Last fall, I mentioned the Gate 3 WorkClub, an innovative shared workspace in Emeryville, California. This afternoon, after driving south from Napa, I got a chance to actually visit Work 3 -- and to meet its gently energetic and thoughtful founder Neil Goldberg, also head of the industrial design firm Praxis.
As expected, Gate 3 is absolutely wonderful: an open, well-lit, colorful workspace peppered with different work zones -- quiet, private, shared -- meeting and conference rooms, a brainstorming area sequestered by whiteboards, shared services, support staff, and a wide-ranging creative client base of members. The kind of place I'd want to work if I didn't work in the Fast Company office -- or out of my home.
Sadly, Goldberg plans to close Gate 3 at the end of February for a number of reasons.
This past year that we have created, launched and operated the WorkClub has had its share of joys and exhiliration. We have received tremendous and enthusiastic endorsement of the concept and the quality of the environment and work experience that we have provided from almost everyone who has come in contact with it. I feel very proud and honored about that. Unfortunately we have come to realize that radical change takes time, even here in the East Bay. It has become clear to us that lifting this off the ground will be a significantly larger effort and investment than we are able to undertake.
Neil and I spent almost two hours talking about what he's learned from the project over the last year-plus, the promise and potential of the concept and model, and what he plans to do next. Gate 3 is a big idea. Someone should step up to help save the operation -- and to work with Neil to develop a more stable, sustainable model. It's an idea well worth exploring and refining, for sure.
And, interestingly enough, the organizers of the New Communications Forum, Elizabeth Albrycht and Jen McClure are -- get this -- members. Small world, smaller.
Related Stories: | Topics:Design, Neil Goldberg, Emeryville, California, Napa, Design |
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Recent Comments | 5 Total
January 28, 2005 at 7:44am by Dave
This is such a common story. So many great ideas are lost. It seems to me to be harder to get innovative ideas adopted of late. Starting a new concept these days is like dropping seeds on rock above the tree line. There is very little chance they will take root.
It is rare to find an entrepreneur with a track record of success. I can't quote stats, but my aggregate reading gives me the gut that most flounder when trying to repeat an initial success. Funny that these are the people that are sought out by the investment community.
The innovation process in this country is broken. Yes, IBM is the prolific corporate inventor, but the small independent thinker who observes frustration in the world and addresses it with solutions is the key to American prosperity. All we need to do is foster that, both as customers and investors, rather than squelch it to maintain our economic well-being.
If you do not have money, it is a hostile road to success.
D
January 29, 2005 at 11:30am by Todd
I also agree that this is a common sad story. This sadness comes from not only reading of another great and potential full idea coming to a halt, but greater sadness comes from lessons still not learned from a long list of dismantled entrepreneur type change.
I had read a book once by John Kotter called "Leading Change" and I highly recommend it. He addresses 8 basic steps of change that we must all spend time working on to lead "Lasting Change."
There are no short cuts, regardless of having money or no money. For the record, I too love the idea of the Gate3 WorkClub. I do feel that we have not seen or heard the end of this idea.
January 30, 2005 at 10:12pm by Mike Smock
This is a GREAT idea nicely executed. I'm really sorry to see it flame out. I live in the Bay area and had I known about it I would of joined.
Seems like this would be a natural around the Ferry building/financial district. Maybe it's the location bringing it down? Emoryville is a tough spot to get in and out of most days.
January 31, 2005 at 11:35am by Bob
"The kind of place I'd want to work if I didn't work in the Fast Company office -- or out of my home."
I'm the same way...what would get us out of working at home or the office? Probably only a "difference in kind", not in "degree", as the Workclub seems to offer. How could it offer something entirely different from working at home or in the office--rather than being a less-convenient imitation of each? I'd gladly drive to Emoryville for a truly different and inspiring work environment...
February 28, 2005 at 11:35am by James Ware
Charlie Grantham and I, co-founders of the Future of Work community, have acted as unpaid/informal advisors to Gate3 since well before it was launched last fall. It has been wonderfully exciting to see our original concept (modified somewhat to fit Gate3's situation) becoming a reality that could be tested in the real world.
Being students of innovation we too share in the sadness of seeing a good idea not succeeding. We've seen maybe a dozen or so similar experiments also go awry. No one we are aware of has yet gotten the recipe completely right. But that doesn't mean the chefs should quit working on it.
Part of the secret, we believe, is putting a PROCESS in place that allows incremental and continuous experimentation and improvement--not just a one-shot try.
To stay with our cooking analogy, we believe that what is needed is a stew of knowledge, sound business processes, and environments (both social and physical) that encourage innovative behavior. And no one recipe (eg, business model)is going to be right for all locations and local workclubs.
The art of this is figuring out what is needed, and what will sell, in any given community with its own mix of local and national businesses, costs, facilities, and public transportation. Understanding the local context is an incredibly important key to making a venture like this work.
Those are the ingredients that enable local business enterprises to compete in a global knowledge environment. The Gate 3 experiment has given us a great deal more knowledge than we had last year, and we commend Neil Goldberg for his willingness to turn a concept into a real-world experiment.
Meanwhile, we continue to search for other locations and communities interested in creating new economy business community centers.