Platform Blog


Ditch the Home Office

September 11, 2018 in General

Raise your hand if you’re currently working from home. Now take a good look around you. What do you see? The dog, child who home sick from school, a pile of dishes, the list goes on and on. Know what you don’t see? A community of professionals who are also working.

Don’t get us wrong, working from home can be great sometimes! However, if you want to buckle down and get sh*t done you need a desk in a quiet room. A community who are also focused can help too! Isn’t that why they said go to the library in college?

Our resident desks are the perfect home office away from home. A private room with 12 desks and your very own lockable filing cabinet is all you need! Bring your desktop and voila! You have yourself a mini home office.

Come by Platform for a tour and check out our resident desks for $290/month (originally $390/month).

 

Coffee, Food and Booze: Essentials to Surviving the Work Week

August 27, 2018 in Wicker Park Eats & Drinks

When choosing a place to sit down and get some damn work done it is important to keep 3 things in mind. Coffee, food and booze. Below is Platform’s guide to surviving the work week at our Wicker Park location. Trust us on these, we’ve actually given them a try!

BEST COFFEE

Scone City is definitely a top contender among Platform members. Don’t come in hungry or uncaffeinated, because the room will be filled with the smell of their scones and coffee. Our recommendation: the lemon blueberry scone with an iced coffee OR nitro coffee, honey lavender latte, the list could go on and on. Basically try it all, you will not regret it!

Scone City

Intelligentsia

Intelligentsia, located right across the street is basically a no brainer. We serve their coffee here, but sometimes a walk across the street is necessary to get some fresh air. Our recommendation: the Limelight is the most refreshing summer drink with cold brew, lime juice, a little simple syrup and tonic. Sounds exotic, right?


BEST FOOD

Falafel & Grill offers fresh and healthy food options, whether it be for lunch or grabbing dinner on your way home. If you are looking for delicious Mediterranean grub, look no further than down Milwaukee near the Jewel Osco! Our recommendation: the chicken shawarma plate is to die for. You won’t be left hungry with this entree.

5411 Empanadas is absolutely a favorite among Wicker Park locals. A great option for group lunches! You get what looks like a pizza box with different shaped empanadas to distinguish each type. Just don’t forget what you ordered! Our recommendation: Everything. But if we have to choose our top 3 here they are: malbec beef, bbq chicken and mac & cheese.

5411 Empanadas


BEST BOOZE

The Up & Up is the rooftop bar located in the Robey hotel right in the heart of Wicker Park. Some weeks just call for a “treat yo self” drink as Donna and Tommy from Parks and Rec would say. The cocktails are amazing and the views are even better. Possibly the only place outside of the Loop where you get to see the Chicago skyline. Our recommendation: obviously all of them, but Duck Fried Rice is like drinking chinese food, don’t ask just try it.

The Up & Up

Tapster, perfect if your group is opinionated on what they want to drink or you want to try a lot of beers and wines until you find something you like. It’s self serve! Get a Tapster card and pour as much or as little as you want of everything. Our recommendation: everything, isn’t that the point?

Why We Love: BIG & little’s Wicker Park

February 5, 2018 in Wicker Park Eats & Drinks

Walking down Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park, you’ll be hard pressed to find a spot that doesn’t contribute its own spin on flavor to the neighborhood. BIG & little’s is no exception. With prime eats, a convenient location, and great staff, it’s easily a Chicago local favorite.

Walk in for breakfast, lunch, or dinner (or all three because we’re not here to judge, only enable) and you’re likely to get a booming greeting from Omar, head honcho and gastronome extraordinaire whose suggestions are tried, true, and unbelievably spot-on.

Mango Chutney Taco

Mango Chutney Taco

 BIG & little’s offers up options for every palate and craving, from colorfully crafted seafood tacos to burgers and fries that challenge your casual relationship with other burger joints. Everything is served up to maximize the flavor profile, with three house sauces that let you to shake up any order. Opt for the Special Sauce (chilli aiolo,) Samurai Sauce (soy based sweet sauce) or the Spicy Thai Sauce (sweet & spicy chilli sauce) or ask for all three and just go crazy with your order of truffle fries. The world is your fish taco.

Soft shell crab sandwich

Soft shell crab sandwich

 Just a stone’s throw from the the Division blue line or right off the Milwaukee bus, there’s always room to sit with a group and plenty of beer options to make it the first stop of your evening plans. It’s the ideal fast-casual spot that doesn’t shame your bank account into only subsidizing bricks of ramen, and a no-brainer when you have a hankering for tasteful variety.

 Whether you’re looking for something light and quick or planning to devour the Midwest’s imported seafood supply, you’re always in good company at BIG & little’s. Just don’t forget to invite us along.

The Platform recc’s:

Jeff: Samurai taco. It’s a whirlwind of fried whitefish, pickled jalapeños, lettuce, special sauce, samurai sauce, lime Juice, and sesame seeds.

Jessica: Poke Tuna Crunch Wrap. Hugged close and dearly in a flour burrito wrap, filled with sashmi ahi tuna, white rice, mixed greens, ginger, fried tortilla, special sauce, samurai sauce, and zesty wasabi sauce.

Diana: Mango Chutney taco. So (so) flavorful and artfully combined with seared shredded pork, pickled red onions, cilantro, mango chutney.

 

BIG & little’s

1310 N Milwaukee Ave

https://www.bigandlittleschicago.com/

Images courtesy of DNAinfo

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 22, 2017 in Coworking Philosophy

The staff at Platform Coworking would like to wish a happy Thanksgiving to everyone, as we kick off the holiday season.

We’re truly appreciative for how awesome our members are. We learn something new everyday, just interacting with y’all. Seriously we have some really talented folk within our ranks and frankly we’re honored they call Platform their work home.

With our newest location opening this past year, we’ve had missteps (ok really just mine), and our share of launch anxieties.  Through it all, our members have been patient and stuck with us, while we continually try to improve things and provide the best day-to-day work experience possible. Our community manager extraordinaires, Diana and Jessica, have simply crushed it this year, and continue to make each location a success.

Thank you everybody. See you in December.

-Jeff

 

Finding a coworking space in Wicker Park and elsewhere in Chicago

November 20, 2017 in Coworking Philosophy, Wicker Park Eats & Drinks

What is coworking? How do I find a coworking office?

Let’s start with the basics. My name is Jeff, I’m the founder of Platform Coworking. I started Chicago’s first coworking space back in 2007 in Ravenswood. In 2009 I moved down the street and branded it the, “Ravenswood Coworking Group.” By 2012 I grew again and moved next door, in the process morphing into, “Platform Coworking,” which continues today. There are three locations: the original one in Ravenswood, at 4422 N Ravenswood Ave, a micro expansion into Wicker Park at 1286 N Milwaukee Avenue, and our newest one at 1212 N Ashland Avenue (on the 2nd floor), at the corner with N Milwaukee Avenue, just off the Division Blue Line el station.

Before delving in, here’s what I think makes for a legit coworking space, and what you should look for when evaluating your options:

  1. A space close to home, or at least easy to get to, from home.
  2. Proximity to amenities, like restaurants, and cafes.
  3. A good mix of offices and desks, not entirely one or the other.
  4. Someone who is on site, addressing member needs as they arise.

Fast forward to today, November 2017. In just a few years, countless startups into the shared office scene have emerged, hoping to cash in on the mania spurred by WeWork and other VC backed speculators. The curious thing though is that many of these operators think they are part of the rising wave in coworking, but are actually no different than, say, Regus. They have latched on to the coworking movement as a marketing tool, to push their physical offerings that are essentially no different than any regular office rental that preceded it. Prettier, sure. Conceptually different? Hardly. To that end, WeWork may be an unstoppable $20 billion monster that’s spawned innumerable copycats, they are still closer in spirit to what coworking is, than, say, any of the office share newcomers into Chicago’s River North or West Loop neighborhoods.

So why does Platform Coworking have a legitimate claim whereas most downtown competitors do not? Or for that matter, why can places like Platform Coworking, The Shift (and Second Shift for that matter), or CoLab be considered coworking offices, but (sort of) competitors like Assemble or Level Office are not?

After considering physical location factors, let’s evaluate the internal space layout itself. The most extreme example is having private offices ring the entire perimeter of the floor, so only office occupants get window views. Coworking type desks are relegated to a middle pen, ringed in by private offices. What this tells you is that the space owner’s sole concern is maximizing profit in the laziest, most cynical fashion possible. The only people worthy of nice window views are the people who pony up the money for a private office. These members are the highest priority; everybody else is secondary. Since all the premium views are now monopolized by offices, this design decision results in a pitiful windowless area in the middle… which is often turned into the unassigned coworking desks. Why would anyone willingly want to use this these types of desks? Yet by putting unassigned seating in the middle area, the space operator can now claim to be a coworking space. Or at least try to capture some of this market, which is distinctly different from office renters.

So let’s have a closer look at the factors going into your coworking space evaluation:

First: proximity to your house.

Can you walk there? Ride a bike? Or the holy grail: catch a bus or train, without having to transfer? If you drive, are there parking options other than street metered spots? Is the commute one you can live with, day in, day out, indefinitely? Generally, the willingness to be a long term member at a coworking space is inversely proportional to the distance you’d have to travel to get there every morning. It seems obvious but the proliferation of coworking spaces in neighborhoods like River North seem to indicate otherwise.

Second, proximity to amenities.

Let’s say you’re like me, and no matter how hard you try, making lunch even once a week is a herculean task, and you prefer to just buy a sandwich when you can. This is actually a really important consideration, as any office, coworking or otherwise, will be an unsustainable option if your only food choices are unhealthy, or so far away it takes more than an hour just to eat lunch. 

So with food covered, what about coffee? Even if the space has free coffee, it’s still nice to  walk down the street to grab something. The same goes for after work drinks. Being able to go somewhere on foot will always be better than having to coordinate an off-site meetup that kills the spontaneity. All these things may sound like extravagant considerations, but think of your own day-to-day happiness. Would you rather go to one location and have everything you need within a 1 block radius, or have to constantly leave the area to do simple tasks? 

(Shameless plug: Platform Wicker Park is walking distance to Big & Littles, Antique Tacos, Intelligentsia, Parlor, Umami Burger, Oiistar, Bangers & Lace, and so on. It’s an obscene bounty of options.)

Third, a good mix of offices and desks.

Offices by themselves can be quite boring, even if they’re located in a fun, bustling neighborhood with lots of restaurants and transportation nearby. A space with just offices, and no open seating areas will, in the longterm, be a boring and sterile environment that ends up driving you away. Sure, one would eventually meet fellow office neighbors, but this type of floorplan is fundamentally set up for privacy. Socializing occurs in spite of the design.

The best office setups typically have a good mix of private offices that are adjacent to high traffic open seating (coworking) areas. When there is a general background buzz, there is actually a reason to shut your door. You’re closing yourself off from the busier space to concentrate. Imagine the inverse—an office located within a huge, quiet space, without open seating areas or constant chatting outside your door. There’s almost no point to closing your office door, as there’s no noise you’re separating yourself from.

An on-site community manager

Besides the obvious, like someone to make coffee in the morning, or help locate toner cartridges when the printer has run out, an on-site manager can make introductions among people in the same industry and help facilitate impromptu conversations. They can help newcomers get acclimated to the space, and be the familiar face they see every morning until they get to know their fellow coworking members. They can also receive your clients and offer them some coffee while you prep in the conference room.

Beyond the social aspects, they are also the ones who put in DNS unblock requests, or set up printer drivers on your new computer. Or let you back in when you’ve somehow locked yourself out.

So there you have it. A primer on finding the best coworking spaces in Chicago. Pro-tip: unless you live in the loop, proper, you’re going to find that the best spaces are all in the neighborhoods, outside River North or the West Loop. Why waste two billable hours everyday commuting back and forth from your house to some space in the loop?

Flex desk memberships discounted through 2019

November 14, 2017 in Announcements

Flex desks are free through the end of November.

If you sign up during your free trial, we’ll lock you in at $150 for 2 years, which comes out to 33% off the regular pricing. Or 8 months free. However you want to view it, the total dollar value that’s being discounted is $1,782 over 24 months.

We’re unsure if anyone else in the area is offering similar rates. Probably not. Plus, setting aside how crazy cheap our introductory flex desk memberships are, we have some really comfortable seats at each desk.

From Ukrainian Village, you can walk to our newest space at 1212 N Ashland. Or, from Logan Square, you can jump on the blue line or catch the Milwaukee bus. We’re literally steps from the Division blue line el.