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![\"startpad\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/startpad.jpg\")
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Above:<\/strong> StartPad<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n He likes the fact that the community that builds around these spaces can give small start-ups big visions.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve received referrals to several great advisors, received three high value sales leads in the last month and on a weekly basis, we benefit from ad hoc peer mentoring from others founders in these co-working spaces,\u201d Gardiner says.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n However, Gardiner admits the nature of these often open-plan spaces can make it hard not to get distracted.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re working in this super-fast paced environment alongside other founders like yourself that are also trying to make a dent in the world, doing amazing things.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTrying to limit the time you spend with other teams can be a challenge but it is one of the things we love so we wouldn\u2019t want it to change,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But do the start-ups that begin in these co-working spaces ever leave? Landlords say that some go on to rent their own office space, while others enjoy the back-end support and social life that a co-working space offers them, so choose to stay.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Online graphic design hub DesignCrowd used Fishburners as a stepping stone for a few months.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The business has raised $3 million of capital, grown from three staff to 17, acquired a US business and launched overseas including in the UK and Canada in the past year.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Its current digs are in Surry Hills in Sydney.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Founder Alec Lynch says: \u201cWe hired a few desks, used meeting rooms to interview potential staff and used it as a base when we were hunting for a new, larger office to fit everyone. It appealed to us because it was cheap and flexible.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Co-working spaces were also a stepping stone for tech start-up OrionVM Cloud Platform, which was based at Fishburners for a year before moving into its own space.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The business counts Sydney Buses, NSW State Library and AAPT among its clients and annual revenue has reached seven figures.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Managing director Sheng Yeo says while a co-working space offered a great culture, security and privacy were an issue, prompting him to move out.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a great way to get a credible address and a work space in the city that all of our team could work from.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe other benefits that we realised after going to the co-working space included mentorship, great company and being able to find a range of advisors and people who were one step ahead to assist,\u201d Yeo says.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But moving out of a co-working space isn\u2019t always a sign of success.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Property management software company RentingSmart founder Ben Levi has been a Fishburners tenant since the space opened 18 months ago and has no immediate plans to leave.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n His fellow tenants help him solve problems in a tenth of the time it would take him on his own, he says.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Above: <\/strong>The Refinery Studio \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere is usually someone who has already done what you\u2019re trying to do. RentingSmart is in a better position today due to the Fishburners community.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Questions to ask:<\/p>\n For Mike Gardiner, co-working spaces have given his start-up, Lime Rocket, access to high energy social environments and an injection<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55465"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Growing pains<\/h3>\n
![\"refinery\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/refinery.jpg\")
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<\/em><\/p>\nFinding a co-working space<\/h3>\n
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