Interview with CoMotion cofounders
Check out the interview below with Ryan Moran (@RPMoran), one of the cofounders of CoMotion on King (@CoMotionOnKing) – Hamilton’s newest and largest co-working space located at 115 King Street East in the old Hamilton Spectator building!
The CoMotion on King Grand Opening is set to go down on Tuesday July 28th from 6:00pm – 10:00pm. Get your ticket to check out the space before they’re gone!
Tell me about yourself.
We are a foursome of Hamilton young leaders. Having known each other, and each other’s skills, in various capacities for a number of years, the opportunity to work together on a project came up and we instantly jumped on it. As such we settled on the idea of a group that was focussed on collaborative work practices, whether it was researching and recommending best practices, or making our own space. Essentially, we wanted to be something that is focused on better ways to work, and better ways of working together, as such, the CoMotion Group was born.
What is CoMotion on King?
CoMotion on King is our first venture as the CoMotion Group. It is a coworking space in the heart of Hamilton’s continuously revitalized core.
How did CoMotion get started, and why are you creating CoMotion?
Expanding on the first question, our main goal in creating CoMotion was not simply to create a group that was in the business of making coworking spaces, but rather to create a group that was in the business of collaboration. With CoMotion on King, we are creating both an eco-system for the development of start-ups and existing small businesses, but also a testing ground to explore better ways of working together.
When will CoMotion open?
CoMotion will open in July of 2015.
What types of membership plans will CoMotion offer?
CoMotion on King will offer three specific membership levels:
– Private Office Membership
– Dedicated Desk Membership
– Commons Membership
Commons Membership is our lowest cost membership. For just $100 per month an entrepreneur can get started in our space, having unlimited access to come in during regular business hours and work in our commons areas and shared desk spaces, enjoying our unlimited coffee, blazing fast Wifi, and the company of other like-minded entrepreneurs. They also have the ability to book meeting room and boardroom time on-demand for client meetings, and have the ability to add-on mail and print services. It’s a great way to start out with very little upfront costs, and expand as your business grows, with no long-term leases, the Commons Membership is month-to-month pay as you go, and provides flexibility to scale up to a dedicated desk or office as the member’s business grows.
We are also exploring an affinity program that would accompany any of these membership levels, the affinity program would be opt in, and allow anyone who has opted in to receive 10% (exploring this, this seems to be the most well received rate so far) off other, “opt-in” CoMotion members services.
Why should people use a co-working space?
There are a number of reasons for becoming a participant in a coworking space. For freelancers, it can be an ideal space to both escape the distractions of a home office or café, while also maintaining a professional address for prospective clients. For start-ups, it can be an ideal place to become a launching pad for the development of your business, you get both a private, professional workplace, but also small-business support ecosystem through the relationships built with fellow businesses sharing the space. For existing firms, whether tech, creative, or professional service, like above it is a perfect place to both maintain a professional setting and address, but also to tap into an eclectic, and far-reaching network, moreover, it can be great for employees who are looking to telecommute if the head office happens to be in a different city.
What sets CoMotion apart from other co-working spaces?
In the Hamilton landscape, CoMotion is unique in that it truly practices what it preaches. Both among the foursome of founders, but also in regards to its relationship with fellow coworking spaces, particularly Platform 302, collaboration and community is at the core of what we do. Of course, speaking of core, location location location. What also sets CoMotion apart is its fantastic location in the heart of Hamilton’s revitalized core, both the thrill of bring back to life a historic building (former headquarters of the Hamilton Spectator) and the excitement surrounding the future of that stretch of King st., with developments like the Condos at the Royal Connaught opening directly across the street, and Serve opening directly below us.
What sorts of events will CoMotion host?
We do have a partnership with Hamilton HIVE to host their regular meetings, as well as are pursuing one with Ladies Learning Code. Some of the Hamilton Freelancers Association Freelancer Meetup events will be held out of the space too.
Editor’s note: Expect some tech and startup oriented events to take place there as well!
What are some of your favourite restaurants, coffee shops and places to go in the #KingEast area?
Hard to say favourites!
Coffee Culture, which is located just down the street from us, has been a huge supporter of CoMotion, offering their space to us for our ‘Coffee and Coworking’ events, as well as was the location we had the majority of our team meetings to brainstorm and plan the build out of the space.
Homegrown, which is on King William street near our building, will be supplying our delicious coffee for CoMotion.
Staxx Chicken and Waffles for a greasy food fix, and then of course, Hamilton classics like Denningers, Black Forest Inn or Chester’s Beers of the World. There is also a burgeoning vintage scene developing along #KingEast, from the classic Out of the Past, to the cool Girl on the Wing, and MODify Your Closet, and to the recent arrivals, Vintage Soul Geek, and the creative workshop, craft, and espresso space Studio 205 (from the awesome people behind MODify).
Hamilton has many creative, innovative, tech, freelance, agency and startup businesses in the 2010s. What impact do you invision CoMotion having on these areas? What do you want CoMotion to do for these communities?
We would love to see CoMotion function as a solid support foundation for these developing businesses. We fully recognize that the success of our clients is intrinsically tied to our own success, so working with them in the context of the space to help build their businesses, and as such their broader regional communities and industries, is a big focus of ours.
Where do you see CoMotion in 1 year? 5 years?
Between one and five years, we will see CoMotion on King become a buzzing hub of small business inventiveness, generating a supportive ecosystem that helps build the next generation of Hamilton, Ontario, and Canadian businesses. Beyond the CoMotion on King space, the CoMotion Group would like to work in the realm of producing better ways for people to work together, researching and recommending best practices in collaborative and community environments. Whether this is as a consultancy, working with existing firms to help transform their space and practices, or continuing to develop our own spaces, either like CoMotion on King, or creating something new altogether. Our core focus is on collaboration and community building, so anything that takes us down those roads will be a right fit.
How can the community in Hamilton help you make CoMotion a success?
Like we said above, the success of our clients means our own success. So the best way for the Hamilton community to help is to support freelancers, entrepreneurs, start-ups, and existing small businesses. Whether this is through political and administrative support at the city hall or provincial legislative level, or from the perspective of local businesses looking to our client’s services as both viable and valuable. On a broader level, the Canadian persona tends to be very risk averse, our entrepreneurial spirit, by comparison to other western identities, is very conservative. The best way for anyone in and across Canada to support freelancers, entrepreneurs, start-ups, existing SMEs, and coworking spaces is to simply take chances, and, if we’re going to avoid anything, let it not be risk, but complacency.
