Putting the 'Co' in Company: Coworking spaces as business boosters.

• Author: Pesznecker, Katie

Coworking spaces in the Anchorage area are an attractive and expanding option for entrepreneurs, business travelers, and others who don't want to invest in real estate but need a physical base to do work.

Whether the single employee of an entrepreneurial start-up, the solo Alaska-based employee for an Outside company, or the remote worker who occasionally craves the familiarity of a well-equipped office space, coworking spaces set the stage for camaraderie, collaboration, and community.

In a coworking arrangement, people from different professions and companies share what's typically a multi-use office space featuring an array of configurations and varying levels of privacy. Clients enjoy cost savings by not owning or leasing their own space, and they benefit from access to business basics like high-speed internet, printers and scanners, and even kitchen space, complimentary beverages, and parcel acceptance services.

Board and Room

"I think there was a shift nationally, maybe a decade or more ago, from what was a traditional executive office suite to what more modern-day coworking is," says Katherine Jernstrom, co-founder and CEO of the Boardroom, an Anchorage coworking space that opened in 2013.

"That kind of executive office suite was still a furnished space, but you were just renting a suite in a building where other businesses might work too," Jernstrom says. "It kind of stopped short there. The shift to coworking came about when there was more of a focus on collaboration and community in those spaces."

Jernstrom and fellow Boardroom co-founder Brit Galanin were motivated and encouraged by the concept and how they could give it life in Anchorage. Many of their friends were creative entrepreneurs with big ideas and plans but no capital for investing in physical workspace.

"We ourselves wanted to start a business, and there wasn't a landing pad for entrepreneurs and www.akbizmag.com independent workers and small businesses to a certain degree," she says. "We were intent on staying in Anchorage, and we wanted those smart independent thinkers to stay too, so we wanted to create a space that had some stickiness, maybe made it easier for people to start companies here because they had other people surrounding them who were peers and collaborators."

Networking and a chance to connect with others is part of the added value of cowork spaces, according to Holly Spoth-Torres, founder and principal of Huddle AK. Other advantages, compared to no...