Garage48 Opens A Co-Working Space In Tallinn
Garage48 is a boot camp style iniative to build new web services in just 48 hours. The concept has been a roaring success in Estonia, where it was started last year. This week, Garage48 announced that they'll be opening a co-working space in Tallinn in December for all entrepreneurs to use. Not only is Garage48 opening a co-working space in Tallinn, they are also organising one of their boot camp style weekend events in Helsinki in January in co-operation with AaltoES. I talked to Ragnar Sass, one of the people behind the concept and what Garage48 HUB will be like when it opens.
Sass had been to many different places where co-working spaces existed. He realised the need for one after he visited Kenya this year, where they had IHub in Nairobi. When talking to his partners in Garage48, they all found out that everyone had had similar thoughts. Also, as one of the program's core ideas is to do things fast - Garage48 HUB will be opened only after 2 weeks of the initial idea.
When I asked for some of the advantages why startups and entrepreneurs should be thinking of joining the HUB Sass replied that it's all about the community. Working in the HUB will help entrepreneurs share experiences and have the feeling of being part of a larger startup community. I can agree to that whole heartedly.
Furthermore, one of the key reasons to put the HUB together was that there now is a central venue in Tallinn to host startup oriented events. One of the larger organisers of events, Estonian Startup Leaders Club, will also be hosting their events at the venue in the future.
Looking at the success of another co-working space in Helsinki, the Aalto Venture Garage, and what it has done to the entrepreneurship atmosphere among students - I can only agree that this is the right way to go. I for one am eagerly looking forward to visiting Garage48 HUB in Tallinn as soon as I have the chance to.
As mentioned earlier, Garage48 will now be hosting one of their events in Helsinki in January. The event is selling out relatively fast. They opened it up for registration only yesterday and already about 22 people signed up (including me). The tickets are only 25 euros and that will cover all the food for the weekend. I've only heard great things about the events in Tallinn and Tartu earlier, so I acted fast when I heard about the event coming to Helsinki. To get an idea what Garage48 events are all about, check out our previous post regarding the event in Tallinn.
Below are a few photos from the Garage48 HUB. It's looking really fantastic.
Antti, thanks for the great overview and intro. Garage48 HUB is open for foreign people visiting Tallinn and interested to tap into local tech community. Step by and get a daily pass.
Garage48 Helsinki is selling out fast - most popular role "Visionary entrepreneur" is already sold out. We hope to see similar interest from designers and developers.
This should the first really international Garage48 event with participants from 4-5 countries. Great way to work and network together over the challenging and fun weekend.
As an entrepreneur, of course I'd have registered there. But I can't. And I'm not the only one.
25€ is *nothing* to go come try to have some ideas implemented, so no wonder the "visionary" role was sold out in minutes. But one has to wonder how many of those ideas will truly be visionary.
If entry level to "visionnaries" was somewhat a little bit higher than for developers, we would end up with better idea for developers and designers to work on. I strongly believe ideas here should be exclusive and insightful in order for this event to make sense. Ideas should be accepted on merit, not just on "first come, first served".
No, it wouldn't.
It would just be the ideas of people who pay more, eg people who believe more in their idea or the Garage48 concept.
Just because you're willing to pay more for it doesn't mean the quality is going to increase.
Also, keep in mind that the point of Garage48 is to hack aroudn some quirky and fun ideas, it's a get together. The point is not to create the next Google there, but the community.
App building events generally don't have a space for visionaries or managers in the teams.
Anyway you usually form your own teams, so if you think you need visionaries or project managers then you can have them if you like.
Now it seems like if I register as designer or a developer I get added some dead-idea-guy-weight to my team.
What we have seen from previous events in Estonia is that it's not only the "visionary" guys pitching ideas but it could be developers, designers or whoever.
And then all the participants will decide which ideas they like and then teams are formed. If it's a crappy idea, it will just not get implemented, that's it.
Karri,
> App building events generally don't have a
> space for visionaries or managers in the teams.
...
> Now it seems like if I register as designer or
> a developer I get added some dead-idea-guy-weight
> to my team
You will be free to choose the team and project you like to work over the weekend.
Garage48 is not about coming with your own team and building something. Its about working together with new people and make new friends/contacts - whom you possibly would not meet in any other way.
If you match well with the new guys, you might start some project together with them. Thats the core idea of Garage48, besides building cool products and services, which is also a challenge in 48 hours.
If you want to build some new service with your own team, then you can do that every other weekend. Just take 3 pizzas, Coca-cola and go to friends place. Just do it.
Martin thanks for clarifying this. I hope people find the event valuable.