Did you know that the United States hosts more than 10,000 coworking spaces? However, it's important to recognize that not all coworking spaces are created equal. There are a number of important considerations to make when selecting a community to scale your startup including amenities, location, price, and more.
Many of the world's savviest tech startup founders leverage the power of niche communities to boost operational power and maximize startup success. These types of industry or vertical-oriented spaces support exceptional startup growth by connecting members with like-minded entrepreneurs, providing focused learning opportunities, and more.
Thinking about joining a niche coworking space? In this article, we'll look at some of the biggest benefits of the niche coworking community and how they help growth-oriented tech startups to achieve accelerated results.
How Niche Coworking Spaces Help Startups Grow
1. Access a Curated Community of Industry Leaders
Let's consider the following example. Say you're studying to become a chef. Are you going to apply for a job at McDonald's or an authentic bistro home to world-class talent? Obviously, you'll learn more by surrounding yourself with those who posses the knowledge and resources to deliver superior cuisines.
The same logic applies to coworking. While there are thousands of coworking spaces to choose from, most of them know as much about tech as McDonald's knows about coq au vin. Additionally, members of niche coworking spaces will share similar goals. Strike up conversation with your work neighbor and they will surely know a thing or two about fundraising, hiring, marketing, and more. This type of exchange is part of what makes a niche community so effective at helping its members succeed.
Learn how the world's top innovators utilize ecosystem to grow their tech startups. Check out The Power of Ecosystem.
2. Discover Tailored Resources + Programming
Another benefit of niche coworking spaces? They provide relevant continued education, events and resources designed to accelerate progress. While most generic coworking spaces provide some form of programming, it is usually just that — generic!
Without needing to appeal to a wide audience, industry-specific coworking spaces are free to focus on the subjects that matter most to every member. On tech campuses, that means creating workshops around topics like:
- Equity-Efficient Growth Financing for SaaS Startups
- Using Design Thinking Methods to Build Better Products
- Content Strategy for Early Stage Startups
At RocketSpace, we hold a CEO Roundtable Discussion the second Monday of each month during the lunch hour. Members are invited to sit down with peers, exchange ideas and brainstorm around common challenges. We also invite industry luminaries to share their knowledge during our monthly Tech Talks. Speakers include prominent VCs, startup advisors, and successful tech entrepreneurs.
3. Targeted VC Opportunities
Many startup founders spend so much time chasing venture capitalists that they end up neglecting the things that really matter: Testing their assumptions, developing product-market fit, and gaining traction. One of the best parts about working in a niche coworking space is that the VCS come to you.
It's an interesting fact many founders forget when mulling over whether or not they will achieve funding: VCs need startups, just as much as startups need them. Gather a bunch of promising tech companies in one place, and it becomes a watering hole for equity firms.
Tech campuses often maintain partnerships with prominent VCs who enjoy open invitations to stop by and check out what members are working on. The accessibility and ease of obtaining warm introductions removes significant pressure for startups wondering where their next funding round will come from.
4. Corporate Partnerships
Understandably, most founders have mixed feelings about corporate partnerships: How much control will we have to give up? Will this company honor our long-term vision? Is it really worth all the effort?
The reality is that arranging a startup-corporate partnership is no small task. Setting up an agreement usually involves many phone calls, many emails and a seemingly endless amount of back-and-forth negotiations! All for something that may or may not even pan out. Some niche coworking spaces provide corporate partner matchmaking services that, essentially, do most of the heavy lifting for you.
We highly recommend startups take advantage of such services when available, as testing your assumptions within a corporate framework like StateFarm, IBM or Amazon and getting that targeted feedback can be invaluable. Just ask RocketSpace alum Max Eliscu, CEO of Viewpost, who scored a partnership with Bank of America that allowed his 97-employee FinTech company to gain access to 2.3 million new customers.
“The process starts with finding an advocate, a sponsor in the bank who is trying to solve a problem," Eliscu says. “Advocacy occurs because someone in the bank sees the intersection between the goals they have and how your product or capabilities can help them accomplish those goals."
The right niche coworking space can help you find the advocate your startup needs to form the right partnership. At RocketSpace we have relationships with more than 170 global brands who we have committed to matching with the most innovative startups on the planet.
Go Niche + Never Go Back
Your coworking space should take care of any and all administrative duties on your behalf — keeping the lights on, cleaning the bathrooms, watering the plants — but the right niche space does much more. RocketSpace's exclusive members-only programming, curated community, and premium amenities have supported 18 unicorns and counting.
Silicon Valley's most recent unicorns are being developed in as little as 36 months, with the combination of strong founders, forward-thinking investors and supportive ecosystems. If you are a technology startup with Seed to Series-C funding and an MVP in place, we invite you to visit one of our tech hubs.
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