For-profit tech center

August 9, 2006 7:40 AM

Do you know of any for-profit technology centers? There is...

I am writing a business plan for a technology center where users either pay-per-hour or have a membership to use different rooms for their technology needs (i.e. training center, recording studio, pc/mac lab). Does anyone know of anything like this in current operation? I've seen gaming centers, telecommuting offices, but nothing like this. Any discussion is welcome!
Thanks!

posted by mic stand to computers & internet (6 comments total)

That sounds roughly similar to an "incubator", which I think is the keyword I'd google; yeah, I think there's some of this in The Valley.
posted by baylink at 8:22 AM on August 9, 2006

There is Bucketworks here in Milwaukee.
posted by JJ86 at 8:42 AM on August 9, 2006

Bucketworks is much more like my concept and actually catapults my mind into a whole different realm! Yikes! Thank you both. I am interested to see if other places pop-up. The region I am looking to start this business does not have anything like it from the city documentation I've reviewed, however, it is a perfect location for it.
posted by mic stand at 8:58 AM on August 9, 2006

In my town there are a few big incubator facilities housing dozens of startups. One is Kyoto Research Park and another is Keihanna Plaza in Kansai Science City, a whole town of nothing but tech research and development centers built in the rural area where Kyoto, Osaka and Nara Prefectures meet. Plenty of foreigners there.

The second link also lists other incubators in Japan.
posted by planetkyoto at 9:12 AM on August 9, 2006

My vision is more like a service-center where people can come and produce content with high-quality equipment and software that is too expensive to purchase with the limited amount of time they need it. I guess businesses can be born from here and I can promote that, and groups can colloborate, but the revenue will be primarily from people renting the space. Promoting it secondarily as an incubator would be an excellent marketing strategy, too. The interesting thing is that the city's downtown strategic plan includes a business development center and I can additionally promote this is such. If you are interested in what city I am talking about, email me privately (check profile).
posted by mic stand at 9:25 AM on August 9, 2006

It is a very interesting idea. I've often wondered about similar operations with shop equipment. Although the clientele of a shop would be more on the amateur side, the line between business and amateur must be very grey at this level.

setting up a recording studio is very expensive, and recording studios for hire probably already exist in any good sized market. I'm sure there is room to differentiate, but I don't know recording well enough to say.. For example, small rooms rented by the day with deluxe home recording studio setups (you wouldn't want to call them home studios though :P) might be worthwhile. I presume traditional recording studios for hire are very big operations, they provide the engineer, etc. etc..

Training centres for hire is an interesting idea. Some companies will want the facility to communicate their brand though, and that might be troublesome. That probably isn't very clear, unless you have already thought about the issue, so lets think about who your customers might be.

Your customer, and the actual people sitting at stations during a training session, won't generally be the same people. Perhaps an individual is running a freelance class, a small company is hiring out the space to train their staff, or a small software company is bringing in clients to train on their product. The third case is most obvious. That company may be small, but they don't want their customers to perceive them as small.. They would want you to disappear, like OEM manufacturers disappear when you buy a piece of electronics (what, you thought computer and electronics companies still own factories? :P).

In the end, I think it is like every other business idea. It is the management that really matters. Management, and customers, actually. Do you already have customers lined up? "If you build, it they will come" thinking isn't very practical, but even one customer can offset your start-up costs..
posted by Chuckles at 6:36 PM on August 9, 2006