Bull City Co-working brings entrepreneurs together

Space sharing in the Bull City may soon go beyond dorm rooms.

Co-working—the concept of independent professionals sharing a single corporate-modeled workspace—is a growing trend in Durham. Bull City Co-working, a locally funded start-up, is scheduled to open Nov. 8 on Main Street, just a few blocks away from the city’s downtown district. According to the group’s website, $3,021 out of the goal amount of $7,200 has been raised as of Wednesday night to launch the new space.

“We felt that Durham lacked a simple, affordable co-working space, where people from all sorts of professional backgrounds could come to work together,” said Brian Rascoe, co-founder of Bull City Co-working.

A traditional co-working space incorporates all the aesthetic norms of a standard office environment while catering to the needs of the self-employed. Those who partake in the program often choose to have a desk, a booth or even an office within the larger communal space. Co-working spaces already exist in more than 50 countries. Although venues such as Bull City Forward and the Exchange provide mutual business spaces for local innovators, Bull City Co-working is one of the first projects dedicated specifically to co-working.

The benefits of co-working can be seen specifically in Durham, Rascoe noted.

Rather than simply sell space to anyone who is willing to pay and let each business run its course, Bull City Co-working plans to group freelancers with similar interests together in the same space, Rascoe said. Doing so will foster a sense of community and facilitate collaboration through mutual business interests, he added.

A monthly membership costs $133 and includes complimentary coffee, parking and Wi-Fi. For $327 per month, workers can have their own desk, file cabinet and shelf space, according to Bull City Co-working’s website.

This kind of setup has the potential to strengthen relationships among peer businesses in Durham.

“You never know who you’ll meet and how a mutual benefit could be established,” Rascoe said.

Co-working proponents maintain that being part of a workplace environment can increase worker satisfaction and productivity, which in turn, can increase profits.

Chrisopher Gergen, director of the Duke Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative, said he supports the Bull City Co-working project in Durham because it can potentially stimulate start-up activity and strengthen the city’s economy.

“This is a good thing for Durham, in that it will continue to stimulate Durham’s entrepreneurial culture and attract people who will contribute to our economic growth as a city and will continue to enrich our creative class of people in our community who are trying to drive new innovations,” Gergen said.

Although the Bull City Co-working project is still in its beginning stages, it is set to be a future key player in Durham’s local business scene, Gergen said, adding that this movement’s success could lift Durham’s economic tide.

“The more we have of this, the better,” he said.

Students interested in entrepreneurship noted the importance of such spaces in the world of start-up ventures.

Junior Fabio Berger, co-founder of InCube, Duke’s entrepreneurship-themed selective living group, said co-working could improve workspace environments.

“I think that co-working spaces are a great solution for any entrepreneur,” Berger said. “As most entrepreneurial ventures begin as two-person teams, being in a buzzing working environment can help create an energetic workspace.”

Berger added that co-working can better facilitate collaboration needed in an ideal workspace.

“Ideas sometimes come from the most unexpected places and bouncing concepts off of other coworkers not involved in the project can vastly improve it for the better,” he said.

Senior Chong Ni, president of Duke Venture Forward, noted that co-working can be more cost-effective for many entrepreneurs.

“In a world where cost management is so important, this a way to control costs while having access to a lot of resources that are necessary for entrepreneurial growth and development,” Ni said.

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