A walk down Main Street in Durham, NC will take one past many great restaurants, bars, and shops, as well as office and residential space. One such place is Beyu Caffe, and there, in the window on the right, if one looks closely, is The Smoffice.
Durham Wins! Casey Steinbacher, Matthew Coppedge and
Adam Klein with $3,000 check and plaque.
Photo from Downtown Durham, Inc.
Such a cool idea this was, that it got national media attention, and applicants to occupy the space came from around the world. The idea had undeniable panache, and people loved it.
The tenants of The Smoffice have since moved out, but the idea was entered into a contest to determine The World's Most Unconventional Economic Development Project.
Guess what. It won. At 25 square feet, The Smoffice bested contenders from around the globe at The World Chambers Competition at which chambers of commerce competed with their economic development projects. Some of these were executed at the national level with massive budgets. Despite the long odds and imposing competition, Durham did what Durham does...it roared. Again.
The competition was held in Doha, Qatar where Casey Steinbacher, Matthew Coppedge, and Adam Klein represented Durham. Steinbacher is President of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, Coppedge is Chief Operating Officer for Downtown Durham, Inc, and Klein, formerly with the Chamber, is now with American Underground.
This is the first time the US has ever won this competition.
More details will be shared as they are available. Some back story on the project is at the links below.
Have you seen The Smoffice in the front of Beyu? It's that window on the right. It made some big news when it launched, and it's making more news now.
At 25 square feet, The Smoffice has been chosen as one of 5 finalists for Best Unconventional Chamber Project in the World. Yep - the entire big blue marble.
The Smoffice will be competing for the worldwide title this April at the World Chambers Congress, a gathering of the global community of more than 12,000 chambers of commerce, their presidents and CEOs, business members, and influential world leaders.
The 2013 Meeting will be held in Doha, Qatar, where Durham will be competing against 4 others Chambers, three of which are national chambers:
The Chamber of Commerce of Slovenia
Korea Chamber of Commerce
Chamber of Commerce of Nuremberg, Germany
The Chamber of Commerce of Finland
For those who aren’t “in the know" The Smoffice was a national contest to give away the World’s Smallest Office Space. The goal of The Smoffice was to begin to create greater national awareness of Durham as an entrepreneurial hub with the intent to significantly increase the density of startups in downtown.
The Smoffice received press on an international scale in 2012, being featured in TechCrunch, Startup Smart, WRAL Tech Wire, New York Times, Fast Company, Tech Journal South, Triangle Tech Talk and Smart Planet. The chosen company, The Makery Project launched during their time in The Smoffice and continue to grow in Downtown Durham.
The creators of the Bull City Startup Stampede are back at it with a new project. It's a really big deal and a great opportunity for the winner. The exposure will be massive and the financial value is big. It's just that the space is, well, small.
Really small.
The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Durham, Inc. are partnering once again to bring entrepreneurs to downtown Durham, this time through an initiative called The Smoffice. A national competition, The Smoffice will provide one startup with six months of free space in “The World’s Smallest Office” as well as a free six-month lease on a downtown condo.
The Smoffice will be located in the storefront window of Beyu Caffe, a prominent coffee shop on Main Street. “We are excited to be working with Dorian (owner of Beyu) as we think entrepreneurship and coffee make a great pair,” said Adam Klein, Startup Strategist at the Durham Chamber. “We like the energy of the crowd that spends time at Beyu Caffe and think this location will give the winning entrepreneur an easy opportunity to meet and mingle with fellow entrepreneurs and Durham’s business leaders.”
The Smoffice design was created by Center Studio Architecture and constructed by McDonald York. The winning entrepreneur will enjoy a custom built desk as well as free furniture from CBi and a tablet. In addition to the commercial space, the winner will get to enjoy downtown Durham around the clock with a free condo at Mangum 506.
“Downtown Durham powers startups and we want to give The Smoffice winner as much exposure and time in Durham as possible,” said Downtown Durham Inc.’s Director of Marketing Matthew Coppedge. “We are quickly becoming a significant startup hub and The Smoffice gives us a great chance to continue to feature entrepreneurs and the kind of energy and creativity they drive in a downtown environment. This initiative will show that one does not need the best or fanciest space to launch a successful company, but rather be surrounded by a stimulating environment and people.”
The Smoffice winner will also receive technical assistance from startup experts in legal, accounting and marketing. Perhaps most important, the winner will be networked with the 70 other startups that call downtown Durham home.
Applications for The Smoffice open on Leap Day, February 29 and close Friday, March 30. Interested applicants can learn more at www.thesmoffice.com or on Twitter @thesmoffice. Applications should include a one page business plan along with a 60 second You Tube video detailing why the startup should win The Smoffice space. The Smoffice winner will be announced on Friday, April 13 and the winner will arrive in Durham and open The Smoffice on Monday, April 30. Website design for The Smoffice was provided by Kompleks Creative.
Durham is a great place for big ideas, big personalities and big businesses...but they all started someplace (ugh.) small.
