NextSpace Coworking + Innovation | The (r)evolution of Work.

Last month, NextSpace celebrated its first birthday.  I’m equal parts thrilled and humbled by what NextSpace and our community have accomplished in the last year.  We’ve created a community of over 150 members, we’ve helped stimulate the local economy, we’ve developed a strong relationship with UC Santa Cruz, and we’ve helped reshape the landscape of work.  Not bad for a year’s effort.  I’m grateful to the hundreds of members, supporters, evangelizers, mentors, investors, and teammates who have made our first year a huge success.

But given the current state of the economy, I think I’m most proud of this accomplishment: over the past year, NextSpace, Inc. has created five full- and part-time jobs.  And that number doesn’t take into account the jobs that our members and their companies have created.  At a time when the national unemployment rate is at its highest point in a generation and as the specter of a “jobless recovery” looms large, NextSpace and our members are doing something remarkable:  we’re creating jobs.

How?  By creating the infrastructure and the community that freelancers, independent consultants, and start-ups need to make their businesses successful.  The economic downturn has forced a lot of people into these employment categories and NextSpace has been there to provide a safe haven.  Even better, we’ve provided the networking and collaboration opportunities that many of them needed to land their first gigs, close their first deals, and connect with their first teammates.  And through our sponsorship of Freelance Camp (http://www NULL.freelancecamp NULL.org/), Hope Foundry (http://hopefoundry NULL.com/), Girls in Tech (http://girlsintech NULL.net/), and the UC Santa Cruz Business Plan Competition (http://bizplancontest NULL.soe NULL.ucsc NULL.edu/), we’re providing the training that these new entrepreneurs need to make their ideas fly.

Over the past year, we’ve noticed an interesting trend:  many of the people who have been forced into entrepreneurship (make no mistake, a freelancer is an entrepreneur and I’ve begun using the terms interchangeably) have no intention of ever getting another “real job.”  Sure, they’ve been able to make a living and pay the bills.  But they’re finding that entrepreneurship has a bunch of intangible benefits.  These entrepreneurs like their newfound professional flexibility as opposed to the daily grind.  Many have ditched their daily commutes.  And they’ve become more engaged with their communities and their families.

For many of our members at NextSpace, freelancing and entrepreneurship have ceased to be a stop-gap measure or a “career of last resort.”  Instead, they’re using freelancing to take control of their lives and their careers.  Our members work when and how they want, on projects that make the best use of their skills and passions, and in a way that allows them to more fully integrate work, family, and the environment.

Companies like NextSpace are providing the community and physical infrastructure these entrepreneurs need.  Companies like Elance (http://www NULL.elance NULL.com/) are creating new marketplaces that connect freelancers with clients and provide a virtual space to find, manage, and complete high-quality work.  And (slowly!) policymakers are beginning to consider revamping the outdated legal and regulatory infrastructure that governs the “old” way of working (check out this op-ed (http://www NULL.metrosantacruz NULL.com/metro-santa-cruz/09 NULL.16 NULL.09/news2-0937 NULL.html) that my co-founder Ryan Coonerty and I wrote on healthcare and entrepreneurism).  Collectively, we’re creating a new landscape that allows NextSpace members to choose entrepreneurism as their job, rather than instead of their job.

Which brings me back to job creation.  When Ryan and I were doing our business planning for NextSpace in the spring of 2008, we made a remarkable discovery.  More than 6,000 businesses are licensed to operate in the City of Santa Cruz and nearly two-thirds (dude, two-thirds!) of those businesses have exactly one employee.  So Santa Cruz is a town full of freelancers numbering nearly 4000.  And that number doesn’t count the hundreds of freelancers that haven’t bothered to get a business license.  As Ryan has brilliantly observed, if half of those businesses were able to bring on one more employee, it would be the largest job-creation phenomenon in the history of Santa Cruz.  Imagine replicating that phenomenon in hundreds of communities across the country.  We’d chase away the specter of a “jobless recovery” pretty quickly.

Posted in Jeremy's Blog

By now, almost everyone in the entire known universe has seen the Huffington Post’s mashup of Sarah Palin vs. That Crazy Santa Cruz Lady. (http://www NULL.huffingtonpost NULL.com/2009/07/27/sarah-palin-vs-that-crazy_n_245779 NULL.html) Whatever you may think of the former Veep candidate, the young Santa Cruzan in the video ranting to the city council about pesticides and slavery in an attempt to, um, participate in our local democracy doesn’t do much to dispel a popular stereotype of Santa Cruz: that ours is a quirky, un-serious town.

I won’t try to deny that Santa Cruz is a quirky place. In fact, I wouldn’t want it any other way. What the rest of the world may see as quirky, most of us Santa Cruzans see as tolerant, welcoming, creative, and innovative. Still, I’m troubled by the possibility that the viral spread of the Huffington Post video is giving our fair seaside town a bad rap. So in the interest of providing a more complete version of the character of Santa Cruz, please take a spin through the following few items:

–In this short video (http://www NULL.cruzbusiness NULL.com/the-economic-report-cnn), Greg Gumble (yep, THE Greg Gumble) from The Economic Report shows why Santa Cruz is a unique ecosystem that boasts a balanced lifestyle, a history of innovation, a strong entrepreneurial spirit, and a highly educated workforce. These are the exact ingredients for a strong, vibrant economy and we’ve got more than our fair share of those ingredients in Santa Cruz.

–Santa Cruz is loaded with creative designers, scrappy entrepreneurs, and savvy business people. This video (http://dustynelson NULL.com/index5 NULL.html), produced and directed by NextSpace member Dusty Nelson, features a who’s who of local educators, engineers, bankers, designers, government officials, and CEOs, all offering their pitch on why Santa Cruz is a great place to work, live, and play. Take 10 minutes and watch the whole thing. It’s an awfully damn impressive piece of filmmaking and showcases some of the world-class talent in this town.

–Speaking of world-class talent, check out this Business Week article (http://www NULL.businessweek NULL.com/innovate/next/archives/2009/01/plantronics_alt NULL.html)about Santa Cruz-based Plantronics (http://plantronics NULL.com) and Altec Lansing (http://alteclansing NULL.com/).  Together, these companies racked up six innovation awards at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.  Tens of millions of people all over the world use their award-winning products and every one of those products was designed right here in Santa Cruz.

–What about the money? You need a pile of it to build great companies, not an easy task in these cash-strapped times. But local social networking start-up UserVoice (http://uservoice NULL.com) recently landed $800,000 in seed stage capital. AlgaeOMEGA (http://www NULL.nytimes NULL.com/gwire/2009/05/12/12greenwire-nasa-bags-algae-wastewater-in-bid-for-aviation-12208 NULL.html), a bio-fuels company spun out of research at NASA and UC Santa Cruz, received another $800,000. NextSpace member Carmen Kubas led her company, Lightfoot Industries (http://www NULL.lightfootind NULL.com/), to a third place finish in a regional venture capital competition.  And local heroes 12seconds.tv (http://12seconds NULL.tv/) are luring investors with their new iPhone app and their huge community of users. Want to invest in some of the hottest new companies across a range of industries? Look no further than quirky Santa Cruz.

Like any city, Santa Cruz has lots of faces. We’re a surfing town, a tourist town, and a university town. Despite our depiction in the Huffington Post Santa Cruz is a town that’s building an enviable ecosystem of business, lifestyle, and innovation. What’s our secret? We take ourselves seriously, just not too seriously.

Posted in Jeremy's Blog

As you probably know by now, our mission at NextSpace is (wait for it!) to catalyze local talent, local ideas, and local capital in Santa Cruz to create products, services, and solutions for the global marketplace.  A hugely important repository of talent and ideas and, indirectly, capital is right in our backyard and is, in my humble little opinion, completely underutilized as a community resource:  the University of California Santa Cruz (http://ucsc NULL.edu/public/).

I won’t go into all of the recent and longstanding town-gown issues between the city and UCSC.  Instead, I’ll simply assert that NextSpace cannot reach its full potential as an entrepreneurial catalyst and Santa Cruz cannot claim its rightful place as a world-class innovative community unless we take positive steps to access the wealth of talent and ideas resident in the faculty, students, and staff at UCSC.  So, here are a few examples of what NextSpace and UCSC have done together to build some bridges:

UCSC Business Plan Competition

Last month, UCSC held its first-ever business plan competition (http://bizplancontest NULL.soe NULL.ucsc NULL.edu/).  The inspiration of Steve Bourdow from the Baskin School of Engineering and a group of entrepreneurial undergrads, the competition was a huge success.  Mostly, the competition proved that there is a nascent spirit of entrepreneurship at UCSC.  I served on the competition’s advisory board and helped screen the semi-finalists. And NextSpace was proud to host the semi-final event.  The energy at NextSpace shot up on the day of that event as we were flooded with enthusiastic, eager competitors.  I’m not shy to say that I was incredibly impressed and deeply moved by the passion and the smarts that these kids displayed.  A few of the finalists will be pitching for capital at an event at NextSpace next week, and a couple of the competitors have joined us a members.  It’s safe to say that the competition exceeded everyone’s expectations, marking the beginning of a new era of entrepreneurship at UCSC.  Yeah, that sounds kind of lofty.  But I think it’s true.

Senior Design Competition

Twice a year, seniors in the Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering programs at UCSC participate in a Senior Design (http://www NULL.soe NULL.ucsc NULL.edu/news/event?ID=1662)capstone course.  Students work in cross-disciplinary teams to complete a significant interdisciplinary design project.  At the end of the course they compete for cash prizes and street cred.  This year, NextSpace and the Soquel Group have partnered to offer a prize for the Most Commercializable project.  You can read our fancy press release here (http://www NULL.nextspace NULL.us/files/NS-SG Most Commerical Prize_PR NULL.pdf).  Last week, I spent some time with David Munday, who was the winner in 2007.  He’s now a Ph.D. candidate and the TA for the Senior Design course.  He gave me a quick rundown of the projects that the students are working on this year.  I was blown away.  The competition is tomorrow, June 12th, so stay tuned for results.  I’m prepared to be amazed.  So should you.

Pilot Project for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Now almost a year old, PPIE (http://www NULL.cruzbusiness NULL.com/category/programs/ppie) is a collaboration between the City of Santa Cruz and UCSC.  And from what I can tell, it was one of the first positive steps between the two entities after the settlement of their mega-lawsuit.  PPIE gives undergraduates an opportunity to put their classroom training in business and economics to practical use by working on projects in fields such as alternative energy, medical devices, and transportation systems.  Many of the PPIE students also served as interns for companies at NextSpace such as Quiddities and Open Spectrum.  And I had the honor of speaking to the students at their end-of-year wrap up.  Make no mistake:  the undergraduates at UCSC are smart, serious, and ready to contribute to the Santa Cruz economy.

NextSpace and Shakespeare Santa Cruz

We’ve had a special relationship with Shakespeare Santa Cruz (http://shakespearesantacruz NULL.org/) a world-class reparatory theater company resident at UCSC for a while now.  A couple of SSC board members were among our very first NextSpace members and we’ve supported the organization by providing space for some of their staff and board meetings.  But we’re most proud of the fact that SSC chose NextSpace to host the kickoff of their emergency fundraising campaign.  At that event, I had the pleasure of meeting Marco Barricelli (http://www NULL.shakespearesantacruz NULL.org/about/marco_barricelli NULL.php), SSCs artistic director, who gave the simplest, most impassioned, most articulate defense of the arts and why the arts are a critical part of any community.  Tonight, Marco will be our special guest at a roundtable discussion about the intersection of the arts and technology and how those two sectors overlap.  Along the way, we hope the conversation will broaden into a discussion of the essential ingredients of a world-class creative and innovative community.  But I’m sure of this:  the world-class talent at SSC is an absolutely essential part of the creativity and innovation in Santa Cruz.

So that’s a quick snapshot of what NextSpace and UCSC have done together.  What do you think?  What opportunities might be ahead?  I’ll say it again:  NextSpace in specific, and Santa Cruz in general, cannot reach its full potential unless we work together to unleash the talent, ideas, and capital resident at UCSC.  I’d love to hear your ideas.

Posted in Jeremy's Blog

Holy cow, raise the roof, and batten down the hatches! There has been a veritable deluge of press lately about NextSpace members. If you need any further proof that NextSpace is full talented people with amazing ideas who are committed to putting Santa Cruz on the map as a hub for innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship, well, read on:

The boys from 12seconds.tv (http://12seconds NULL.tv) graced the cover of last week’s Good Times (http://www NULL.gtweekly NULL.com/20090520426926/good-times/covers/the-war-on-solitude) magazine. The article focuses on the meteoric rise of 12seconds. But it also tells the story of how this homegrown Santa Cruz company has relied on community, collaboration, and a ton of hard work to create the world’s coolest social media company.

UserVoice (http://uservoice NULL.com) got some great press in the Wall Street Journal (http://blogs NULL.wsj NULL.com/venturecapital/2009/05/19/newly-funded-uservoice-makes-sense-of-beta-feedback/) recently. Why? Because they just closed an $800,000 angel investment round. ‘Nuff said.

As you may have heard, the economy isn’t doing so hot these days. Small cities like Santa Cruz are getting especially hard hit, leaving our fair seaside town with an $8 million budget shortfall. Literally overnight, NextSpace members Shane and Peter, Inc (http://shaneandpeter NULL.com)., put together an interactive website (http://budget NULL.santacruzcityca NULL.gov/) (with the help of the newly-funded guys from UserVoice (http://uservoice NULL.com)) to help local citizens understand the scope of the crisis. But here’s the cool part: citizens can use the site to suggest ways to close the gap, giving elected leaders immediate, aggregated feedback on what their constituents think. Check out the Sentinel article here (http://www NULL.santacruzsentinel NULL.com/ci_12440194). Attention governments of all sizes: small, agile innovators might be your best bet for solving our current financial mess.

Economy got you down? NextSpace members Sean Tario and Nick Sobrak-Seaton are here to cheer you up. Sean and Nick with the help of fellow ‘spacers Ryan Coonerty and the team at Parachute Creative (http://parachutecreative NULL.com/) just launched a campaign called Santa Cruz Makes Me Happy (http://happysantacruz NULL.com/). You can read the press here (http://www NULL.santacruzsentinel NULL.com/ci_12450509). Sure, this site might sound a little fluffy. But attitude is everything in life. And with so many amazing attributes and so many talented people, it’s hard not to feel just a little cheerful here in Surf City.

NextSpace member Sun McNamee was profiled in a recent article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel (http://www NULL.santacruzsentinel NULL.com/ci_12286963). A filmmaker, editor, and designer, Sun is a part of Awake Media (http://awakemedia NULL.net). Most impressive is her affiliation with Youth Empowering Youth, where she mentors high school girls in the making of short documentary films and teaches them the power of media.

The Sentinel also profiled (http://www NULL.santacruzsentinel NULL.com/ci_12450508) NextSpace member Rich Mundell from Udutu (http://udutu NULL.com). An e-learning company based in British Columbia and Santa Cruz, Udutu boasts some big clients like Microsoft and the United Nations. Which means Udutu does a nice job of validating the NextSpace mission of making Santa Cruz a hub for providing products, services, and solutions for the global marketplace.

Then there’s the heartbreakingly wonderful story of NextSpace member Dave Wardle and his daughter Sofia. Dave took a sabbatical from Critical Networks to create the Sofia Maze (http://www NULL.sofiamaze NULL.com/), an interactive game to honor the memory of his daughter, who recently passed away from a rare disease called histiocytosis. Dave’s efforts garnered plenty of press and attention. This clip (http://www NULL.ksbw NULL.com/news/19275421/detail NULL.html) from local NBC affiliate KSBW does a nice job of telling Dave and Sofia’s touching story.

Last, but certainly not least, is a profile of the Q-Mamas from Quiddities (http://quiddities NULL.com/). The headline of the article (http://www NULL.santacruzsentinel NULL.com/ci_12080200) in the Sentinel perfectly captures the spirit of Quiddities, the spirit of NextSpace, and the spirit of this community: Santa Cruz Tech Company Thrives on Collaboration. That just about sums it up.

Whew, okay, that’s quite a round-up. Whenever people ask us about the early success of NextSpace, we’re always quick to give the credit back to our members. They’re the ones on the front lines of innovation and entrepreneurship. And this deluge of press is proof of their hard work and effort. Things are happening in Santa Cruz, folks. Come on down, check it out, and get on board.

Posted in Jeremy's Blog

At NextSpace, our mission is to catalyze local talent, local ideas, and local capital in Santa Cruz to create products, service, and solutions for the global marketplace.  One way we accomplish that mission is by producing our quarterly NextSpace Investors Forum.  Tonight, five great local companies will be pitching to a group of two dozen local angel investors.  We’re proud to say that all five companies fall under the broad umbrella of clean, green, sustainable, and local.  Here’s the low-down:

1) ZoomPool (http://zoompool NULL.com/) will be presenting their platform for a safer, more reliable rideshare/carpool matching service.

2) Studio Cruz (http://studiocruz NULL.com/), an industrial design company, will be presenting a prototype for their disruptive innovation: a continuously variable gear system for bicycles.

3) RideSpring (http://ridespring NULL.com/)will be presenting their web-based service that make alternative commuting easier, more convenient, and more rewarding.

4) Verdafero (http://www NULL.verdafero NULL.com/), an enterprise software company, will be presenting their enterprise-based SaaS product for managing your company’s triple bottom line.

5) Neighborsville (http://neighborsville NULL.com/), a Web 2.0 company, will be presenting their hyper-local social networking platform.

What about the angel investors?  Here’s a flavor of who will be there: current and former CEO’s of publicly-traded companies; current and former senior managers at big companies like Intel and eBay; serial entrepreneurs who have founded and led companies to seven-, eight-, and nine-figure exits; attorneys with plenty of experience with start-up deal flow; former hedge fund managers and private equity managers; serial angel investors who have made early placements in companies like Google and Sun Microsystems; and former statewide office-holders (these guys might not write checks, but I bet they know people who will….!).

So, local talent? Check. Local ideas? Check. Local capital? Check. Product, services, and solutions for the global marketplace? Check, check, and….check.

Something very special is happening in Santa Cruz around entrepreneurship and sustainability.  Thanks to all five of tonight’s companies for having the brains and the guts to be a part of it.  And thanks to the NextSpace community–and all the entrepreneurs, geeks, and innovators in Santa Cruz–for creating a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in this amazing little seaside city.

Meanwhile, if you’re an entrepreneur looking for a chance to pitch, or if you’re an investor looking for a chance to help build the Santa Cruz economy, please drop us a line (nextspace null@null nextspace NULL.us).  I’ll say it again: Something very special is happening in Santa Cruz around entrepreneurship and sustainability.  Get on board.

Posted in Jeremy's Blog

The other day, I spent the morning hanging out with Margaret Rosas, Founder and Chief Strategist at the strategic web consultancy Quiddities (http://www NULL.quiddities NULL.com/). The Santa Cruz Sentinel had just run a story on Margaret and her team (http://www NULL.santacruzsentinel NULL.com/localnews/ci_12080200) (we lovingly call them The Q-Mamas) about how their company and our town thrive on collaboration. As we washed coffee cups (a morning ritual at NextSpace), Margaret and I reminisced about the first time we spoke to each other over the phone in October 2007 and how we both lamented the lack of a vibrant, collaborative tech scene here in Santa Cruz. And then we marveled at how far our town and our amazingly innovative tech community have come lately.

So, inspired by my conversation with Margaret, here’s a quick (okay, not so quick!) run-down of what’s happened over the past 18 months regarding the tech scene in Santa Cruz. Please take a look. And if I’ve missed something, please drop a comment and let me know. Meanwhile, I think you’ll be pretty damn impressed with the state of the tech community in Santa Cruz.

Geek Dinners

It all started on November 30, 2007 with the inaugural Santa Cruz Geek Dinner. Local visionaries Margaret Rosas, Sean Tario, and Sol Lipman decided to put a stake in the ground, gather some talented people, and start building a community. One of the attendees, David Beach, predicted that this dinner would be the first of a series of events that would put Santa Cruz back on the tech map. Beach’s words proved prophetic. Through the Geek Dinners, Beach met Sol Lipman. Together, along with Jakey Knobel, they started 12seconds.tv (http://12seconds NULL.tv), the hottest social media start-up on the planet. I think that counts as “putting Santa Cruz back on the tech map.” The Geek Dinners continue to draw dozens of talented Santa Cruzans every month.

Santa Cruz Geeks

Hard on the heels of the Geek Dinners came the Santa Cruz Geeks (http://santacruzgeeks NULL.com/), a virtual and physical community of local techies. Now over 250 strong, the Geeks form the backbone of the Santa Cruz tech community. Most important, the Geeks prove that this town is chock full of talented, innovative, successful tech professionals who are passionately committed to building great companies in Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz Design + Innovation Center

January 2008 marked the official launch of the Santa Cruz Design + Innovation Center (http://www NULL.designsc NULL.org/). Recognizing that Santa Cruz is a hub of world-class design talent, the SCD+IC was formed as an advocacy group to promote that talent to the rest of the world. Over 300 people packed into an auditorium at Plantronics (http://www NULL.plantronics NULL.com/) for the SCD+IC’s launch event, proving that the design and technology community in Santa Cruz was hungry for opportunities to organize, network, and collaborate. Aside: Plantronics is one of Santa Cruz’s great home-grown companies. They designed the headset that Neil Armstrong wore on the moon in 1969 and have been designing great products in Santa Cruz ever since. Rockstar/Boy-Genius Darrin Caddes is Plantronics VP of Design and is a huge (and remarkably humble) fixture in the Santa Cruz tech scene.

Santa Cruz New Technology Alliance MeetUp

Another local visionary, Doug Erickson, started the Santa Cruz New Tech Alliance MeetUp (http://www NULL.meetup NULL.com/newtech-86/) in February 2008. Like many of us in Santa Cruz, Doug has deep professional connections in Silicon Valley. But he knew very few of his fellow Santa Cruzans. Yet, he had a pretty strong hunch that there was a community-in-waiting of local techies in this town. So Doug started the New Tech MeetUp. He had three goals: create a monthly networking event for Santa Cruz high tech professionals, increase our exposure to new technologies that would tickle our geek gears, and stimulate beachhead startups. With humble beginnings (39 attendees crammed into the police department’s community room with no Internet access), Doug has grown the MeetUp into an organization nearly 600 strong.

Approval of the Delaware Addition

In July 2008, the Santa Cruz City Council unanimously approved the Delaware Addition (http://www NULL.delaware-addition NULL.com/) project. Designed by local architect Mark Primack (http://www NULL.california-architects NULL.com/index NULL.php?seite=ca_profile_architekten_detail_us&navigation=76908&system_id=16150&filter_abc=P) and spearheaded by Craig French from Redtree Properties, (http://redtreeproperties NULL.com/) this 20 acre, LEED-certified, mixed-use, live/work development on the city’s Westside will provide the infrastructure that the next generation of Santa Cruz companies will need. Most important, the approval of Delaware Addition is the first major piece of public policy indicating that this community understands the direction that the local economy is heading: towards smaller, collaborative, environmentally-minded, high-tech businesses.

Freelance Camp

For a long time, the Santa Cruz tech scene has been famously decentralized. Many Santa Cruzans work as consultants, independent contractors, or telecommuters for larger companies in Silicon Valley and throughout the rest of the world. But independents lack opportunities for community, collaboration, and connection. So Shane Pearlman and Peter Chester (they run a company called, you guessed it, Shane & Peter, Inc. (http://shaneandpeter NULL.com/)) decided to herd the cats. In August 2008, they hosted Freelance Camp (http://freelancecamp NULL.org/) for over 125 freelancers and independent consultants. This barcamp-style unconference provided yet another community-building opportunity as local freelancers shared ideas on how to run a one-person shop. Even better, Freelance Camp has become a home-grown national phenomenon, with similar conferences popping up in places like Miami, Houston, and Austin. Hey, just one more step in putting Santa Cruz back on the tech map.

Digital Media Factory

Santa Cruz is building a new digital information industry. And Marty Collins, CEO of the Digital Media Factory (http://digitalmediafactory NULL.net/) and thirty-year industry veteran, is leading the charge. In Marty’s words, the Digital Media Factory is a multi-business facility for the design, development, production, replication, management, and distribution of digital information products. In my words, DMF is pure genius. Why? Because Marty believes in community. He’s gathered over a dozen digital media businesses under one roof to share resources, talent, and opportunities. Even more important, Marty is leveraging the immense talent pool at UC Santa Cruz. He’s developed partnerships with UC Santa Cruz’s Digital Arts and New Media program, as well as the UCSC Baskin School of Engineering. Which brings me to.

UC Santa Cruz/City of Santa Cruz Legal Settlement

Universities are amazing repositories of talents, ideas, and innovations. From an economic perspective, universities are fertile ground for new companies that can boost the economies of their host cities. Heck, Silicon Valley was practically built by Stanford spin-outs. Why can’t that phenomenon happen with UC Santa Cruz and the City of Santa Cruz? It can. And it will, especially now that the UCSC and the City have stopped suing the bejeezus out of each other over UCSC’s long-range development plan. The legal settlement, announced in August 2008 (http://www NULL.scsextra NULL.com/story NULL.php?sid=78822), marks the beginning of what I call “The Great Thaw.” It’s high time for the UCSC to show some leadership in using its pool of talent to help build local business and the local economy. And it’s even higher time for the citizens of Santa Cruz to recognize that UCSC is a tremendous asset to the community, rather than a liability. I’m incredibly optimistic.

NextSpace Grand Opening

Amidst all of this excitement, NextSpace Coworking + Innovation, Inc. officially opened its doors on October 1, 2008. We started with a handful of true-believing early adopters.  But in six short months, our community of innovators has grown to over 100 strong.  What’s happening at NextSpace?  A lot. Take a look at this post on The NextSpace Effect for a quick rundown. Mostly, I want to acknowledge that NextSpace would not be possible without the vision, passion, and hard work of all of the people mentioned in this post.

Radio Engage

New media? Old media? The smart ladies at Quiddities think you can have both.  They received a Knight News Challenge (http://www NULL.newschallenge NULL.org/)grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to fund their new project Radio Engage (http://www NULL.radioengage NULL.com/).  In their words, Radio Engage is a platform allowing public radio stations to create a web presence that will draw their local community in and invite them to participate through social media.  In my words, Radio Engage will totally revolutionize how public radio stations interact with their listeners.  Quiddities teamed up with Santa Cruz’s own KUSP (http://www NULL.kusp NULL.org) as a test platform for Radio Engage.  As part of the project, Quiddities hosted Public Media Camp (http://barcamp NULL.org/PublicMediaCamp)in November 2008, bringing  public media and social media experts from around the country to Santa Cruz to discuss the future of public radio.  Are you catching the themes that we’re building here: high tech, collaborative, community-based business and innovation.

Pilot Project for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Remember how I said a minute ago that I was incredibly optimistic about the emerging relationship between the City of Santa Cruz and UC Santa Cruz? Here’s the first proof point: The Pilot Project for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Hatched in December 2008 by Bonnie Lipscomb (City of Santa Cruz Director of Economic Development) and Nirvikar Singh (Special Assistant to the Chancellor at UCSC), PPIE brings together undergraduate business teams from UCSC with local business mentors. The first round of projects focused on bicycles and other forms of alternative transportation, a perfect fit for the tech-savvy, sustainability-focused crowd in Santa Cruz.

Launch of CruzBusiness.com

Peter Koht, the economic development coordinator for the City of Santa Cruz, is a man on a mission. Peter knew that the City offered plenty of economic development resources, but those resources were often disparate and hard to find. Seemingly overnight, Peter launched CruzBusiness.com (http://cruzbusiness NULL.com/), an interactive, community-based portal for information about starting and sustaining a business in Santa Cruz. Peter’s work is an important step in accomplishing his and the City’s mission of recruiting, attracting, and retaining great businesses in Santa Cruz.

The Envision Santa Cruz Summit

In March 2009, Sean Tario (man, that guy is everywhere!) hosted the first Envision Santa Cruz Summit (http://santacruzsummit NULL.com/)at the UCSC University Center. Sean’s objectives for the Summit were to assemble thought leaders in local entrepreneurship and economic development, to celebrate the amazing companies and resources in Santa Cruz, and to inspire Santa Cruzans to take a more active role in building their local economy. Over 150 people showed up to discuss the economic future of our community. Decades from now, when someone writes a book about the economic history of Santa Cruz, Sean’s summit will definitely be one of the highlights.

Girls in Tech

The latest group on the scene is the Santa Cruz chapter of Girls in Tech (http://girlsintech NULL.net/tag/santa-cruz/). Founded by Seana Sullivan and Victoria Crimmins, this group focuses on “engagement, education and empowerment of like-minded, professional, intelligent and influential women in technology.”  Their first event brought author and journalist Sarah Lacy (http://sarahlacy NULL.com) to town. More important, this group provides a much-needed acknowledgement and celebration of the critical contributions that women make to our local tech scene.

UC Santa Cruz Business Plan Competition

Right now, as I type, as you read, 16 business teams from UCSC are going head-to-head in the first-ever UCSC Business Plan Competition (http://bizplancontest NULL.soe NULL.ucsc NULL.edu/). The semi-finals are on April 17, 2009, and the finals are in late May 2009. Local investors, bankers, and business leaders are judging the competition. Remember how I said a minute ago that I was incredibly optimistic about the emerging relationship between the City of Santa Cruz and UC Santa Cruz? The UCSC Business Plan Competition is proof point #2. Stay tuned.

Right, so, that’s the low-down. This has been a long post, mostly because so many cool things are happening in Santa Cruz around high tech, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and community-based economies. We’ve come a long way as a community in the past 18 months. So where are we now?  I think the best benchmark is the number of companies that have started up or are ready to scale here in Santa Cruz.  Here’s a quick list of just a handful:  12seconds (http://12seconds NULL.tv), UserVoice (http://uservoice NULL.com), Pergamum Systems (http://www NULL.pergamumsystems NULL.com/), ProductOps (http://productops NULL.com/), Intuvo (http://www NULL.intuvo NULL.com/), RideSpring (http://www NULL.ridespring NULL.com), ZoomPool, (http://www NULL.zoompool NULL.com) Verdafero (http://www NULL.verdafero NULL.com), Zazengo (http://www NULL.zazengo NULL.com), Studio Cruz (http://www NULL.studiocruz NULL.com), Chime Interactive (http://www NULL.chimeinteractive NULL.com/), Virtual Venues (http://www NULL.virtualvenues NULL.net/), Market Motive (http://www NULL.marketmotive NULL.com), and Digital Media Factory (http://www NULL.digitalmediafactory NULL.net).  Not too shabby for this beautiful, brilliant, creative, innovative little seaside town.

As I said at the top, please comment if I’ve missed something in this lengthy round-up. Meanwhile, what’s next? I have some ideas. What are yours?

Posted in Jeremy's Blog

We created NextSpace with the hope that our members would find ways (as our tagline says) to connect, catalyze, and create new ideas. I use the word hope here on purpose: we weren’t exactly sure if or how our members would come together, let alone trust each other enough to collaborate on projects. But we knew that Santa Cruz and the ridiculously talented people who live and work here is the kind of place where this slightly hair-brained experiment just might work. We even gave this grand experiment a name: the NextSpace Effect.

After nearly six months in business, I’m proud and humbled to report that the NextSpace Effect is in full swing. Here are just three examples of the connecting, catalyzing, and creating that are happening here at NextSpace:

Ditech Networks™ TokTok

Ditech Networks (http://www NULL.ditechnetworks NULL.com/united_states_home NULL.html) is a publicly-traded high tech company in Mountain View, CA, that delivers voice quality solutions to the world’s communications industry. NextSpace member Alan Hawrylyshen is the director of strategic technology applications for Ditech and uses NextSpace as a remote workspace (his carrel is brimming with routers and CAT-5 cable and lots of empty Lulu’s coffee cups). At NextSpace, Alan began working on a project to mash the mobile phone and web world together. Pretty soon, he found a great team of collaborators for the project in his fellow NextSpace members. Alan met Galen O’Hanlon and his team of developers at Gohanlon LLC (http://plastictrophy NULL.com), and through the relationship with GoHanlon, Ditech ended up using Quiddities (http://www NULL.quiddities NULL.com), Harlan Lewis (http://www NULL.harlanlewis NULL.com/), and additional Santa Cruz design resources for the consumer aspect of the project. Ditech is also engaged with NextSpace member company UserVoice (http://www NULL.uservoice NULL.com) to handle their site feedback and customer feature requests. The result of Ditech (and Alan)’s efforts is TokTok, an application that provides voice-enabled access to your email, calendar, task lists, and social networks during a phone call. Ditech launched TokTok at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, Spain in February 2009 and will begin a public beta phase in early May. The NextSpace mission statement talks about creating products, services, and solutions for the global marketplace. TokTok is one of our first steps in accomplishing that mission, brought to you by the NextSpace Effect.

California Energy Initiative

One of our member companies at NextSpace is Awake Media (http://www NULL.awakemedia NULL.net/), run by a fabulously creative woman named Lakshmi Narayan. A very smart guy named Tom Rosewall hired Awake to help him launch his new venture, the California Energy Initiative (http://california-energy NULL.com/) (CEI). CEI’s mission is to support California’s decision makers in successfully identifying and implementing strategies to respond to the causes and impacts of climate change, utilizing practical, accurate and cost-effective solutions. Tom asked Lakshmi to do the branding, logo, and website for CEI.

Here’s the cool part: the more time Tom spent at NextSpace for meetings, the more members he met. And the more members he met, the more he discovered that NextSpace is full of talented people who could help him launch his company. So Tom hired Dusty Nelson from Dusty Nelson Pictures (http://www NULL.dustynelson NULL.com/) to create a bunch of kick-ass videos for the site. Sandy Skees, president of Communications4Good (http://www NULL.communications4good NULL.com/), helped Tom with the messaging and PR for CEI. Tom hired Harlan Lewis from Harlan Lewis Design (http://www NULL.harlanlewis NULL.com/) to develop the website code. And ScratchSpace (http://www NULL.scratchspace NULL.com/), run by Chief Rocket Scientist Chris Miller, hosts the CEI site.

Tom Rosewall is certainly the brains and energy behind CEI. But Tom has graciously pointed out that his company was “brought into the world through the NextSpace Effect.

Lightfoot Industries

NextSpace member and Santa Cruz native Carmen Kubas has a vision. And the NextSpace community is helping her fulfill it. Carmen has a long history in the restaurant industry, has a passion for sustainability, and has years of experience working with at-risk teens. She is combining those disparate interests into launching Lightfoot Industries (http://www NULL.lightfootconsulting NULL.com/LIghtfoot_Industries/Welcome NULL.html) (LFI). LFI couples a for-profit restaurant and retail line with a non-profit Sustainability Lab. Together these organizations provide apprenticeship-based work experience in sustainable industry and a sustainable life skills curriculum.

Compared to other ventures at NextSpace, LFI is on the low tech end of the spectrum. But LFI stands as a great example of how different business can thrive at NextSpace thanks to the NextSpace Effect. NextSpace members Alan Harlwyshen (Ditech Networks (http://www NULL.ditechnetworks NULL.com/united_states_home NULL.html)) and Jason Liske (from Redwood Design (http://www NULL.redwooddesign NULL.com/)) helped Carmen with technical issues. Member Ian Stock (Enterprelaw (http://www NULL.entreprelaw NULL.com/)) provided legal help. And NextSpace co-founders Ryan Coonerty and Jeremy Neuner helped Carmen make connections with the city’s economic development office and with other local non-profits.

Lightfoot Industries will launch their pilot in a revitalizing area of Santa Cruz later this year. We’re proud that the NextSpace community will play a role. As Carmen says, NextSpace rocks! And we didn’t even pay her to say that.

So far, so good. Like I said, we’re equal parts proud and humbled by what’s happening here at NextSpace. Are you a NextSpace member with a story about the NextSpace effect? Got a similar story from elsewhere in the world? We’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment or drop us a line at nextspace@nextspace.us (nextspace null@null nextspace NULL.us).

Posted in Jeremy's Blog

Jeremy is ready for anything

One hundred days ago, we launched a new company in Santa Cruz called NextSpace Coworking + Innovation, Inc.  NextSpace is an entrepreneurial catalyst.  Our mission is to catalyze local ideas, local talent, and local capital in Santa Cruz to create products, services, and solutions for the global marketplace.  It’s a pretty bold-sounding mission.  And, like most entrepreneurs, we knew that we were slightly crazy for quitting our jobs and starting something so bold.  But we also knew that Santa Cruz has an abundance of those three resources: talent, ideas, and capital and that if we could form a space and a community around those resources, some great things would start to happen. It was a bit of a leap of faith, we admit.  But rather than putting that faith in ourselves, we put our faith in Santa Cruz and the talented, techie, innovative, creative, ambitious people who call this place home.  So we created NextSpace.  And we asked some of those people to join us as members of the NextSpace community.  Take a look below for some highlights from our First 100 Days. Hopefully, you’ll be amazed (we were).  And if you’re as excited as we are, then please consider joining us.

First 100 Days Highlights

• NextSpace has seen businesses formed, deals done, products launched, investments made, and partnerships created.  Not bad for a supposed economic downturn.
• 78 members have joined NextSpace representing green tech, social media, software design, web development, mobile broadband applications, digital media, video production, marketing and communications, and more
• UserVoice and 12Seconds launched their social media and online video companies, representing NextSpace’s first two successful start-ups
• Quiddities Strategic Web Development received a major grant from the Knight Foundation and held the first-ever Public Media Camp, a day-long discussion of the future of public radio.
• FXpansion, a London-based music software company, opened its US subsidiary, FXPansion USA, Inc. at NextSpace in November
• We convened our first NextSpace Investors Forum in November, bringing together seven new local companies (including two UCSC spin-outs) and a dozen local angel investors
• NextSpace members developed and shipped two iPhone apps in January, and our members have started a new iPhone MeetUp
• We’ve held two educational events in an effort to give our members the legal and financial tools they need to make their businesses fly
• Groups like the Santa Cruz New Tech Alliance, the Santa Cruz Geeks, the Amgen Tour of California, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Children’s Hospice, Leadership Santa Cruz County, Santa Cruz NEXT, and First Friday Art Tour have gathered at NextSpace to plan, organize, and fundraise
• Finally, we’ve fueled our First 100 Days with untold gallons of Lulu’s coffee, acres of Woodstock pizza, and at least one six pack of beer, all consumed during our many social and networking events.

The Big Finish Here’s the bottom line:  in just 100 short days, NextSpace has established itself as the epicenter of the new Santa Cruz economy.  What’s more, NextSpace has become a place where the larger Santa Cruz business community gathers to meet, network, solve problems, socialize, exchange ideas, draw up plans, or just get inspired about the enormous energy, passion, and potential in Santa Cruz.  This isn’t some feel-good story.  This is about boldly undertaking our mission of catalyzing local ideas, local talent, and local capital in Santa Cruz to create products, services, and solutions for the global marketplace.  In our First 100 Days, we’ve proven that NextSpace, our community, and our city have the tools, the vision, and the guts to accomplish that mission. We hope you’ll join us.

Posted in Jeremy's Blog

NextSpace is an entrepreneurial catalyst located in Santa Cruz, CA. Our mission is to catalyze local talent, local ideas, and local capital to create products, services, and solutions for the global marketplace.

Come in. Connect. Catalyze. Create.

Posted in Jeremy's Blog