NextSpace: A Co-Working Community Takes Office Space to the Next Level

NextSpace is a co-working space
located in California.

NextSpace is not your typical office space.  With an idea paint wall, a bustling central café, and even an upcoming anti-Valentine’s Day party, NextSpace is, without a doubt, anything but ordinary.  But for many entrepreneurs and freelancers in California, this is a good thing.

NextSpace is an innovative and collaborative workspace located in both San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California.  The two locations have been specifically designed for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and creative class professionals who are looking to succeed in the 21^st century knowledge economy.  But according to Rebecca Brian, co-founder of NextSpace San Francisco, as well as many of NextSpace’s tenants, the office space is so much more than that.

“My partner and I see NextSpace as two pieces,” says Brian.  “Community first, space second.  Both pieces provide the infrastructure that an entrepreneur needs to accelerate a business.  It’s all about being connected.”

Located in what Brian refers to as the “nexus of the city” (2nd and Market), NextSpace San Francisco is a modern and innovative co-working space that banishes all signs of isolation that many work-from-home entrepreneurs seem to face.  And with collaborative tables, idea paint for brainstorming, numerous white boards, a centrally-located café, a shared printer, as well as member happy hours and team lunches, it’s no wonder many entrepreneurs run successful businesses from inside the walls of NextSpace—simply because of collaborative hard work.

“NextSpace is an incredible environment, full of very cool people doing interesting stuff,” states Spencer Lindsay, founder of Lindsay Digital and tenant of NextSpace.  “Walking the hallways, you can hear conversations that range from music synthesizer algorithms to invertebrate biology to iPhone development.  It’s this awesome mix of creativity and talent that brought me here in the first place.”*

But can an office space push the boundaries even further?  Think Big Partners believes that it can.  That’s why TBP has taken the same beliefs, values and opportunities that NextSpace applies and has brought it to the Midwest.  bizperc, Kansas City’s newest mentorship-based business incubator and startup accelerator, incorporates the same co-working model of NextSpace and adds its own Midwestern flare and necessary startup resources.

These co-working spaces are just what this nation needs in order to produce more successful businesses and tight-knit entrepreneurial communities.  Rebecca Brian puts it best: “It’s true that entrepreneurs have a huge generosity of spirit.  No one is a successful entrepreneur by themselves—they have advisors, mentors, help.  To be able to bring that to a high number of people for not a whole lot of money and continue to help the way the world is moving is what we want to do.”

*Quote developed from NextSpace.com.

Written by Allison Way.  Allison is a writer and videographer for Think Big Partners, Kansas City’s newest mentorship-based business incubator and startup accelerator.  To read more of Allison’s work, please visit the Kansas City Entrepreneurship Examiner as well as her articles on Helium, BrooWaha, eZine and Newsvine.