TechShop to close in September If new licensing plan works, the maker space could simply change hands
Pittsburgh’s central coworking maker space, TechShop, will close for good on Sept. 1 if local foundations, universities and corporations can’t close a $360,000 operations gap.
On Wednesday, TechShop CEO Dan Woods internally circulated a letter to staff and members, announcing the closing, before the news went public Thursday.
Mr. Woods noted that since he took leadership of the San Jose, Calif.-based national fabrication studio last summer, he has devised steps to position TechShop for growth and expansion While demand for more in current and future TechShop co-working spaces markets — but that vision no has increased drastically, Mr. longer includes Pittsburgh. Woods said, he believes further
“In evaluating store performance, development in new markets we came to the regrettable “could not be achieved” under conclusion that the company’s current business TechShop Pittsburgh is not a model. fit,” Mr. Woods wrote. “As Pittsburgh, in particular, CEO, I have the responsibility has struggled more than to get the total enterprise on a TechShop’s other locations, including firm footing, financially viable, Redwood City, Calif. and capable of long-term sustainable and Austin, Texas, said Mike operation. And I can't Catterlin, vice president of achieve this without making marketing for TechShop Inc. some very difficult decisions.” “TechShop Pittsburgh, as
One of those tough decisions, it’s currently running, isn’t he said, included the closure meeting its base operating expenses,” of Bakery Square’s he said. “The location TechShop, which includes a loses an average of $30,000 per staff of 17 employees. month … it’s not even breaking even.”
In June 2014, President Barack Obama visited Pittsburgh’s TechShop to discuss innovation and manufacturing. He reinforced the idea that accessible technology and tools are imperative for progress, especially in a post-steel town like Pittsburgh that has become a blossoming tech hub.
To attempt to salvage the 16,000-square-foot innovation space in Pittsburgh, Mr. Woods is introducing a new operation plan for the company overall that includes a flexible partner licensing model. That model could result in the TechShop
Pittsburgh simply changing hands.
The plan is to create new locations with strategic partners — including local corporations, universities, municipalities and real estate developers. If a partner takes a stake in the Bakery Square location, it could save it.
TechShop Pittsburgh general manager Gadsden Merrill said a coalition of partners is more likely than a single benefactor, though he and Mr. Catterlin were both careful to note that there is no promise any entity will, in fact, license the current shop.
If that happened, the shop could look exactly the same as it does today — an open space fit with professional tools, equipment and software. Or, the computeraided-drafting software and laser cutters, among other gadgets, could belong to a renamed and rebranded version of TechShop.
“We are open to licensing it exactly how it is and transferring ownership over to another company,” Mr. Catterlin said, “and we’re also open to licensing certain parts of it to someone who wants to try another name.”
In his memo about the closure, Mr. Woods referred to members of the TechShop location in Bakery Square as “a small but very active community of makers and hardware startups.”
That small group is composed of 430 members monthly, according to Mr. Catterlin.
At the Pittsburgh location, Mr. Merrill said members and employees were taken a back by the closing.
“I think from the members perspective, it was a little bit of a shell shock,” he said. “It was a surreal day as the news was coming out.”
Members are encouraged to contact pivot@techshop.com with any thoughts or inquiries as TechShop transitions to a new licensing model.
At the end of the month, management will post membership refund options, so enrollees will have 60 days to find other arrangements if the shop does permanently close.
“We have a very small but active group of entrepreneurs and makers here,” Mr. Merrill said. “We’re planning on making the most of this summer.”