Long-time San Antonio startup incubator Geekdom is leaving coworking spaces behind.<\/p>\n
After 15 years of trying to build tech and entrepreneurial ecosystems downtown, Geekdom is shifting strategies. The organization will consolidate its operations onto one floor of the Rand Building on Houston Street and then shift its focus to helping startups through the so-called \u201cvalley of death\u201d \u2014 the gap between launching and profitability.<\/p>\n
CEO Charles Woodin said the change in strategy will start when Geekdom ends its coworking contracts in September and launches a new membership club model in October. Woodin said $100 monthly memberships will include access to Geekdom programs, resources, mentorship and support.<\/p>\n
There are other coworking spaces downtown, he said, and having that space is no longer essential.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sit down with founders and the stories they have and the needs we hear \u2026 Very rarely, if ever, do we hear they need a desk or an office,\u201d Woodin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf me and my team spend less time filling offices, we can spend more time uniting partners and supporting startups,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Geekdom will consolidate nearly 50,000 square feet across four floors of the Rand Building to the building\u2019s third floor, where members can still reserve space for work, but won\u2019t have full time offices or desks.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s part of a deeper change in Geekdom\u2019s focus, though, Woodin said. Much of the organization\u2019s programming has centered around helping San Antonians turn ideas into businesses. Now, Geekdom wants to support people who already have startups off the ground.<\/p>\n
Those are companies that have started operations, but are not yet sustainable or profitable. They\u2019re in what tech investors call the \u201cvalley of death.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would get a lot of exciting ideas coming to the table that would not necessarily become companies down the line,\u201d Woodin said. \u201cThey would have a hard time finding funding locally, they would have a hard time finding customers locally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pat Matthews, the founder of pre-seed venture capital firm Active Capital, said that problem isn\u2019t confined to San Antonio.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost startups everywhere fail because they never find enough customers, never reach product-market fit, or simply run out of money and time before they do. That\u2019s the nature of startups,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Woodin wants Geekdom to help those startups connect with local investors and potential customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re in the thick of it, trying to find funding and customers,\u201d Woodin said. \u201cI view us, as an organization, a founder-success-oriented account manager.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woodin added that there are spaces for people who have fresh ideas. Geekdom runs Launch SA, a program that supports early entrepreneurs, through a contract with the City of San Antonio. Geekdom\u2019s new memberships will still be open to all, he added.<\/p>\n
Biz community weighs in<\/p>\n
The announcement has led to deeper conversations about San Antonio\u2019s startup scene. Matthews has been based in San Antonio since 2007, when Rackspace acquired his company.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s watched businesses deal with challenges here since then. San Antonio is geographically spread out, he said, making it hard to bring startups and their founders together. Austin, 70 miles to the north and far more plugged into the global tech economy, also tends to drain away talented workers and funding.<\/p>\n
Matthews said there are advantages in San Antonio, like low cost of living and less competition for labor and other resources. He\u2019s not sure if Geekdom\u2019s changing strategy will solve San Antonio\u2019s core problems, Matthews added, but he\u2019s seen the organization\u2019s positive impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt introduced thousands of people to entrepreneurship and helped create a startup community where almost none existed before,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cThe recent decision to reduce its coworking footprint also strikes me as a rational response to how founders work today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nick Longo, who founded Geekdom in 2011, endorsed the move in a post on LinkedIn. He said the change would lead to more collaboration.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy take on the changing Geekdom model is that it\u2019s going \u2018back\u2019 to the why we started it,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n