Austin.We were excited about being a part of such a cool community, both in 501 and in east Austin (the city’s fastest growing part of town).Here are some shots of the space we were tweeting about here, there and everywhere Tuesday afternoon.
After soliciting feedback from potential coworkers via Twitter DMs,emailing people who have filled out our membership questionnaire and making some select phone calls to loved ones and advisors, we decided to bite the bullet, throw down a deposit and sign a one-year lease.We were flooded with responses and electronic notes of encouragement (many thanks if you sent something our way; your messages were the main reason behind us moving forward with the space).
Not all huge endeavors come easy though, as we’ve come to learn these past few months.In a strange turn of events, even though the deposit for the space is in, it looks like we’ll have to wait 48 hours to find out if we can sign the lease.It’s a situation that’s out of our control at this point, but we’re not letting us stop the momentum we gained today.We’re going to continue to look for spaces that align with our ultimate vision and we’ll keep pushing until we can provide a space that’s going to help Austin’s coworking community kick ass.
Initially, the situation we found ourselves in was frustrating but is one that has taught us a few lessons.One reason is why you’re reading this right now—we need to be chronicling our escapades more and more so you can know what we’re up to and for the benefit of the coworking community.We’ve benefitted so much from the transparency of others doing the same thing.We need to be contributing too.
A second thing is something Dusty mentioned to me over lunch at Progress: the awesomeness of the Austin tech/entrepreneur community.Today we realized the connectedness of people in this town and the desire for wanting cool stuff to happen in their town.Y’all want to see this happen as much as we do and I can’t begin to tell you how inspiring and motivating that is.While my celebratory tweet might have been a bit premature, even coworkers from around the nation sent their congratulations within seconds, including reps from New Work City, Independents Hall and even a friend right here in Austin opening Launchpad Coworking on 8th & Brazos.
We are part of some great communities and we can’t wait for the vision of our community to come to fruition.
Sometimes I’m overwhelmed by the connectedness that all of my gadgets and social networks provide, but today this helped me and the guys move one step closer to realizing a dream we are super passionate about.Again, thanks for the encouragement; we really couldn’t have done it without you.Look for more updates from now on.If you have questions, you know where to get to us.Hell, we’d even love to meet you for coffee sometime.We hear Progress makes one mean turkey sandwich.See you on the east side!
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