The Betaloft backstory

Posted by Drew December 14th, 2009

From the beginning I’ve known that any pursuit of this concept that included the core values of transparency, and collaboration would require more than a ‘business model.’ Something of this nature needs a community. Community has to be the first priority, I think that idea is lost on many corporate companies, where the bottom line has been the focus. Really this idea came about from my graduate studies in the field of Journalism. A perfectly fantastic industry of serving the community that has been destroyed by their focus on the bottom-line and the corporate conglomerations that refuse to be socially responsible.

The germ of the idea of coworking has been with me for quite some time, I just didn’t know if it was feasible. Until… my sister forwarded an article from the Tribune about a space that had just opened in Orem. Cowork Utah. The Cowork Utah website and the newspaper article introduced me to the term ‘coworking’ and led me to some fantastic co-working resources online. I was like a kid in a candy store, reading everything I could on the movement, devouring every blog post, exploring all the existing co-working spaces’ websites. I examined the models and methods, and explored the concepts; sustainability, synergy, collaboration etc. My co-working ‘research’ almost overshadowed my Graduate Research. In finding the trend and literally the word ‘coworking’ I found an earlier concept I had entertained, that of a “digital salon,” could be sustained.

I planned for more than half of a year, deciding on what to offer and who to offer it to. I started looking for funding when I knew the idea was going to be fulfilled. However, in the beginning I self-funded the launch of BetaLoft with the gracious blessing of my wife who allowed me to use over 75% of our personal savings. I found a tremendous Zion’s Bank branch manager, Scott Sluis, who assisted me in jumping the many flaming hoops of the SBA. It took almost 4 months from the time my Loan was approved, to satisfy all their desires, before I got the Loan. As for supplies, I looked at the other coworking spaces in the US and gleaned ideas from each of them. I also knew that depending on what space I ended up in, the furniture needs would change. We’ve come a long way from paper and business plans to being a fully operational space, but it’s been a dream!