Interview with Community Manager, James Obando, of Kleverdog Coworking:
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Tell us about your experience as a coworking space in Los Angeles. What ups and downs have you encountered?
It’s actually an up and a down I would say. The interesting thing about our coworking space is that we only do month-to-month. We don’t require a long term contract, so because of that we have a pretty high turnover. I wouldn’t say it’s enormous, but as coworking goes I think it’s the regular. You get a lot of new people every month, and with that, there are other people that move on. A lot of the workers that come in here are working project to project – consultants, freelancers, independents that are working on set projects for set periods of time. So it’s usual to have people come in and say “I just need the space for three months” or “I’m working on a steady project.” It’s kind of fun, because we will see new people every month, but then again, It’s sad to see them go.
Of course, because you’ve fostered this relationship with them.
Definitely, and that’s the key part of the coworking especially at Kleverdog. We really stress community. It’s small here, we don’t have more than 26 full-time members. There’s potential for growth of up to 30 or 35. That would be our capacity, I think. So it becomes more of a family, and some of the members here know each other like brother and sister, which is really cool. Everyone socializes inside and outside of Kleverdog. It’s kind of free that way, like having someone to go to lunch with.
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In terms of members, who do you see utilizing your space most often? Are you catering to a specific profession?
We haven’t actually required anything like that, but I know there are some other coworking spaces that do that. It seems like everyone right now in the marketplace has become really niche-ey. We don’t do that – we are totally open, and anyone who wants to work here can. When I came on over a year ago, the space was very design-driven, as you can maybe see. We had a handful of designers, web developers, programmers and coders, which was interesting. It was kind of the front-end and back-end of web design, and that’s kind of what we nurtured for the longest time. There were a lot of startups that needed to build an app, so they would come to Kleverdog and meet somebody that could code, someone who knew PHP. That’s the kind of networking that you expect out of a coworking space. What’s interesting is I’ve noticed in the past few months that we have graduated to more of a group of people who are just sick of working out of their homes. Right now, about 50% of the people working here are writers. We have a lady who is a travel writer and travel agent, and it’s interesting to have her here. Another guy was a screenwriter...we have script writers and non-profit writers. It’s great that we have a lot of writers and that’s why over in our side studio, it’s always super quiet. It’s become somewhat of a library because our writers utilize that space.
Tell us more about how the Kleverdog is divided, what type of offices/desk spaces do you have?
Our main studio has what we call the “Flex Desk,” which is a long community table where anyone can pull up, plug in, grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy their day. That of course creates the synergy...there are always a lot of interesting things that go on during the day. People connecting with one another – switching business cards or just going to lunch together. It’s kind of nice that way. We have drop-ins who are here during our open hours, as well as full-time members that get 24/7 access and dedicated spaces. And you can also bring your dog, to hang out.
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So you are pet friendly! I was hoping you would be.
Oh of course! I mean we are also feline friendly, but I can’t say that I’ve seen a cat here just yet. A lot of dogs come through though.
LA’s startup community is growing rapidly, what type of influence has that had on you as a coworking space? Are there many competitors within your market?
That’s interesting because some of the coworking spaces are very much geared towards the startup community. We have always been startup friendly, but we don’t have VCs in-house, or a lawyer in-house. We don’t really house all of those functions that you have in places that are very business-oriented, because we are more of a casual audience. A lot of creatives. For example, we have a marketing agency startup, and we have others that come in to consult with them. We also have a meetup space where we do “Meetup Fridays,” where we talk about an issue with their business. But we certainly wouldn't call ourselves an incubator. We don’t have that kind of competition here.
How did Kleverdog come into existence? Tell us more about your team and the culture that exists within your space.
We started back in June of 2011 and it was just David [Oshima} and Kelly [Low]. They actually met each other at a meetup and they were working from home. David was a web developer and Kelly was a graphic designer. They thought, “Why not work together as freelancers?” This brought them to seeking out a space, and back in 2011 there wasn’t a lot of space in LA. A lot of these spaces were “jellies,” where people just opened up their homes to others to work with one another. David and Kelly searched all over for a space Downtown (they’re both from East LA).
It’s funny they came up with the name Kleverdog, it’s spelled with a K-L for Kelly Low and D-O for David Oshima. The mascot is Chester, with the little nerdy glasses. This is what attracted me to Kleverdog – their creativity. They’ve created a great work community. I was a freelancer myself, doing social media, and this type of space was such an attraction for me. For instance, the artwork in our office is all for sale and it’s from local artists and members of our coworking space.
What will we be seeing from Kleverdog in the future? Will the gentrification of Chinatown influence you as a company?
It’s funny that you mention that because I feel that we are part of that gentrification. Chinatown is growing as a community and allows new development to let it grow and nurture, not let it die off like it did before. Old Chinatown just basically died off, and it was so sad. In fact, they are still tearing down buildings as we speak and building new ones over them. But I’m happy Kleverdog is part of that growth. Right now, the growing we are doing is into the space we have downstairs, where we do Kleverdog Acadamie. It’s set up for classrooms and events. It’s an events space, but first and foremost we wanted to start the Academie, which is offering classes on weekday evenings and on weekends. People can also work here and can stay and learn Photoshop, photography, even martial arts. There are all kinds of businesses coming in that way too. Members of our company can host their own classes, and it’s open to any community member as well.
