[Finance] Startup Costs

[Christopher J. Pilkington]

On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 09:23:45AM -0700, Grant Henninger wrote:
> model than most hackerspaces.  We want to run more like a for-profit service
> company than a co-op.  One of the reasons we want to buy a lot of the equipment
> up front is so we have a full set of services we can offer and keep early
> adopters coming back.  However, I think you all have a good point about ways to

So you are adopting something like the TechShop model.

This model is not a hackerspace at all IMHO, so I think you
should probably seek other input regarding start up costs.

For example, if I were looking to join a TechShop-type
establishment, I would expect and demand access to a full
compliment of professional-grade tools, as you listed.
(Although, I think you mentioned MakerBot, I'm not sure that's
appropriate for a for-profit workshop, but it might be ok to
start with.)

For a collaborative, donation and membership supported
hackerspace, I'm willing to put in the elbow grease, extra money
here and there to fix things and acquire new tools. I wouldn't
be willing to do the same in a for-profit space (unless perhaps
I was a shareholder.)

We are starting our non-profit membership supported space on a
shoestring. All the tools that we will have day one will be
member owned and on loan to the space, until we start saving up
some money.

-cjp