An uncommon canvas

One of the milestones in the life of a start-up is moving into its first offices. Space provides the frame for corporate culture:  will you have private offices or cubicles, which teams will sit next to each other, professional or eclectic decor? Even more important than the space itself are the rules and rituals it enables:  do you have an open door policy, do you have lunch as a team, who makes the coffee, who cleans the fridge?

As early-stage start-up teams get better at accomplishing more with fewer people, the space milestone is often delayed. Teams can get to product launch by working from dorm rooms, Starbucks or squatting in someone else’s offices. From a capital efficiency point of view, it’s wonderful. From a culture and chemistry perspective, less so.

An uncommon canvas

MaRS Commons − a shared office or co-working space that will become home to dozens of entrepreneurs involved in early-stage start-ups

Today we’re announcing another option: the MaRS Commons, a shared office or co-working space that will become home to dozens of entrepreneurs involved in early-stage start-ups. They’ll work here full-time or part-time, at dedicated desks or at communal tables. They’ll be building the culture of their own start-ups, while also contributing to the collective culture of the Commons.

If you’ve been to MaRS, you know the building is as beautiful as any museum or art gallery. I like to think of the Commons as a picture frame in that museum, a frame that currently rests around a blank canvas—one that we plan to fill with a mosaic of start-ups. If you’re ready to take your start-up to the next level and think you have something to add to the picture, we invite you to learn more and apply here.

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Tags: ict, Mark Zimmerman, MaRS, marscommons