The Buzz on Büro.
Press
Jordan Melnick found his first investor at The LAB Miami, a collaborative workspace for entrepreneurs.
LAB co-founder Wifredo Fernandez introduced him to a new member, angel investor Mark Kingdon who had recently moved from New York. Melnick introduced Kingdon to Sktchy, an app he created that has attracted thousands of artists worldwide to create and share their portraits inspired by submitted photos. Kingdon was impressed with the app and the team and further discussions resulted in seed capital.
“We feel very lucky to have hit it off with Mark and grateful to The LAB folks for creating a space where connections like that can happen,” said Melnick.
Connections — in entrepreneur-speak, they are called collisions — are what these workspaces are all about, and an important ingredient of the entrepreneurial ecosystem South Florida is trying to grow. Many of The LAB’s 160 members are technology entrepreneurs and developers, many working in the creative industries; others are social entrepreneurs, investors and service providers. The popular LAB, in an artsy converted warehouse in Wynwood, is one of a dozen or so such spaces — some for co-working, some for mentoring and “incubation” — that have flourished mainly in Miami’s urban core in the last couple of years. For entrepreneurs, they provide fertile ground to work, connect, collaborate and thrive.
As the ecosystem grows, new entrepreneurial spaces are putting down roots and spreading across South Florida.
While options in Miami’s urban core from Midtown to Brickell continue to grow, the new wave of spaces is moving into other entrepreneur-rich parts of South Florida, such as Fort Lauderdale, Coral Gables and Boca Raton. This new group also includes co-working spaces and incubators that cater to specific industries.
Entrepreneurial co-working spaces typically draw a mix of startup companies, consultants and other professionals. Often the spaces provide educational and networking events for members and sometimes, the public. Costs vary, but most run about $200 to $300 a month for full-time use of the co-working space and its amenities; a dedicated desk or four-walled office costs extra. While amenities vary, they all offer wifi, access to conference rooms, generous hours of operation to accommodate night owls and weekend warriors, and of course plenty of java.
“But it’s not really about the space, it’s the community inside,” said Juan Casimiro, who heads Casimiro Global Foundation that teaches entrepreneurial skills to students and micro-businesses around the world. He works at Fort Lauderdale’s Axis Space.
On Las Olas Way fronting the New River, Axis Space is poised to fully open in early fall. The 21,500-square-foot, four-floor 24/7 co-working center has modern offices, co-working desks, a large event area and a host of amenities including a nap room.
The fourth floor, with glass offices and conference rooms in a variety of sizes with river views, is already buzzing. The space will soon have two open floors of communal work space, an event floor and a large shaded (and wired) work space outdoors — this is South Florida, after all. Just as The LAB Miami does, Axis plans to host its own classes and events to benefit entrepreneurs and technologists as well as allow organizations to use the space. Already, Code for Fort Lauderdale, a group that works on technology projects to serve the community, has been meeting there.
Axis Space’s founders purchased the building several years ago. Originally the plan called for executive offices. But about two years ago, after learning about the collaborative spaces popping up in startup communities around the country, the team changed focus and started a new design. As part of its research, Sebastian Vela, co-founder and Axis’s “community chief,” traveled to New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, visiting co-working spaces and learning about their best practices.
The founding team, which also includes Sebastian’s father, Jairo Vela, an architect, and Alex Yokana, a builder, also hired Brett Hudson, formerly business development director at The LAB Miami, as community curator. “We are looking to expand the ecosystem. We want to be part of the larger network — it’s about building it out and expanding the pie,” said Hudson.
The downtown Fort Lauderdale area, central to all of South Florida, is swimming with condos and young professionals. But it lacks cohesion, said Hudson, making it an untapped market for Axis Space. “It looks a lot like Miami a few years ago,” he said.
By pulling nontraditional workers together, spaces like Axis are becoming ecosystem developers that encourage collaborations, said Hudson. And trends are working in their favor: By 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 65 million Americans, or 40 percent of the U.S. workforce, will be independent contractors or solo entrepreneurs. Workspaces that offer educational programming and other opportunities to foster community, innovation, creativity and social interactions will be in demand, Hudson said.
Carlos Zamora of Sensation Enterprises, a small marketing firm, is one of the early adopters at Axis Space. When the home office and the library were no longer working for him, he spent about two months hunting for office space before finding Axis. “Seeing co-working and office space together, we were sold. The emphasis is on community. We all like to share knowledge,” said Zamora, who has already made key connections with developers and designers working at Axis. “The way businesses can grow is helping other businesses.”
Going where the entrepreneurs are is a key strategy. Büro Miami, one of the original co-working spaces in central Miami that opened in 2010, last year opened a second location in the Sunset Harbour neighborhood of South Beach. That office now services 150 members, including many startups, said Michael Feinstein, founder of Büro Group.
As Miami’s tech startup scene has grown, Büro Miami’s flagship center has expanded. In June, Büro’s three-floor Midtown location nearly doubled in size to 18,000 square feet and serves 250 members, including startups such as Everypost, Futbol Sites, Stepflix and Fish Indie.
“We are in expansion mode with plans to open an additional two South Florida locations in 2015,” Feinstein said. Buro has also forged partnerships with co-working spaces around the country, allowing members to work from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other major cities, he said.
Meanwhile, more niche players have moved into the market, joining facilities such as The Innovation Center at the University of Miami Life Science and Technology Park that offers co-working space and offices plus access to shared wet and dry labs and other services to about 25 life science and health-tech companies. It’s a hub for events too, including the eMerge Americas hackathon it hosted in May.
Reportedly in the works is an incubator for cloud technology companies as well as several co-working and incubator spaces geared to creatives and the design community. Last month, Macy’s announced it would be opening an incubator for fashion design in Miami.
Recently opened on Coral Way in Miami is the Center for Social Change, a collaborative work environment for social entrepreneurs and nonprofits. The center itself is a collaboration of Charity Deposits Corp., Charity Services Centers and the new nonprofit entity, Center for Social Change.
“Social innovation is exploding but Florida is lagging behind. There is so much potential,” said Lauren Harper, one of the center’s founders. South Florida has a number of social entrepreneurial ventures in their infancy that need nurturing and funding to get to the “venture-ready” stage, she said. At the same time, nonprofits need to build new, innovative revenue streams to fund their missions. “We are seeing a real need for a social entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
While half the area is still being finished, about a half-dozen organizations with a social purpose have moved in and the space is already taking on a community center feel. When complete there will be nine offices, a yoga and workout room and conference spaces that surround a large open co-working area and kitchen — putting collaboration literally at the center of things, Harper said.
Calling itself “part think tank, part community builder,” the center plans to offer an accelerator and host social entrepreneurial and impact-investing events and workshops on site and at larger venues around South Florida, Harper said.