Impromptu Coworking in Des Moines
This is practically from the vault! Mr. Lacy and I shot this video with Des Moines' first co-working space Impromptu Studios during the Mid-West swing of our User Generated Book Tour, but never got around to editing it until now. It's still timely though, since Impromptu Studios just had its open house last week.
I'm fascinated by the coworking trend, because I'm firmly convinced the social web has given anyone hardworking and talented in the services sector of the economy a new opportunity to work for themselves.
If you don't know about coworking, watch this video. If you are trying to start a coworking spot, hopefully it will inspire you. A group in Des Moines had been talking about co-working via an email group, but it wasn't until the conversation moved to Twitter that things started to actually happen. Eventually software developer Daniel Shipton-- encouraged by his wife Abbie-- had to "man up" and put their names on a lease and hope others followed. They charge people about $350/month for a permanent desk, with a small discount for a several month commitment. It's just enough to break even.
If you already have a rad coworking space and we're coming to your city on the tour, please let us know!! We'd love to come check it out!
CO-WORKING IN DES MOINES from sarah lacy on Vimeo.
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New Book
An unforgettable portrait of the emerging world's entrepreneurial dynamos Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky is the story about that top 1% of people who do more to change their worlds through greed and ambition than politicians, NGOs and nonprofits ever can. This new breed of self-starter is taking local turmoil and turning it into opportunities, making millions, creating thousands of jobs and changing the face of modern entrepreneurship at the same time. To tell this story, Lacy spent forty weeks traveling through Asia, South America and Africa hunting down the most impressive up-and-comers the developed world has never heard of....yet.
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Sarah Lacy is an award-winning reporter who has covered high-growth entrepreneurship for more than fifteen years. She is the founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of PandoDaily.com, the site-of-record for the startup ecosystem. She lives in San Francisco.
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you'll have to swing by philly and hang at http://www.indyhall.org too bad you can't be at the 1 year party tonight!!!
Posted by: drew olanoff | August 31, 2008 at 01:38 PM
drew:
you should shoot a little video for sarahlacy.com!!
s
Posted by: sarah lacy | August 31, 2008 at 01:42 PM
Space looks sweet guys! Can't wait to see it soon!
Posted by: Jeff Slobotski | September 01, 2008 at 08:46 PM
Thank you for coming to Des Moines and making the rounds to cool places like Lava Row, attending a dmtweetup, and highlighting the Shipton's fine co working space. Sorry I missed you at the dmtweetup, I was out of town but I am all about the connections central Iowa professionals have been able to make via Twitter and other social media outlets.
Posted by: JohnPemble | September 15, 2008 at 02:16 PM