We heard a new co-working space opened up in Gamla Stan in Stockholm, so we reached out to get a feel for the place.
Behind Knackeriet, we spoke with Ted Valentin, an internet entrepreneur from Stockholm. In 2007 he sold his first start-up for $1.5 million and was recently the CEO of Tripbirds, a social travel startup that failed. Today he runs a number of websites, including Hotellkartan.se, PopularaGym.se and BoutiqueHotel.me. He is also the founder of Sweden’s largest hackathon, 24HBC.
AS: What’s the story behind this space?
Ted Valentin: I have been a laptop nomad for most of my career, mostly building websites and running projects from cafés around Stockholm. Working from coffee shops is really great for productivity but it can get a bit lonely. So with “Knackeriet” I really wanted to create the perfect office space for people like myself – programmers, designers and other creative people who are free spirits – or in the early stage of creating startups.
I am not a big fan of regular offices, so I wanted to create a space that feels more like a home, but with lots of fun people around. Among other things, we have a ping-pong table, a great kitchen and a bed room. If people want to spend evenings here then that’s great. And you can sleep over too, of course. And the location is cozy, just a block away from the royal castle in Stockholm old town.
AS: How many desks do you have? Is it invite-only or can anyone apply?
Valentin: Knackeriet has around 20-25 seats, but so far no-one has asked for a dedicated desk of their own. Since most of us come and go a lot during the day, I think we can be have 30-35 active members, without it getting to crowded. That’s almost what we have now. One important thing is to make sure we have a diverse mix of people here. The gender distribution is quite equal, and the youngest member is 16 years old.
AS: Will you be hosting many events, or will it be used just for co-working?
Yes, the plan is to host events too. Like small movie nights, dinners or ping-pong nights. Most of us work with very practical things during the day – so on my personal “wish list” is a few sessions on internet related philosophy.
AS: Can you mention any of the projects that the members are working on at the moment?
Valentin: Here is a quick list of what people are building right now.
Boutiquehotel.me – The best boutique hotels in the world.
Outdoormap.com – Organizing the world’s outdoor life.
Rushca.st – Browsable audio news.
Codycoder.com – Teaching children how to code through gamification.
PopularaBarer.se – Find the most popular bars on Facebook.
Gendly.com – An online tool for event management.
Kittat.se – A digital consignment store for children’s clothing.
Silarapp.com – Truly beautiful real time Instagram and Twitter streams.
But there are a bunch of projects that have not been launched yet, so the list will get longer.
More information can be found on the Knackeriet website