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Inspirations MBA Venture Capital

Co-working Spaces and Startup Hubs in Boston

Once I got over my jet lag, I’ve started looking for some cosy co-working spaces in Boston and places where the entrepreneurship is being raised and supported in different ways by local incubators and accelerators. There are quite a few nice places where you can work either cafe wise or just proper spaces designed especially for remote professionals, startups or freelancers. Researching ‘future of work’ area, remote, distributed working model and co-working spaces are one of the topics I passionately follow.

District Hall is a free co-working space open to entrepreneurs and the public. You can also take some professional advice and sign up for free office hours with business experts. Just next to the working area you can find pretty good cafe/restaurant where you may want to buy some food to recharge your energy and keep working. District Hall is a not-for-profit civic innovation center, public workspace, and event venue designed to inspire innovation, build community, and make your ideas happen.

Another amazing community is HubSpot. If you think of some business project and need help, you can apply for their HubSpot for Startups Program. Apart from working space, you can sign up for free Courses & Certifications and grow your business faster.

Impact Hub Boston is one of my favourite. We have it also in Switzerland and I swear, it’s amazing community of like-minded people. They offer space for individual workers and teams. You can collaborate with others or work alone with more private area. Impact Hub holds several events, and memberships include conference rooms and access to the global Hub network.

Venture Cafe Cambridge is the place I visited as a first when I came to Boston just to visit the city a year ago. I loved it from the very beginning 🙂 They offer event and meeting space in two locations in the Greater Boston area – District Hall located in Seaport and Roxbury Innovation Center located in Dudley Square. They connect startups with investors organising pitching events and office hours so you can just step by after work to mingle with other entrepreneurs or look for some advice from business experts.

Venture Lane is a startup hub for early stage tech companies. As they say, they are building a world-class local work community exhibiting careful curation, entrepreneurial spirit, best-in-class services and an outstanding space for leading founders and companies in the digital industry. They provide community events, work spaces and flexible office.

Coalition is a professional office and co-working spaces providers. It has cost-effective part time and full time desks for rent which can be used on their own for freelancers and teams, and in conjunction with glass-walled private office space for closed door meetings.

CIC (Cambridge Innovation Center) provides high-quality, flexible office and co-working spaces, as well as stocked community kitchens, unmetered access to conference rooms, enterprise-grade internet services, printing and copying, phones, high-end furniture, operational and technical support, concierge services, perks and wellness offerings, and much more. They also have a lot of community events, startup pitches and connected venture capital funds that are happy to get to know new ventures coming up to the market.

The Wing was founded in 2016 and is constantly growing community of women across the country and globe, gathering together to work, connect, and thrive. It’s the space dedicated and designed for women so if you are a man, just skip this one and read further down;) The Wing’s mission is the professional, civic, social, and economic advancement of women through community. they have one of the precious interior design and the best locations in the cities so you feel like working on the top of the world with so nice furnitures and numerous community events happening during the week.

WeWork is pretty well know from the recent approach to IPO 🙂 It’s, indeed, quite big brand having offices across the globe, yet, they are not so much profitable. They offer mainly workspace like focused offices to personalized headquarters. Their strong point is also amazing interior design and favourable locations so you do not need to drive far from your home.

Spaces is another brand I know from Zurich, Switzerland and I love the community as well. When I arrived I was happy to see they have also spaces in Boston. Back Bay location makes them even more appealing and the pricing is lower than few comparable other spaces. They offer an exclusive and creative working environment

Oficio is the one I didn’t know before but I found it being surprisingly good offer. Oficio is located downtown on gorgeous Newbury Street. Meeting rooms are available to rent by the day or hour, and membership can either include an open co-working space, dedicated desks, or private offices. There are multiple seating options, coffee, tea, and snacks, and day passes are available, which could help out students looking to cram before midterms or finals. Price per month can start already from $39 and it’s super convenient, flexible offering.

Make Shift Boston is a co-working space for socially minded creative professionals. The workspace is home to diverse working artists, activists, and creative people from across many industries, and it also acts as a community gathering area and exhibition space. Interested visitors can apply for full or shift-working membership.

Knotel-( pssst…just secured $400M financing reaching estimated $1B valuation, yaha!) is changing the way companies find, design, and build office space, while offering operational flexibility which lowers risk as your company changes. It’s office space designed for individual companies from the ground up. They just find the location, furnish the space according to your wishes or just let you work in the currently existing offices. The customer satisfaction here goes beyond the commonly known borders!

Rox Innov Center – they are a not-for-profit event innovation space that supports local economic development through encouraging and guiding innovation and entrepreneurship. They offer event spaces, designed to inspire creativity, foster collaboration and make great ideas come to life. You can rent a desk, some bigger office space, meeting area for some business gathering or just a big event venue.

Alley Cambridge – Nationwide Co-working & Private Office Space. The one in Cambridge is associated with Verizon. Alley Cambridge is located in the heart of Cambridge, steps away from Harvard Square and minutes away from MIT.

Geek Offices – located in Cambridge, flexible and affordable co-working spaces available for individuals, startups as well as for professionals and group of people. You can choose between a mix of shared, dedicated and private workspaces.

For ones who like less formal, more cafe style working space below are my favourites:

Sip Cafe is an amazing, little cafe in the park, near the Post Office Square. It’s lovely place but unfortunately, close don Saturday and Sunday.

The Thinking Cup has few locations in Boston and they serve coffee, organic teas and freshly baked pastries.

Trident Booksellers & Café– if you do not have your own idea go to this cafe and I’m sure you will get inspired shortly! They have great book store in the cafe so you can walk around and pick some interesting reads for the day.

Ogawa Coffee is for ones who are matcha addicts as me. It’s really one of the few places you can get good quality, ceremonial cup of matcha.

Boston Athenaeum-If you’re a bit of a library connoisseur, this one’s for you. Boston Athenaeum is based right next to the scenic Boston Common, and it’s members-only unless you’re happy to stick to the first floor. We’d recommend paying the subscription fee and joining for $16.67 per month, because you’ll get exclusive access to one of the oldest and most distinguished independent libraries in the country. The surroundings are suitably grand, and within its halls you’ll find hundreds of thousands of rare books and an impressive collection of art. There’s also a Wi-Fi connection for online studying, as well as lots of quiet corners for you to work in peace.

Boston Public Library is always a good idea. Amazing architecture, totally quiet, featured with all materials needed at your finger tips. Also, there is cafe to grab some lunch in the middle of the work or just stay there for more relaxing and informal working activity.

Open Air spaces more for reading than working:
🙂

Charles River Esplanade

Christopher Columbus Park

Boston Public Garden

And as a sum up, here is amazing collection of some of the above and many more for innovators and investors: Boston Innovation Guide


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