Fledgling Carbondale business accelerator and co-working space Coventure is gaining speed.
Coventure, a nonprofit organization that grew out of GlenX, is hosting a preview of its facilities from 5:30-8 p.m. during Carbondale’s First Friday gathering to show its new co-working space.
Coventure founder Mike Lowe hopes the town sees far more than just fast internet and rental desks.
“I hope people see it’s not just a space, but a community. There are so many intangible benefits of a community like this,” Lowe said.
Coventure now occupies most of the Spruce Building at 201 Main St. in Carbondale. The business accelerator and incubator will begin renting desks and dedicated office space to startups and remote workers within the next week, Lowe said.
The ground floor of the building has a number of desks available for rent. Lowe says the internet service will be the fastest in Carbondale, thanks to a partnership with Cedar Networks.
In the past three months, Lowe and his team of partners and community members have brought Coventure into existence, promising education for businesses at all stages of development, and room for them to grow.
“It is happening really fast,” Lowe said. He gives credit to Tyler Moebius, CEO of cloud-based marketing firm FastG8 Inc. and chairman of Coventure’s board. Moebius is also Coventure’s landlord, and has his own office space on the second floor of the Spruce Building.
“Tyler has the foresight to see that this will be a resource not just for Carbondale, but for the entire Western Slope,” Lowe said.
It’s not just Coventure’s board members who have bought into the organization’s ambitious goals. The town of Carbondale, Garfield County, and a number of businesses and development organizations have donated funds to Coventure in the past three months.
Coventure will host a grand opening in March, but it will have free-floating desks for intermittent use, and dedicated desks for other members. Coventure will also rent larger office space for expanding businesses.
The real value to being a member of the Coventure space, Lowe says, is access to educational resources and potential collaborators.
“These sorts of spaces drive growth,” Lowe said. “Co-working is the tip of the iceberg. It’s business acceleration and access to capital that are the game changers.”
Coventure offers a variety of membership options, including community membership for access to events, day passes to use the internet and attend seminars, and office rentals.
Those who work in the building will have access to all the amenities, including conference rooms, private rooms for calls, and space for promotional events.
For the First Friday open house, Lowe wants to draw the community in. “We’re just looking for people to join the club, just to try things out,” Lowe said. “We’re going big and we’re psyched. This doesn’t feel like a small town.”