Venture13 opens to Telecommuters

Venture13 is owned by the Town of Cobourg and jointly managed by them and Northumberland Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC). It’s located in Northam Industrial Park and now that the Park’s Mortgage has been paid off, the Mayor and CAO can turn their attention to this new boost to local Economic Development.  Newly elected Mayor John Henderson mentioned Venture13 in his inaugural speech on Monday and on Tuesday, CAO Stephen Peacock joined CFDC’s Wendy Curtis in announcing an expansion of an area in Venture13 called the NewVenture Zone.  That’s the area intended for new entrepreneurs needing work space. Called the VentureZone Inn, it’s a new type of VentureZone “Membership” aimed at individual professional telecommuters whereas regular VentureZone members are entrepreneurs starting a business.

Venture13 Building at Grand Opening
Venture13 Building at Grand Opening

Major Funding for Venture13 was provided by the police – their Business services department occupies the second floor – but the Town also provided $250K from Holdco. The Town of Cobourg is the “owner” of the building and their Economic Development Department is located there although most day to day management is by CFDC.

The VentureZone has been part of Venture13 from the beginning but the idea of providing space for telecommuters is new.

According to the Press Release, the concept was brought forward by the Venture13 Marketing and Communications Committee in response to membership requests and as a way to expand.

Apart from providing a space for telecommuters that is not in their home, it will allow them to collaborate and share ideas with other users of the space.  They will also have access to facilities such as meeting rooms and the Maker Lab.  CAO Stephen Peacock said:

“Having this new service offering reinforces the mission behind Venture13. Creating an intentional combined working space of both technology and entrepreneurial startups and a professional telecommuting workforce will create knowledge sharing collisions between varieties of change makers within Venture13.”

Venture Zone Inn will open in January 2019 and will offer:

  • One dedicated seat in the VentureZone Inn co-working desk space
  • High-speed wired and wireless internet [fibre connection – no mention anywhere of how fast this is].
  • One dedicated locker and combination lock
  • Access to private meeting space (booked as available, on a first-come, first-serve basis).
  • Discounted rates on booking Innovation Commons facilities
  • Access to professional development and business planning resources, workshops and mentoring as available
  • One free month trial!*  After that, the price is $125/month

Hopefully, this new idea will help fill the 30 open collaborative “hot seats” in the VentureZone.

Venture13 certainly seems like a good idea – let’s hope we get a report from the Town soon on this major venture.

Links

Other Articles on Venture 13

Special Note on unrelated subject

As hinted in the post on News Sources, Northumberland News is now asking people to register to keep access to their web site.  They also say that in future they will require paid subscriptions.  No mention of what’s happening to the print newspaper.  See their News story on this here.

Print Article: 

 

4 Comments
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cornbread
5 years ago

It will be interesting to see a full report on the $ benefit to the town of Cobourg after the first year of operation and each future year of Venture 13. So far all we know is how much is invested in the project. Hope Wendy keeps proper “books”.

Rob
Reply to  cornbread
5 years ago

I believe the economic benefit will be hard to quantify early on but I have little doubt there will be a benefit. The link below is a terrific example of how other countries are establishing similar models, creating an ecosystem where entrepreneurs can have space, collaborate, access support and grow. This is forward thinking.

https://stationf.co/

Pierre
Reply to  Rob
5 years ago

Hi Rob, very nice link. Thanks.
This is a great way for startups to communicate and grow with other entrepreneurs. A positive way forward.

Walter L. Luedtke
5 years ago

“a professional telecommuting workforce will create knowledge sharing collisions between varieties of change makers within Venture13”
Huh?
Sort of like they run into each other and make change?
Actually, according to Forbes Magazine: “It is estimated that employers in the US lose $1.8 trillion a year in productivity. From distractions like water cooler gossip to excessive commuting, health problems and more. Workers are finding it harder than ever to hit maximum productivity in a traditional office work environment. The solution? Telecommuting.”