I used to work in a (government-funded) technology incubator, and have heard some of the discussions behind pricing spacing.
It makes no difference to the incubator whether space costs $50 a month, $200 a month, or $1,000 a month. We didn't go with $1,000 because that would make us price-uncompetitive with other feasible options in the region. We didn't go with $50 because we thought our core client group does not want to be bothered by people who think $200 is a lot of money.
Looking at the diversity among people working in San Fransisco, have you perhaps considered that the ridiculous price is designed to keep out the weird startup crowd? From the perspective of, say, a civil engineering consultant, an unemployed 21 year old in jeans and a T-shirt who has had three consecutive all-nighters since his last shower might not be the ideal coworking companion.
The co-working spaces in SF are for the weird startup crowd. It turns out most of them are for the weird social media consultant crowd, because that is who runs them and they tend to be cliquey. They aren't business incubator spaces.
I'm pretty familiar with the spaces and people who run them here. One of them has to charge a lot because the space is really expensive. Another one has to charge a lot because they have trouble keeping it full, which I attribute to poor location. At yet another one, the guy is obviously making a profit because he's in a super cheap building.
I don't think the pricing is ridiculous from the perspective of the people running the space. They have to pass costs on. However, the people renting the space aren't getting a good deal unless they love the community. You're just renting a desk, which is free at the library, or a few coffee refills at any of the myriad coffee shops in the city... and you probably live somewhere, so you could just work at home, etc...
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a price that isn't ridiculous
I used to work in a (government-funded) technology incubator, and have heard some of the discussions behind pricing spacing.
It makes no difference to the incubator whether space costs $50 a month, $200 a month, or $1,000 a month. We didn't go with $1,000 because that would make us price-uncompetitive with other feasible options in the region. We didn't go with $50 because we thought our core client group does not want to be bothered by people who think $200 is a lot of money.
Looking at the diversity among people working in San Fransisco, have you perhaps considered that the ridiculous price is designed to keep out the weird startup crowd? From the perspective of, say, a civil engineering consultant, an unemployed 21 year old in jeans and a T-shirt who has had three consecutive all-nighters since his last shower might not be the ideal coworking companion.
The co-working spaces in SF are for the weird startup crowd. It turns out most of them are for the weird social media consultant crowd, because that is who runs them and they tend to be cliquey. They aren't business incubator spaces.
I'm pretty familiar with the spaces and people who run them here. One of them has to charge a lot because the space is really expensive. Another one has to charge a lot because they have trouble keeping it full, which I attribute to poor location. At yet another one, the guy is obviously making a profit because he's in a super cheap building.
I don't think the pricing is ridiculous from the perspective of the people running the space. They have to pass costs on. However, the people renting the space aren't getting a good deal unless they love the community. You're just renting a desk, which is free at the library, or a few coffee refills at any of the myriad coffee shops in the city... and you probably live somewhere, so you could just work at home, etc...