Montreal Tech Watch

Station-C lead the way a few years ago, and now it seems there’s no shortage of iniatives around the idea of getting creatives, freelancers and startups in a shared common space. Everybody’s heard of the RPM Startup Center, spaces available at Notman House and its (great) community café, the coop spirit at ECTO, or nexusmtl.

Now communoloft just opened a space cross bvd St-Laurent and René-Levesque, with already one web startup in the education space based there. It’s downtown, with competitive prices, and offers small & closed office spaces for entrepreneurs looking for more privacy than just one huge space shared with others. Communoloft says they already have freelancers and more entrepreneurs who have booked the space, and expects to fill the space soon. Because of the business model though, they expect to see new tenants every month, as the 3-months lease attract entrepreneurs who want to “try out” a business without neceserarily committing to a 1-year or 3-years lease. With web services such as Freshbooks and Paypal, a laptop, and minimal office furniture, you can then launch overnight a business!

Another new space is 6cent1. They’ve announced their launch party nov 24th 6pm and they’re inviting the community to visit the space. As you can see in the picture below, there’s already activity in the space. It’s a big and beautiful loft that features a conference room for business meetings, as well as desks and semi-closed space for new members. The new initiative is based on the principle of shared resources, shared workshops, and getting freelancers and entrepreneurs to work together and find “synergies” .

It’s great seeing those spaces filling up fast — that’s a good sign for the economy, and more spaces means more choices for entrepreneurs who can “shop” around before settling in a space, depending on the space’s infrastructure or spirit. It’s also a good sign of where the economy and the society is going: more freelancers, more small and micro-businesses, and more people who want to build a future for themselves.