PARISOMA
PARISOMA is a coworking space and open incubator in the SoMa district of San Francisco managed by the firm FaberNovel. In addition to providing shared work space to approximately 120 members, it also hosts events and classes related to design, business, technology, and entrepreneurship. Its mission is to "cultivate an experimental environment where IDeaS meet execution."
History
Founding
PARISOMA was established in 2007 by Stéphane Distinguin, Clément Alteresco (of faberNovel) and Louis Montagne (of AF83). The name PARISOMA is a combination of "Paris" and "SoMa" as a reference to faberNovel's and af83's Parisian origins. The founders were inspired by Citizen Space, one of the first coworking spaces in San Francisco, and the BarCamp movement that they also brought to France. The space was envisioned as a way for faberNovel and af83 to be involved in the local entrepreneurial community in the Bay Area.
TEDx events
TEDxSoMa, an event licensed from TED Conferences LLC, has been held at PARISOMA five times since June 2008, with the sixth tentatively scheduled for January 2013. TEDx events are independently planned and coordinated conferences consisting of short, cross-disciplinary presentations "focused on the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately the world."
In October 2012, PARISOMA hosted TEDxCity2.0, an event taking place simultaneously at hundreds of locations around the world, with the goal of "sharing the powerful narratives of urban innovators and organizers, stewards and artists, builders and taste makers." Speakers included Ron Conway (Chairman of sf.citi and Special Advisor to SV Angel), Alex Tourk (Principal at GFPA), Bevan Dufty (Director of Hope SF), and Joel Mahoney (Tech Strategist at Code for America).
Wikipedia SF Hackathon
In January 2012, Wikipedia conducted its first-ever Bay Area Hackathon at PARISOMA, with 92 attendees learning about Wikimedia technology and building applications integrated with the site. The event kicked off with a speech by Foundation VP of Engineering Erik Möller, followed by a series of tutorials on Wikipedia APIs, user scripts, and mobile apps. Self-organized teams created a number of applications using these tools, which they presented in a demonstration showcase. Judges awarded prizes to the best demos.
AT&T DevLab
In September, PARISOMA in partnership with its parent company faberNovel organized the first AT&T DevLab, a day-long conference for 250 developers. Sessions included tutorials on AT&T's Speech API "Watson," Application Resource Optimization (ARO) technology, and speeches by Eric Ries (author of the best-selling book The Lean Startup), David Weekly (Founder of PBworks), Michael Owens (Founder of Notion), and Guy Rosen (CEO of Onavo). The event was held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.
Visit by Mayor of Paris
In September 2012, PARISOMA was visited by the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, as part of his efforts to promote cultural and economic ties between Paris and San Francisco.
Startup Weekend SF
In September 2012, Startup Weekend SF was held at PARISOMA. Startup Weekend is a "54-hour event where developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and launch startups."
Rebranding
In 2009 the space was rebranded as the pariSoma Innovation Loft, adopting a new color scheme and logo and increasing its focus on events. In 2011 the location was moved to a new 10,000 square-foot split-level loft on 11th Street, increasing the space available for coworking and events and adding an education program. In July 2012 it was rebranded as simply PARISOMA, adopting a new logo and completing an extensive renovation of the interior.
Other notable events
In 2010, PARISOMA employees in collaboration with two local developers launched the first mobile app for finding coworking spaces. It utilized public data to provide information on 450 such locations around the world.
In 2011, job-hunting website Ongig.com rated PARISOMA the "Best Co-Working Space' in San Francisco.
Services
PARISOMA provides three main types of services:
Coworking
The space currently hosts approximately 120 coworkers from 50 companies in a wide range of fields, including public relations, graphic design, mobile application development, mobile payments, internet radio, web development, videogames, journalism, consulting, and others.
Memberships vary in price from open desk space to private offices, and include 24/7/365 access, free Wi-Fi and power, coffee and tea, printing and scanning, free or discounted admission to events and classes, and use of the two on-site conference rooms.
Events
The space has hosted two to three events per week since its founding in 2007. These include employer-developer fairs, industry-specific mixers, speaker series, CreativeMornings, and meetings of local technology and business groups.
Education
The space hosts twice-weekly classes taught by instructors with entrepreneurial experience. These classes are mostly related to design, business and technology in an entrepreneurial context.
Member companies
Some of the notable companies and organizations that have worked out of PARISOMA include:
- AwayFind
- Brightcove
- Bureau of Trade
- Butterflive
- DoYouBuzz
- Ducksboard
- Eye-Fi
- Fanzy
- Global Lives Project
- GoodPeople
- Intridea
- Jogabo
- La Poste (France)
- Learnirvana
- Major League Soccer
- Microsoft
- moduleQ
- OKCupid
- PapayaMobile
- Penxy
- Proton Radio
- Quickpay
- Scoop.it!
- SiteJabber
- Tech Cocktail
- Vidcaster
- Work4 Labs
- Oomea
Future plans
PARISOMA's parent company faberNovel has plans to replicate the coworking model and create startup communities in other large cities, including New York, London, São Paulo, Moscow, and Beijing.
See also
- FaberNovel
- Coworking
- Hot desking
- Telecommuting
- Collaborative workspace