Market Input from the First 72 Hours of the Atlanta Tech Village

The Atlanta Tech Village has officially been open for pre-sales for 72 hours and we’ve sold 36 memberships (desks). During this short period of time we’ve done a number of customer discovery interviews as well as tours of the building. We’ve already learned a ton of interesting things.

Here’s some of the market input and feedback about the Atlanta Tech Village:

• People overwhelmingly love the idea and are excited about a new community and place for tech companies, startups, and tech-related service providers to interact and grow
• $250/person/month for a simple desk, chair, and internet with a 90-day pre-payment is a no-brainer — there’s nothing else like it on the market
• People are willing to pay extra for upgrades like receptionist services, faster internet, more shared conference room time, etc
• Unreserved desks and private offices for 1-3 people work great for smaller tenants but don’t meet the needs of companies that have 5 – 25 employees, yet three different entrepreneurs with companies in that size range came by wanting space (Atlanta Tech Village is going to support this size segment after renovations this summer)
• Several people reached out about paying for private suites in the 600-1,000 square foot range even though they only had one other colleague, showing that there’s demand for potential members that want to pay for larger space that isn’t purely a per desk pricing model

One of my biggest takeaways so far is that a pure per person per month pricing model won’t work for all the space in the building. Potential members are interested in a variety of options including large areas for a small number of people as well super-packed areas for interns, and a semi-flat per person per month model doesn’t accommodate the different desires. I do believe the blended $400/person/month is still the right way to think about it but that it’s going to come from renting desks, renting rooms, and renting suites with everything fully furnished and wired.

What else? What other market input and feedback have you heard so far about the Atlanta Tech Village?