Launchpad Coworking’s Julie Gomoll Shares Plans for Upcoming Coworking Space Downtown

Julie Gomoll is the president of Launchpad Coworking, which will be the first official coworking space in Austin, TX. Currently Launchpad is in the exploratory demolition phase, but but you can track its progress as well as read more about coworking on the Launchpad Coworking blog.

MICHELLE: How did you learn about coworking, and what originally piqued your interest?

JULIE: The idea started in my twenties — I wanted to open a cool bar where smart people hung out and had great conversations. Then I realized I didn’t need to hang out in bars and that people who were hanging out in bars all day weren’t having such interesting conversations after all. I realized my dream was really about building good community. So I started thinking about a coffee shop. Now I’m in my forties, and I like to hang out and work in coffee shops, but find them lacking. I started to think about doing something using the coffee shop model, but in a way that would better facilitate work.

I was talking to Tori Breitling about the idea and she said told me about a coworking group and said, “Look what these people are doing.” I thought we could do that — a coffee shop with extra room for coworking. We got so into the whole coworking idea that we flipped the idea around, and it evolved into a coworking space with an attached coffee shop.

I’ve always been a big fan of collaboration. I’m of the mind that sharing information makes us smarter and stronger. In the eighties, I ran my company Go Media, the company I eventually sold to Excite, that way. One of my philosophies was that I wanted everyone I hired to be able to teach me something. I hired people who knew things I didn’t. I like people who work with me instead of for me. For example, back then I was doing production on the Mac but I wanted to know about design so I hired a designer.

I applied this philosophy to working with clients, too. I might say to a client, “You don’t need me to do this, I can teach you how to do it yourself.” Telling my “secrets” not only didn’t lose me work, it got me lots more work.

With LaunchPad Coworking, I get to learn about architecture, IT stuff, café stuff… I’ve never done anything in food service, that’s not my world, so I hire people who know what they’re doing and it’s great, I get to learn a ton. So we’re not just building a coworking space, we’re also coworking within our company and learning from each other.

MICHELLE: Your team ranges from UI experts, to designers, to an ex-manager at Jo's, to entrepreneurs and marketers. How did y'all meet and then decide to start Launchpad?

JULIE: I’ve known Tori — now our user experience architect — since ’85. She’s one of the first people I met when I moved here. We’ve worked together at Go Media, Excite, Halsoft and now LaunchPad Coworking. Marie Hwang I met through Tori. And Tina Rosenzweig I met through Marie. Susan Price is someone I’ve known since my job at TypeThree, my first job in Austin. Susan and I have been in some ways coworking since we met. We’ve often run our companies from shared space so we could be around each other’s smart clients and smart coworkers.

I’m the one who decided to start LaunchPad Coworking, and I put the team together, but making it happen certainly has been a collaborative effort.

MICHELLE: When do you open, and what's going down when you do?

JULIE: We’re opening in July. Before we open we’ll do a couple of days of dry runs — get people from the local community to come in and see how it works. It’s a different kind of space and a different business model so we want people to come in and test the design of the space and the software that we’ve developed.

We’ll have an opening party a couple of weeks after we’re open. We have more people interested in that party than I can fit, though, so perhaps we’ll have several parties :)

I’m eager to see what works and what doesn’t once we’re open and to make necessary adjustments. I think it’s going to be a massive learning experience from day one.

MICHELLE: Right now I am cooped up in my dark duplex writing these questions. If Launchpad was open right now, how would it make writing this post a more pleasant experience?

JULIE: You’d be in the nice, spacious, light environment around other people, some you know, some you don’t know. It’ll be an inspiring place, a comfortable place, with access to great coffee and food. You can still work alone if you want — put on your headphones or put up a Do Not Disturb card — or you can talk to people around you, ask for advice, ask for ideas, get to know your other coworkers and build community. And you’ll be around other people who want the same thing.

Do you have any other ingenious events planned to get internet geeks like me away from their desks at home and coworking at Launchpad?

JULIE: As far as ingenious events, we will have some. We’re just getting our event strategy in place, but we know for sure we’ll have Nova Science Now Science Cafes, for example, (www.sciencecafes.org) — these involve conversations with scientists on current science topics. But day-to-day this is about a good place to work and a good place for community.

MICHELLE: If someone wanted to follow Launchpad's progress, what should they do?

JULIE: We’ve already got a lot of interest, people are already wanting to make reservations. I can’t wait to get our software up so they can start doing that online!