Why Starbucks Is No Place For Founders (Stick To A Coworking Space)

Cafés are tempting to work from at first – there’s coffee, other people and free WiFi. Much better than working from home by yourself or from an expensive coworking space, right? Wrong.

Here are 5 reasons why you should stick to a proper office or coworking space:

#1 Cafés Are Super Loud

Cafés can be a good environment to work in – however around peak times they transform into a squabbling hell where school children, stressed office workers and students lounge around you with their sugary frappuccinos and lattés. Add that to the coffee house music which is the same every day and repeats itself every two hours and you have a recipe for disaster. Trust me – those serene hours of focused work are few and far between. The rest of the time there are little children running around, young mums with babies, teenagers gossiping and tourists just being tourists. Now picture yourself having an important phone call – where do you go for some peace and quiet?

#2 WiFi Is Down

As a former barista, I can speak from experience that the WiFi only works about half the time. The rest of the time I was busy explaining why it didn’t work (no idea) and when it would work again (also, no idea). Most cafés only offer about one or two hours of relatively fast internet; after that it’s either slow or stops working altogether. This is because Starbucks and other cafés are not supposed to be used as offices.

#3 How Much Coffee Can You Drink?

Yes, coworking spaces can be costly – but so are those four to five coffees you have to drink at a café when you work there all day. Unless you want to earn yourself some dirty looks from the staff because you’ve been drinking the same small green tea for 6 hours. If you want food you only have one choice – eat what they sell, even if it’s expensive. Except if you want to pack up all of your stuff, eat, and then return to that same table you’ve been occupying since 9am.

#4 No Space For Meetings

Let’s be honest, those café tables are not enough space for a laptop, a phone and a notebook. You will most likely end up having half of your stuff on your lap. Some coffee shops have big ‘working’ tables, but when you have to share those with 15 others, space quickly becomes limited. And what if an important client wants to meet up? Sadly, you can’t reserve a table at a coffee shop like you can with a meeting room in a coworking space.

#5 You Are Alone

Lastly, coworking spaces are so much better than cafés. Here, you will meet others like you. Whereas in a café you are surrounded by people, they are all just strangers. In a coworking space, you can be sure that everyone around you has the same positive attitude and will happily talk to you – if they’re not too busy. At one of the many events each coworking space offers you can meet potential team members, co-founders, investors and advisors.

And don’t worry – most coworking spaces also have a bistro/café area!

 

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Photo Credit: gerrit.photography via Visualhunt / CC BY