Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Cat Johnson – Coworking Marketing Maven
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Andrea Pirrotti-Dranchak – Competitive Advantage
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
Jeremy Fennema – Tech Innovation Alchemist
Tell me a little bit about yourself and how these experiences led you to open a coworking space.
I started my first technology venture at the age of 25. I saw an opportunity to help catapult the archaic dark ages of the real estate industry to the 21st century. I developed a software application for commercial and residential real estate brokerages called REthink CRM.
As I scaled the business, I noticed it was extremely difficult, and more times than none, cost prohibitive, to find a turn-key office solution that would match the culture and vibe of our team. In 2015, I was frustrated with the ridiculous real estate prices in Austin, so I decided to purchase an old warehouse building, and convert it into a place where individuals and organizations could immediately plug into a culture and building with creative design.
Why did you decide that renovating a warehouse was the best route?
At first, I wasn’t particularly looking for an industrial building. I was keeping my options open. When we found the current location for atx FACTORY, I fell in love with not only the building, but the location. It turned out the warehouse was perfect for us, as it provided us with a nearly blank canvas for us to create the perfect space and footprint for atx FACTORY.
It sounds like quite a big renovation project – what challenges did you face?
Our two biggest challenges were with permitting and sub-contractors. Because there is so much development happening in Austin, the queues for permits took a long time. And also, because the demand for sub-contractors is so high, prices were high and it was extremely difficult to find quality, dedicated teams.
What’s the atx FACTORY like now?
We officially launched atx FACTORY in September 2016. We are nearly 90% occupied and have curated a culture unlike any coworking space in Austin. Our members are awesome and continuously keeps us in check. They are always providing us with feedback on how we can improve our offering, our culture, and vibe.
Austin has seen huge growth in the coworking sector recently – what makes your space different?
The biggest difference with us is we are more focused on a lifestyle and community style working space. I feel that there are several types of coworking spaces in our area: incubators, office space, and community style spaces. Capital Factory would be an example of an incubator and that is not our goal. Office Space would be something like, say, a Regus. They are pretty much no different than a normal commercial space and are pretty dry.
Community style spaces would be like us or Soma Viva. Most of our members are not tech startups looking to raise funds or go public. It is mostly entrepreneurs who do well for themselves and want a space to network with other business owners, chill and work in our bar area, and want a quiet space away from home where they can be more effective. They can come in here after a morning workout, take a shower, and work in quiet in the desk areas. In the afternoon, they can work in our bar area where we have music playing and they can grab a kombucha. At the end of the day, they can sit in our massage chairs and get a full body massage before heading out for the day.
How did you grow your community?
A lot of our growth came organically from either our internet marketing efforts or local networking. We focused on getting the word through local media and participated in several local startup and small business events in town.
How would you describe your vibe – and what sort of feedback has your community given you?
We actually have two vibes in our space. The dedicated work area has more of an industrial vibe to it as I kept some of the industrial feel of the building when the old warehouse building was renovated. It really symbolizes an area where people grind and work to get things done.
The secondary area is our bar area, which has a more relaxed feeling to it. There is music playing in the bar with open seating where members can sit down and work. There is even an area in the bar upstairs where you can take a nap or work in our nap pod areas.
Most of the feedback from our members has really been about the types of people and companies we bring into the space and about what type of food trucks we will bring in next.
Finally, if you could offer one piece of advice to anyone considering opening a coworking space, what would it be?
Find a place where you not only feel comfortable, but a place that will motivate you.
The innovative and challenging concept of transforming a warehouse worked for Vijay, and he hopes to expand the atx FACTORY vibe and feel to other cities in Texas.
