Ever co-worked with your Mayor? Today City of Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton along with Phoenix Councilman Daniel Valenzuela and Valley entrepreneurs pulled up a chair for CO+HOOTS 4th birthday and co-worked with the community.
This well-known co-working space located in downtown Phoenix on 11th and Washington, celebrated their day at the Clarendon Hotel with an endless supply of coffee, creativity and conversation.
Mayor Stanton shared that co-working spaces like CO+HOOTS are important for his city’s culture, vibe and economy, and looks to support these spaces where he can.
“We know that someone in this very room is going to need the support to take their idea to market,” Stanton said, “that is where the future of your economy is going to be.”
While Stanton and I sipped coffee and continued our chat, founders began to fill in the work space. Whether a guest, regular member or CO+HOOTS staff, there was a constant flow of introductions which led to conversation about projects, clients, talents, and even sneak peeks of some cool apps launching soon (yes, I saw them, stay tuned). Needless to say, the startup energy was quite infectious.
“What’s exciting about CO+HOOTS in particular is that it builds energy and excitement, and Jenny has done a great job building that family feel,” Stanton said. “Everyone in here has an idea and a passion, and when they come to a community like this, it re-energizes them. As Mayor, when I come here, this is the excitement I love, these are people who are getting it done, these are the dreamers in my community, and we need them to be successful.”
Building CO+HOOTS wasn’t any easy endeavor, founder Jenny Poon said, “…it took a lot of overcoming roadblocks and pushing through a lot of failures to get here. We learned so much from the co-workers and the culture is what it is because of the co-workers.”
Poon launched CO+HOOTS in 2010 with five people and has grown it to over 100 members. She attributes her success to the culture and talent housed within the four walls and looks to add a second location in the near future.
“Co-working is not about the actual space, it’s about the talented people who work together-and that can happen anywhere-but we do a really good job about facilitating that connection,” she said.
Some of the businesses that have started at CO+HOOTS include: Uber PHX, Heckler Design, Tony Felice PR, New Relic, Ruby Ride, Accounting Pros and Volo Digital.
Recently Poon launched the CO+HOOTS Foundation, which focuses on building business educational opportunities, nurturing a stronger coworking community and providing pro bono service to the non-profit sector. Poon is focusing on four pillars: empowering co-workers success, community service, identifying talent early, and changing the world.
Read: CO+HOOTS launches the non-profit arm CO+WORK, CO=BUILD, CO+CHANGE
Learn more about CO+HOOTS
