What is Coworking?

What is Coworking? It is easiest to answer that question with a story that starts a long time ago during the Age of the Monolith Corporation.

Back then, size equaled success, and people measured seniority in decades, not years. But as companies grew, the divide between the factory floor and the corner office grew wider. Innovation and creativity dwindled. As the years passed, the stability and safety of the corporation did little to feed eager minds new to the professional world and they began to break away from the pack. The Age of the Startup was born.

These new, smaller companies were more nimble and able to capitalize on emerging markets and utilize the newest technologies. But success came quickly, and with success, came growth. The once-young Startups soon became Established Companies with hundreds or even thousands of employees. These Established Companies clung to the image of a startup, though their original soul was lost. Again, individual thinkers broke away to go it alone, thus heralding the start of a new era: the Age of the Independent Contractor.

In this bright new age, a party of one became free to go wherever she chose, pursuing any avenue deemed fit. No compromises on time or values were needed and dreams did not need to be diluted to fit into some greater vision. But the sense of community office life brought with it was also lost. Coffee shops tried to fill the void, but unreliable wi-fi and mid-day mom/baby conventions made productivity difficult. One more step was needed to bring us into a truly gilded age.

Now, office nomads are once again starting to band together, on our own terms. We need an office to go to, when we want to go to one, complete with printers, high-speed internet access and community. We share space, yet retain our freedom. We now move into the Age of Coworking.