In 2015, eager and hungry to expand across Europe, following our success in Berlin, we stepped back to consider what made our first project so successful. How did it attract the likes of SoundCloud, 6Wunderkinder, Uber, Twitter, Mozilla and more? Could any systems or methods we used be easily replicated?
The short answer is: yes. And rather than keeping our learnings a secret, we opted to publish them in a Playbook, licensed under Creative Commons. Yes, we shared our secret sauce with the world. We wanted to be copied – because we wanted more innovation campuses, and to push the sector forward.
Using this Playbook, we’ve witnessed an innovative campus positively impact an entire country. It’s now available for you to download, read, question, and contribute to. Enjoy.
Foreword
Work, as we know it, is changing. The values and standards defined a decade ago no longer hold true for today’s modern workforce, and demands have rapidly changed over the past two decades regardless of demographics.
If you work in the new economy, this shift is apparent. It is accompanied by several major emerging trends:
The employees of today care deeply about what they are working on, who they work for and how their life is making an impact.
A war for talent is on. Every firm seeks to build an environment and culture to attract the best talent.
Entrepreneurship is global. Firms from Europe, Asia, Africa and beyond are becoming relevant global leaders.
Urbanization & development. Everyone can now work wherever they choose in the world, and the sharing economy has made that even easier. Cities are investing heavily into attracting inspired creatives.
Coworking and collaboration. As entrepreneurship goes mainstream so does its open-minded mentality. Companies and individuals alike are seeking more interaction in their work environments.
Tech is transforming society. Every industry is being disrupted by technology, and it is also impacting governments and academia.
Together, from 2011 until early 2015 our team worked with 26 technology firms of different growth stages; a community of over 500 working out of one campus in Berlin Mitte.
We learned a great deal while running this space, a playground for the workers and innovators of tomorrow. Most importantly we realized that with our space we created a framework for serendipity to take place.
Spaces like these are by no means easy to realize. The more that exist around the world, the higher the chance for technology to positively impact society, especially in less developed regions.
This playbook is a basic blueprint to the Factory model - a novel concept that extends the definition of coworking to startups of all stages. We have taken our key learnings from the first Factory and packaged them here for you to read. It’s intended to help push the model forward.
There are many out there who run amazing spaces for entrepreneurs with vibrant communities and great programs. We encourage everyone to add to this playbook and improve it over time.
Join us in building similar communities and spaces around the world.
Thank you,
Team Factory
