February Interview: Casual Coworking with Amit Gupta

I'm beginning a monthly interview series in which I interview (either face-to-face or by phone) people who have something fresh to say. Because Jelly Theory is an idea-driven blog, I thought it would be nice to share the conversations I have with people I consider to be idea-oriented. This is my way of allowing this site to be a space where today's ideas can be freely exchanged and discussed in a real, personal way. I'm very pleased to present to you the first in my interview series, Amit Gupta. Amit is a 20-something entrepreneur in San Francisco who started Jelly, a global casual coworking network, with his friend Luke Crawford in Manhattan in 2006. He is currently working on Photojojo, a biweekly email newsletter filled with photography tips and ideas.

Check it out, Jelly in their own words:

Here’s the deal: Luke and Amit both love working from home, but they find that spending the occasional day working with others really helps get the creative juices flowing. Even though everyone’s working on their own projects, they can bounce ideas and problems off of each other and have fun doing it.

What’s Jelly? Jelly’s our attempt to formalize this weekly work-together. We invite you to come work at our home. You bring your laptop and some work, and we’ll provide wifi, a chair, and hopefully some smart people.

[You're probably wondering about the name - so was I. Last week, I stumbled upon Jelly casual coworking, and it piqued my interest, well, because of the Jelly connection. I emailed Amit, and we found some time to talk over the phone this week. I'd like to thank him for being that cool. Note that in the interview below, I try my best to quote Amit, but the responses below are not exact quotes. (Still learning the art of transcribing.)]

Can you give a brief history of coworking? How is Jelly's version of casual coworking different?
Coworking has existed for quite a while, especially among journalists and writers in New York who have a freelance lifestyle. Now the trend is moving to tech. In the past few years, people in tech have flexibility to work anywhere, but they lack a sense of community and structure. The Coworking Wiki will give you a more thorough history. Jelly is different from the traditional concept of coworking, which addresses the need for physical work space (e.g., renting desks). With Jelly, the motive is different because it addresses the need for human interaction rather than physical space. The primary activity is to share.

Please explain the name.
We were working at the kitchen table, and there were jelly beans beside us. We wanted a fun name.

When you first started Jelly with Luke, how did you spread the word?
We began by inviting friends to work with us at our kitchen table. While we worked on our own individual projects, we also shared ideas, and discussed problems and potential solutions, and word got around. Friends began raving about it. People wanted to start their own Jellies, and Jelly spread firely. We also got a lot of press from Wired, NPR, Today Show, etc.

Some questions on the people dynamics:

• How many people usually attend a Jelly? How often do Jellies meet? It depends. In San Francisco, Jellies happens once a month with 20 to 25 people showing up. We rotate among three different apartments.
• Do people who attend Jellies come in groups or by themselves? By themselves, mostly, but they may know people who are attending.
• Age? People in their 20s and 30s
• Gender? In San Francisco, probably 2/3 male, 1/3 female
• Careers represented? San Francisco is very tech focused. We have developers, designers, bloggers, and journalists attending. New York is less skewed. Different cities are skewed in other directions.
  
• What personality type does Jelly draw? People who are comfortable around other people and obviously not super shy.
• Safety concerns? So far it hasn't been an issue. The ethos of the event and the language on our site select a particular kind of person who is trustworthy.
  

How has Jelly grown since 2006?
Jellies exist in the US, Australia, Europe, and Canada, and are getting started in Africa, China, India, and the Philippines. (See a complete list.) It's tough to say how many people are in the Jelly network, but I'd guess in the low 100s. You can also start your own Jelly through our wiki, which provides organizers with a guide to getting started. Each Jelly has its own culture, depending on the local climate. For example, in New York and San Francisco, Jellies are mainly held in apartments; while in Austin and Chicago, they are more often held in coffee shops.

Are you surprised by this growth?
I don't get surprised anymore. There's a universal human need to connect to other people. People go looking for something to get back that sense of community.

Can you tell a story that happened at a Jelly?
I'll tell you about an interesting person I met at a Jelly, and I wouldn't have met him otherwise. Joey Roth is an industrial designer who moved to San Francisco from New York and comes to the Jellies in San Francisco. He designs beautiful glass and steal teapots. He's a one-man company, both in designing and manufacturing. In my own social and work life, I'm usually interacting with people in the tech industry, but I still get to see a window into product design.

What are critical success factors for Jellies?
The key ingredient is to have a great organizer. Somebody who really wants Jelly to work and organizes consistently. The personal need for Jellies to exist is the most important part.

I saw that Jelly Talks are getting started. How are they going?
Our first two Jelly Talks went great. Both were well attended with a dozen Jellies represented in each one, and tons of streams around the country and globe. The first one was on on Facebook Connect and Open ID (January 30), and the second one was on tips for entrepreneurs (February 13). Our vision for Jelly Talks is to bring together the disjointed Jellies around the world.

Where is Jelly headed, in its long-term vision and business model, if any?
There's no institution behind Jelly, it's not incorporated. We created it as a project, not to make profits, but because it was personally useful to us and our friends, and that's just fine. It doesn't cost much to run Jelly, and we have generous sponsors who support us. The model is to let the community drive what Jelly will become. If the Jelly community is still interested, we'll keep growing it.

Define entrepreneur, please.
An entrepreneur is someone who writes his/her own destiny. You're in control of your life, what you want to work on, and who you want to work with.

Thanks again, Amit.

On a related note, in the past month, I've been pleasantly surprised by the enthusiastic responses I've been getting from the people I've been reaching out to. It goes to show that conversation is a natural thing after all.