Today more than ever, smaller towns and even rural areas want to support local entrepreneurs, business owners, and even remote workers, with the workspace, amenities, and community they need to be productive and stay connected. But it’s hard. 

Brian Watson - Co-founder of Proximity and now Co-founder of Alt Space, shares his thesis on how to make small-town coworking work by using automation to build the first sustainable rural coworking brand.

Alt Space exists to connect small businesses, entrepreneurs, and remote workers to the tools, resources, and people they need in order to be successful. We believe in the power of community and collaboration, and know that by working together we can accomplish the impossible.

In this episode, we talk about:

- Catching up with Brian - leaving Proximity, moving to Telluride, co-founding Alt Space

- The problem Brian is solving with Alt Space

- The economic development opportunity in small towns/rural areas (esp. post-COVID)

- Why grant-funded spaces aren’t sustainable (most of the time)

- How the Alt Coworking model is set up to be an automated workspace

- The Alt Coworking tech stack

- What the digital layer of programming and community will offer to the network of member spaces

- What type of space this model can work for

- What’s working well with the model

- What are the challenges that they’re still solving

- Brian's 5-year vision for the platform

 

Everything Coworking Featured Resources:

Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space

Community Manager University

Creative Coworking Partnerships: How to negotiate and structure management agreements from the landlord and operator perspective

 

Resources Mentioned in this Podcast:

Brian on LinkedIn

Alt Space website

Proximity space management software