Happy Birthday Sandbox Suites! (an interview)

Sandbox Suites is a 4500 square foot coworking space in San Francisco founded by a husband and wife team, Roman Gelfer and Sasha Vasilyuk. They offer both monthly and daily rates plus additional pay-for services on demand including: mailing address, laptop rentals, concierge services and more. Sandbox just celebrated their first birthday. I hit up Sasha, the Chief Community Officer, with some questions via email to find out about the space and what she and Roman have learned about coworking over the past twelve months.

Spike Gillespie: How did Sandbox Suites come to be?
Sasha Vasilyuk: My husband, Roman, and I were both working from home in our one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco when we read an article about Workspace, a coworking space in Vancouver. We thought surely there must be several coworking sites in SF, but when we searched we didn’t find too much. There were several small spaces (like Citizen Space, which was already full), but nothing major. Roman used to run an office and I’m a journalist, so we thought with the combination of our skills, we could open one ourselves.

Spike: You’ve been open for a year now, right? What do you know now that you didn’t know (and couldn’t predict) back then?
Sasha: We didn’t know what many others who want to start one don’t know — that it’s harder than it seems. Opening and maintaining a space like Sandbox Suites is a full-time job — it’s not just getting a space and filling it with some furniture. There’s marketing, event hosting, and constant upkeep.

Spike: Biggest hurdles you’ve overcome?
Sasha: Getting critical mass. Just as no one likes to go into an empty restaurant, filling our rather big space was crucial to attract more members. It’s the “chicken and the egg” problem, but now that we have a solid base of customers, we definitely see it getting easier.

Spike: Biggest achievements?
Sasha: Spreading the word about Sandbox Suites. We’ve held a lot of events and got a lot of press, which helped spread the word without having to run expensive TV ads. Now, every time we go anywhere, people say, “Oh, I’ve heard of you guys!” It’s pretty amazing.

Spike: I looked at your pricing model and it looks like folks don’t have to commit to being anchor tenants. In fact, you have several plans and offer to tailor more personal plans on request. Will you tell me a little about how you chose this model, how it’s working out, and if anyone’s taken you up on a custom agreement?
Sasha: We took a long and hard look at other coworking models and decided that to have anchor tenants you first need to grow a community, have lots of meetings, and make decisions that everyone agrees on. While that has worked for some spaces, to us it seemed like a longer route and because we weren’t entrenched in a community of, say, web developers, would have been a bit unnatural. Despite all that, we do have loyal private desk and full-time members who serve pretty much as anchors.

We usually customize membership agreements for bigger groups/start-ups who need working/meeting space or have an unusual schedule. We usually give group discounts or create a combination of different memberships.

Spike: If you don’t mind me asking — you all seem to have a for profit model. So, business-wise, how are things going?
Sasha: They’re going pretty good. We broke even about 6 months after opening and recently hired a full-time person. I also quit my full-time job to work here part-time.

Spike: I see you have Tea Time and regular lunches? What’s up with those?
Sasha: We think it’s very important to have social events so our members can get a chance to hang out together. So we created lunches, trips to the farmers’ market, and Tea Time, so we have something going on every week. We also have a Happy Networking Hour at the end of every month. I think these events not only spur collaboration between members, but also help us get to know them better.

Spike: What kind of folks have been using the space?
Sasha: Our members include techies (web developers, web designers, other startups, etc.), researchers, designers, writers, non-profits.

Spike: What do you do when you’re not running Sandbox Suites? Has running the space cut into your regular gig? Is it totally taking over?
Sasha: I’m a freelance writer, so I have to juggle my responsibilities at Sandbox Suites with my own work. When I was preparing for our anniversary party this month, I didn’t get much of my own work done. But when there’s less going on, it’s easier. I guess I’m still trying to find a balance between these two jobs.

Spike: There are other spaces in San Francisco — do y’all collaborate in anyway, say swap ideas on how to best run coworking spaces?
Sasha: We hosted a Cohop last December, where people interested in coworking were able to visit all of SF’s sites including Sandbox Suites. We sometimes refer clients/connections to each other. We also try to keep on top of the coworking wiki to see how the movement grows.

Spike: What else would you like to tell me?
Sasha: We hope that the downturn in the economy will actually benefit coworking spaces by professionals opting out of their own expensive offices for a more affordable and sustainable coworking option.