Firas and Margot Bushnaq are a low-key couple. When you step into their West Hollywood co-working space Boxaplex, you’ll be submerged in a modern, light-filled coolness which reflects their personalities and demeanor. For the past three years they have made Boxaplex the home for their own companies, as well as a collaborative space for other incubators and independent contractors working in technology in Los Angeles.
[ibimage==38444==Original==none==self==null]
The space is home to companies they are involved in hatching. Including BrandBucket, a marketplace for brandable domain names, Setster, an appointment scheduler, Orbitera sales of software and services on the cloud.
In the past year Colab has become a force inside the ‘plex. Founded by Jon Bradford and Michael “Squid” Buchanan, Colab is a web and mobile development shop that operates under a venture studio model. The duo was involved in the early stage development of Pluto.tv, and shortly after founded Colab, added Firas to the roster, and began partnering with early stage startups to build their products and play a co-founder role.
Other companies in development include a communications tool for families and caregivers, a mapping company, a Hello Kitty photo app, a subscription management SaaS, an ecommerce shop widget, a local product rental marketplace, even a skateboard brand.
There are a smattering of independent contractors working on their own “things” or as ad-hoc participants in the community of companies. They include writers, marketers, growth-hackers, UX designers and a smattering of developers who appreciate the hushed vibe at Boxaplex.
Now the community for ideas the Bushnaqs have created is being incubated as an online tool -- a fluid community of entrepreneurs, freelancers and consultants from a diverse set of disciplines who participate in the development of concepts and companies. They imagine this can spread their approach more globally and better their toolset by, you guessed it, involving a broader community.
---
Jeff Tidwell works for startups via prepop.com from his desk at Boxaplex.
