OfficeSpaces…the Sunshine Suites of Amsterdam

I have to tell you…traveling with Howard Greenstein is a dream. He doesn’t forget or leave behind anything. I, on the other hand, am a total klutz…always forgetting everything…as my wife says “if my head weren’t screwed on I’d probably leave that behind too!” In addition, Howard took better notes, asked better questions and too many more photos that I did (so why the heck did I go?)

As I said, Howard is also somewhat of a photo bug…he had two cameras with him at almost all times and never missed a photo opportunity. Check out his flickr account for photos from our trip:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/howardgr/sets/72157605842962989/

Anyway among the many places we visited was OfficeSpaces in Amsterdam, similar in many respects to Sunshine Suites, my office in Tribeca (NYC).

According to Martijn Roordink, our gracious host and the brains behind the place, Spaces offers affordable office space and work spots in an inspiring environment. At Spaces you do not just rent square feet, but also the supportive services of your choice, such as telephone answering services, receiving your guests or ordering printing paper. So you can focus on your core business. We are happy to take all other business off your hands, if so desired. Spaces also offers many extensive facilities for meetings, press conferences, workshops or social gatherings, a tasty breakfast or just a cup of coffee in our conservatory. All this in a stately mansion by the Amsterdam canals accompanied by a splendid view and at very competitive rates!In addition, in August, Spaces will be the first of many E.Factor lounges we plan to launch throughout the world including New York, London, New Delhi, San Francisco and Atlanta to name a few.

 

Back to Howard. Howard wrote an interesting write up in his blog the other day which bears repeating here. In addition to this write up on Spaces, I will be adding more stuff from my trip all week…including stuff from my friends at the EFactor including Adrie, Marion and Roeland as well as some of the interesting people I met in our travels…including some footage I shot with the Flip camcorder…which is in Israel at the moment with Adrie who is attending a technicial conference in Tel Aviv.

-Bill

FROM THE HARBROOKE GROUP WEBSITE

Yesterday, I saw the almost-finished construction of OfficeSpaces.nl, a very cool concept in shared office space, leased space for small entrepreneurial companies, and a common area that will be the first lounge for the E.Factor network members.

Martijn Roordink took Bill Sobel, Roeland Reinders, and me around on a tour of the beautiful new space,which is taking final form over the next 6 weeks. The concept combines elements of shared space like Regus clubs (printing, coffee bar, and other services on site) with concepts of co-working (with an entire area for soloists who will share space).

From this new glass top to the building, making the entire inside an open court, to board rooms and common areas designed to get the companies and workers interacting, there’s a lot that’s well-thought out about this place.

Flickr is giving me a hard time about photo uploads this morning, so I will update with more photos later. Additionally Bill Sobel and I took some video and when we upload that later, you’ll get a much better sense of the place, and I’ll expand this entry.