This is a process which will make for an interesting journey.
Today I spent an hour outlining my start-up idea for a place in Amsterdam.
I want to give something back from a city that is giving me so much. A good idea for a start-up is solving a problem in a creative way. Now what a problem is for creatives is that any kind of space to work in is either very expensive or very small and/or in some state of disarray.
I was thinking about when I was starting out with 2 friends. We hired this little place with wafer thin walls and bad temperature regulation. Too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter and never comfortable in between. It was 350 euros per month. We put in this giant desk and that was about it. Now thinking about that time it meant that for us that almost all money coming in went eventually to paying the rent and we couldn’t really do anything there but work as an office worker. There was no real common room except a restaurant at the ground floor but that was open to the public and that’s not the same as a collaborative environment. There was eventually no sense of community even though we were all creatives working out of a old fire station. That was because it was rented out to people who just wanted to say they had this cool place to work but did not actually spend any time there.
With the pandemic making us all work from home more, that is simply not doable for creatives and makers. We already spend way too much time on our passion projects and don’t ever switch off our brains. Which is a good thing because ideas can sneak up on you and you have to act fast or the idea escapes you like a hunted deer escapes it’s predators in the woods.
So a place where you can work with your little laptop and write your content but also hold meetings in a very pleasing almost living room or hotel lobby atmosphere but closed off from all the noise.
A place where you can connect with other creators and ask their help but also get to know them during board game day, go to cult movie night, compare notes of the guest speaker that month, book a photoshoot or collaborate on a new podcast in the inhouse podcast studio open for members.
And I hear you thinking -”but that already exists”.
And that’s true but the catch is that we will make the entry fee very cheap, More like 50 euros a month or less. Maybe you pay 2 euro per day that you sign in using the app we will develop. At the end of the month if you only pay 28 euros for the 14 days you were actually in the building,
Paying 500 a month for 25 m2 not including gas and Electra while being in a dilapidated building with single glass windows and probably some mould somewhere where again everyone is out for themselves and the incentive from the company that rents this place is out getting the rent. I think that it’s possible to have an economically viable start-up that cheaply rents out to creative makers. We can help make podcasts and get a percentage if and when that makes money due to patrons from that channel. We can have a little store and online store that sells products and services from the makers and from sponsors. We get a YouTube channel that details our makers and events. Sell tickets for exciting creators as guest speakers. Organize events like a fashion show or film festival. Sell merchandise. Become a community and thus a media house that facilitates something positive for the city of Amsterdam.
Only thing I’m not sure of yet is the recruitment of new members. Will there be an initial group that has to recommend new members? Downside is that you can easily create a little safe bubble of sameness and cronyism (kind of like nepotism but for friends). The so called “in” crowd. Or we can base it on a merrit system and a board of acceptance which is kind of like a job application. Who will fit into and accept the current creative culture. Who can add something and sometimes change something? Should this be from the top down or should other members have a say in this? Recently I am fascinated by web 3.0 and especially Mirror. This uses as a kind of auction for new members to present themselves and then the other members who have a voting token can vote on who they want to add. These tokens are distributed by the how much content you make on mirror. It’s a writing site for writers on the blockchain where you can publish your articles and even sell them as NFT’s, if you are so inclined.
My feeling is that if we are to build a community you have to approach this as a start-up company and vet and interview the potential members but in a fun creative way. That means we will have to make like a company handbook. Dutch start-up company Blendle made theirs public a few years ago and that is a good starting off position. We will not have a real company structure but they wanted to make a creative culture of their employees and we would want that from our members. (handbook.blendle.com)
I also really liked the webcomic Penny Arcades way of hiring new staff, documented in their old slice of life behind the scenes series PA: The Series. They had these fun challenges for the new people which made it almost more like a game show.
This would also be great content to film for your own YouTube channel or the write about in the newsletter and on the website
Speaking of employees, I'm not sure how many we would need. I would say a CEO and a brain trust for the culture and new members. And an office manager to start with being backed up by a tech team for the app and other applications and take it from there. Maybe some members will fill in positions down the line or it will be on a voluntary basis who organized the movie night or who introduces the guest speakers. A podcast producer who will help young creators on their way. And the people who will make our own podcast and video content will be hired out of the pool from potential members. How active will the website be? How many updates on the app? Is web 3.0 the way to go. Can we break even and then build from there? It really is not about profit but building something new for the creative inhabitants in Amsterdam. You can give them a monthly check but then they still have to spend that on a creative studio or you can give them a cheap place with lots of toys and tools.
Also we need a name. Cult of the Creatives is my own personal working title for this project. I have my first pitch to potential partners in 2 weeks. And then make a business plan as well as research if this even possible. I feel like we should own a building to make this possible, not rent it. Then we can start something radical for real.
Baby steps.