John Erik Metcalf is a 24 year old entrepreneur and new venture enthusiast. He is a Board Member and Co-Founder of Texas Ventures, a nonprofit focused on accelerating young businesses and entrepreneurs, and one of the leaders fueling Conjunctured, the first coworking space in Austin, TX.   I recently connected with John to hear more about what he's up to.  

Read the interview below and check out Conjunctured

Tell us a little about what you're up to:

Currently, I'm finishing a few long-term consulting projects with local clients, but I'm looking into doing some international work in the near future.

What about Conjunctured, how did that get going?

In Austin, the idea for a coworking space came out of something called a "Jelly." Jelly is the name of weekly coworking session that started in New York and now happens every Friday all over the country. The term was originally coined by Amit Gupta in 2006.

Early last year, after a couple weeks of Jellying, Dusty Reagan (who is the founder of Austin's Jelly movement), David Walker, and Cesar Torres and I realized that this was definitely something special. As independent business owners, we really thought we could benefit from this type of environment every day.

Then, during March of 2008, we were able to chat with founders of coworking spaces across the country during the SXSWi conference, at which point the four of us solidified our decision to create a coworking space in Austin.

We gathered a list of people who were enthusiastic about the idea of having a coworking space in Austin. Over 200 people were on the list. From there, we had the most serious people fill out a questionnaire, with questions like: What part of town should it be in? How much would you want to pay per month? How soon do you need space? Do you want a permanent desk there?

Over 50 people returned the survey, and armed with that knowledge, we started the hunt for a space that would appeal to what our community told us they wanted. This turned out to be rather challenging, because there is such high demand for real estate on the East side of Austin right now.

We knew that to secure a space, we would need to have the ability act fast, which meant having the money to put down when we found the perfect location. Six people stepped forward and paid 1-6 months of monthly membership dues in advance for the future coworking space, thus giving us the thousands of dollars necessary to make the initial deposits that are required when signing a commercial lease.

Where did the idea come from for Startup District?

While amassing the following and support necessary to make Conjunctued happen, I realized there was a great need to unite Austin's tech community in more that just one way.

Austin needs to know what's going on in Austin. The Austinites I met at SXSWi last year had no idea which startups were in Austin and what these Austin startups were working on. They were only familiar with Silicon Valley startups, because Silicon Valley has an existing, far-reaching online network of websites and blogs that disseminate news and information. Austin has several cutting-edge startups, that are working with brand-new technology or creating it themselves. Startups that are changing the way the world interacts with technology. And these companies thrive on being in the thick of it. Their success depends on it.

It was as a result of conversations with the people at the helm of these startups that led to the idea that Austin could benefit from a Startup District. It would be a physical district that exists within the city, a particular part of town where inexpensive real estate allows for a concentration of startup companies. I have been in talks with the Economic Development Department of Austin and members of City Council regarding this.

Having a stronger Austin presence at SXSWi this year is also big part of this initiative, because I want the Austinites who attend SXSW to be armed with knowledge of Austin companies and what is going on in Austin. As a result, I organized a panel called around the topic of where you should start your startup called "Ditch the Valley, Run for the HIlls." It'll be on Sunday, March 15th, from 10-11AM. Looking forward to seeing y'all there!

Is there a relationship or cross over between the two projects?

There is a term in the coworking community called "accelerated serendipity." It's about proximity. About critical mass. Coworking brings like-minded people together in a creative and tight-knit environment. All across the country, coworking spaces are beginning to be considered as incubators for startup companies and small businesses.

There are obvious benefits from coworking, such as decreased cost of office space, opportunities for social interaction, and helping independent workers get out of their house and into a community. The concept behind Startup District has similar advantages. By concentrating startup businesses in the same area of Austin, you enable like-minded people with common goals to connect, share, and propser.

How are you leveraging social media for visibility, community building, or anything else?

We've bootstrapped the coworking space from the very beginning. Using social media tools like Twitter and Facebook, we were able to gather the initial list of people who were interested in having a coworking space in Austin, and still use these services now to keep in touch, disseminate news and information about events, and continue to spread the word about Conjunctured.

Learn more:

•  Conjunctured
• Texas Ventures
• Startup District