Click to read the article and view the video at USAToday.com

USA Today reporter Jefferson Graham visited CoCo recently in order to report on the startup scene that continues to develop in Minnesota.

Local NBC affiliate KARE 11 aired a short piece that featured CoCo members Mobiata, Project Skyway as well as local startup Qonqr.

The full article appeared in the Nov. 25, 2011, issue of USA Today. The accompanying video on USA Today’s website also featured local startup Crumblepop, a South Minneapolis company that creates broadcast and film effects for Apple’s Final Cut Studio video software.

Click to watch Jefferson Graham's report on Kare 11

I generally ignore them, unless they’re really nice, like the one Peace Coffee delivers each month. Or the kind you get from teeny wineries in Oregon.

So, perhaps there’s room in the pantheon of communication tools for us to produce an email newsletter that’s worth reading. We’ll try anyway. At the very least, we’ll keep you apprised of upcoming events at CoCo as well as our progress in building out our Minneapolis location.

Our first edition goes out next week. Sign up before then and we’ll throw your name in a drawing for a Pazzaluna $20 gift card. That’ll buy you three glasses of so-so wine. Not a bad bribe at all!

Here’s where to sign up, soldier.

CoCoMSP.ning.com

We’ll use this site for posting:

• Events
• Booking conference rooms and shared facilities
• Community notices
• Member blogs
• Community forums
• Photos & videos
• Polls

CoCoMSP.com (the site you’re currently on) will continue to be our public-facing tool for marketing, social media and public relations efforts.

Opening Day – We’re still scheduled to open on Monday, January 4, at 8 a.m.

Early signup – This is the last week to become a Co-Founder by becoming a full-time coworker for the month of January. The biggest benefit: a lifetime price freeze. Learn more.

Work weekend – We’ve got a little painting and stuff to do before we open the doors, and frankly we could use your help. Stop by on Saturday, January 2, or Sunday, January 3, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. We’ll trade you a day of work for a month of coworking. Interested? Please drop us a line.

Opening week breakfasts – We’re serving free breakfast each day of opening week. Donuts, bagels, bacon, waffles – drop by, eat your fill and learn more about coworking at CoCo.

Please stop by tonight, from 4 to 9 p.m., for a sneak preview of CoCo, the Twin Cities’ newest coworking and collaboarative hub.

The space is not yet finished, but you’ll be able to see the great potential. Just to make sure, we’ll be providing beer goggles.

Here’s where you’ll find us…

CoCo collaborative
213 4th St. East, 4th Floor (it’s the 5-storey building in the picture)
St. Paul, MN
Map

I’m delighted to announce the launch of a new destination for collaboration and innovation. It’s a place where freelancers, startups, and individuals from larger organizations will be able to forge an open, collaborative and entrepreneurial approach to working and meeting.

Coming as soon as January, this space will bring together some concepts you’re probably already familiar with:

• A coworking space
• A small-business incubator
• A flexible meeting space, where organizations come to generate and prototype new ideas for product and services.
• A gathering space for local unconferences, tweetups and meetups
• An espresso bar (natch.)

Who’s behind this venture?

• Don Ball, a partner with Polymer Studios and cofounder of UnSummit
• Kyle Coolbroth, an organizational innovation consultant

Why this? Why here? Why now?
We feel there are a few trends that make this idea ripe for the picking:

• The spirit of openness and sharing (see: open source, Web 2.0, social media, etc.) has infected many of us who are independents, entrepreneurs and small business owners. We believe that big organizations will increasingly look to tap into the “open” model of doing business.
• Coworking is taking off in the Twin Cities (with at least 3 locations in the works) as freelancers discover the limitations of working from a home office or the local coffee shop.
• The local startup scene is gaining steam, but needs the kind of nurturing that a small business incubator would provide.
• Bigger businesses (and non-profits, for that matter) are looking to tap into the energy and innovation of the startup community in order to solve big problems and invent new products and services.

How does the meeting space figure into all this?
The meeting space will be more than just an empty room (after all, you can rent meeting space anywhere). Our space will be unique in three ways:

• Infrastructure: We are making extensive use of theatrical set design and props, so that we can quickly and inexpensively reconfigure the space to serve the unique needs of each group. We’ll also employ various digital technologies, so that meetings and participant experiences can be easily documented, remixed and shared.
• Meeting methodology: We will be using several different methodologies that emphasize peer-to-peer sharing and disruptive thinking, so that we can help visiting groups quickly clarify opportunities and generate an abundance of valuable ideas. Currently, we’re talking to a handful of experienced facilitators, who will be our meeting superstars.
• Rapid prototyping: We feel it’s important to go beyond idea generation and actually feel a product in hand, click on a Web or mobile interface, or play with a customer experience. To that end, we’re already recruiting sketch artists, graphic designers, CAx designers, actors and other creative individuals who can help bring ideas to life. Ideally, we’d love to have these types of professionals resident at the space. That way, any meetings hosted at the space result in actual business for our coworking members.

Where will this space be located?
We’ve got a line on a rather large converted warehouse space (upwards of 10,000 sq. ft.) in downtown St. Paul, right on the cusp of Lowertown and right along the proposed light rail line, which means we’d be close to the Farmer’s Market, several good restaurants and lots of cheap parking.

When does this all go down?
We could be ready to open the doors for co-working as early as January. It might take a little more time to recruit small businesses for the incubator space and line up organizations that want to conduct meetings.

Big questions remaining…
Naturally, we’ve got a few things to figure out, including the available coworking and incubator spots, plans, costs, etc. We hope to start posting this info in the next week or so.