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Coffee, Co-working and Crash Pads in Toronto

Editors Note: This is the first post by Andrew Peek at Jet Cooper. I love the concept of shared spaces for the collisions of ideas. Albert and I talked about this back at Bubbleshare. I know that it is part of the ethos at the Kontagent offices in SF. And I know it’s part of the culture at Extreme Ventures, where I’m camping while starting up. It reminds me of the “Responsible use of Shared Resources” philosophy from SCS at CMU, basically you’re responsible for not ruining it for everyone else don’t abuse the privilege. The open door policy is a great way to allow for new collisions whether that’s new ideas, new employees, or just new connections. @davidcrow

Chalks

If you are an entrepreneur in Toronto, you are probably familiar with the various coffee shops, co-working spaces and wi-fi zones available to you as pseudo-offices. You might even have a pattern of Foursquare check-ins that run like clockwork throughout the week.Steven Johnson refers to spaces like these (noting England’s transition from pubs to coffee houses) as environments where ideas can have sex. At Jet Cooper, we like that.

While it takes a serious commitment to invent and scale something the size of a CSI (Centre for Social Innovation), it isn’t all that hard to contribute something – even if it’s just a few desks – to the people who might be one good conversation away from a big idea. It’s for that reason that we’ve kept a handful of desks available in our office since day one. Even now, as we plan for our next office furniture re-arrangement, we try to keep in mind the people we haven’t met yet.

Thinking back on it, it has been a wonderful way of attracting a lot of bright people, which on it’s own is a great way to expose any team to a city’s creative pulse. And realistically, all it cost was a few extra desks and chairs.

There are no restrictions on who can drop in. You don’t need to be a client, or a partner, or even have a twitter handle. Just stop by and maybe let us know your coming so we can put a beer on your desk.

Consider this a ringing endorsement for this kind of simple contribution. If you have an office, open the door. The correlation between environments and innovation isn’t a secret and as per usual, more good is gooder.

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17 Comments

  1. Great article Andrew. Sharing a workspace is the new way for entrepeurnise to keep cost low but also find inspiration and motivation from others. Longbranch Coworking is also a co-working space in Toronto at the same scale as CSI, but based on the west side of Toronto. We can fit over 100 start-ups at our space with plans starting at $95/month. We use to be an old two-story bowling alley and the benches and allies are preserved in the space.

    I hope you and the readers take the time to check us out by stoping by for a tour or going to http://www.Longbranchcoworking.com

  8. Great first post Andrew! Excited that you’ll be a regular contributor. I love Jet Cooper for many reasons – beanbag chairs, availability of cake and guitars, stellar work to name a few – but I especially love how supportive you are of the local entrepreneurial community. Your space fosters innovation and ideas without even really trying to – it’s inevitable that if you get smart, motivated, startup-minded people in one room they’ll do amazing things.

    Cheers,
    Erin

  9. Great first post Andrew! Excited that you’ll be a regular contributor. I love Jet Cooper for many reasons – beanbag chairs, availability of cake and guitars, stellar work to name a few – but I especially love how supportive you are of the local entrepreneurial community. Your space fosters innovation and ideas without even really trying to – it’s inevitable that if you get smart, motivated, startup-minded people in one room they’ll do amazing things.

    Cheers,
    Erin

  10. Thanks for all the kind words Erin. Not sure how regular my posts will be, but definitely had a great time writing for a wonderfully cultivated audience!

  11. Thanks for all the kind words Erin. Not sure how regular my posts will be, but definitely had a great time writing for a wonderfully cultivated audience!

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Webmentions

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    […] “We help our clients scale by focusing their design priorities. We have a door made of chalk!” […]

  • Quora November 25, 2010

    What are the hotspots in Toronto, Canada where geeks hang out?…

    We’re fortunate that a handful hang out and many more stop by our offices at Jet Cooper.  Some thoughts from our team on coffee, co-working and crash pads in Toronto: http://www.startupnorth.ca/2010/10/29/coffee-coworking-and-crashpad/. There’s also …

  • Quora November 25, 2010

    What are the hotspots in Toronto, Canada where geeks hang out?…

    We’re fortunate that a handful hang out and many more stop by our offices at Jet Cooper.  Some thoughts from our team on coffee, co-working and crash pads in Toronto: http://www.startupnorth.ca/2010/10/29/coffee-coworking-and-crashpad/. There’s also …

  • shiftMode » Blog Archive » Coworking Lite November 25, 2010

    […] Andrew wrote today about a similar effort at Jet Cooper. I encourage you to think of ways you can grow your tribe and our community. While we certainly need bigger scale, longer term plans with projects like the hub and accelerator centre, there are loads of smaller simple things we can do today. […]

  • shiftMode » Blog Archive » Coworking Lite November 25, 2010

    […] Andrew wrote today about a similar effort at Jet Cooper. I encourage you to think of ways you can grow your tribe and our community. While we certainly need bigger scale, longer term plans with projects like the hub and accelerator centre, there are loads of smaller simple things we can do today. […]