Cospace Completes Transition to Become Leading Resource for Work Space

Cospace.co helping entrepreneurs and professionals find the right work space

AUSTIN, TX; Jan. 18, 2013 // BlindOx, LLC, which operated the coworking space under the brand Cospace, announced today the closure of one of Austin's original and most impactful coworking spaces.  Located at 183 & Lamar in N. Austin, Cospace coworking closed this week and is working closely with nearby incubator Tech Ranch to serve members during the transition.

The shutdown comes as the Cospace brand evolves to serve entrepreneurs and professionals nationally through a web service that aggregates and promotes work spaces and provides economic and real estate intelligence. In July 2012, partners affiliated with the workspace launched http://cospace.co to index and promote every work environment, connecting skilled professionals with the right place to work.

"I am very proud of the positive impact Cospace coworking has had in the startup community," said Kirtus Dixon, Managing Partner of BlindOx LLC, owner/operator of the Cospace coworking space. "I will be eternally grateful for all of our customers and colleagues, some of who gave of themselves without any expectation of return. It's been a great run."

James Weddle, head of Cospace Ventures, the management and holding company for the Cospace brand, sees a bright future for the Cospace brand. "Collaborative, accessible work spaces are one of the keys to innovation and working through a cospace should be an option to anyone.", said Mr. Weddle. "We are proud to continue to support the coworking movement through our web service. I am particularly excited about the role the web service, Cospace.co, can play in helping students, entrepreneurs, skilled professionals, and even cities, bring innovation to market."

In the past few months, this new, virtual Cospace has grown to serve over 1,000 spaces throughout the country and is connecting nearly 100,000 professionals each month with the ideal work space.

"We've mapped over 50 work environments in Austin alone and the insight, from doing that, to Austin's future as an entrepreneurial community is tremendous," shares Paul O'Brien, Co-founder and developer of the Cospace.co web service, which will be developed further in a new entity. "Cospace.co has helped thousands of skilled professionals, teams, and startups find the right work environment in Austin while working closely with stake holders invested in the economic development of Austin and surrounding cities to understand how and where to invest further in creating environments that will foster innovation, help employ Austin, enable success for entrepreneurs."

Not limited to coworking spaces, what makes Cospace.co compelling for users is the breadth of what's considered a work space.  Studies suggest that while "coworking" is a movement growing at over 250% per year, as much as 70% of America's workforce is still unfamiliar with the concept.  The great majority of entrepreneurs, freelance professionals, consultants, and even individuals looking for work, spend their time at home or in coffee shops.  Cospace's index includes everything from hotel lobbies to startup accelerators; it recognizes that where many start is over a cup of cappuccino.  

"The tangible significance of coworking is that people working in a shared environment, collaborate.  Getting out of the home, and into such a work space, fosters business development, job placement, partnerships, and new ideas," adds O'Brien. "The key to economic development is in helping people with skills find the space in which their talent has the most demand. Cospace.co is focused on matching what you do and what you want to do, with the environment in which you are most likely to meet others with whom you can succeed.  Creative professionals are usually in S. Austin at places like Vuka Co-op, young technology entrepreneurs and developers in E. Austin where you'll find Chicon Collective expanding, established professionals and successful startups are at Link Coworking or Tech Ranch, while the venture community can be found at 360 Uno or the Arboretum.  The incredible growth and adoption of Cospace.co makes it clear to me that the right space is where innovation starts; people know that, our users are seeking just that."

The classes and education programs Cospace formerly operated are being acquired by Brainco; a school of advertising, interactive studies, and design, expanding their operations from Minneapolis to Austin.  Brainco will be further developing and serving such popular classes in Ruby on Rails, iOS app development, WordPress, and other skills through spaces throughout Austin.

To learn more about Cospace, visit http://cospace.co and contact Paul O'Brien at paul@cospace.co or follow him on Twitter at @seobrien.  

About Cospace
Cospace is the most complete index of collaborative work spaces with an engine matching skilled professionals and entrepreneurs to the right space. With thousands of spaces throughout the United States, Cospace helps put people to work, and fosters innovation and economic development by optimizing where people work and spend their time. Space and property owners list coworking spaces, coffee shops, incubators, and even hotel lobbies at no charge, helping foster the new way in which our economy works.