We're exactly where we need to be
It matters a lot where you place yourselves, and who you place yourself within reach of.
Interrobang works out of a car parking space.
Since December, everything we’ve done, we’ve done from a 3 by 5 metre converted studio in Peckham Levels, just off Rye Lane.
I’m not sure who made the decision to keep the studios to the dimensions of the original bays, but it makes you think about exactly how much room an average car takes up, and how we could be better using that space in our cities.
We joke about it to people on video calls sometimes, especially potential partners for VouchSafe, and they often say something like:
“We’ve got to get you out of there!”
But we’re exactly where we need to be.
Sometimes I teach one-day design courses to career switchers.
A mainstay of these courses is the part of the day the students dread, where I tell them to go out in pairs and test the things they’ve made.
Talking to strangers, in other words.
A few come to me with all sorts of complicated, gilded reasons why they shouldn’t have to go out and actually speak to people and I gently tell them that they have to go anyway.
As much as we hate to admit it, most user research is done with people who happen to be within reach.
Ideally, it wouldn’t be like that. We’d run user research like ethnography, removing bias and guaranteeing validity. But that needs more time, money and expertise than most early start-ups have.
So when you’re short on cash, it matters a lot where you place yourselves, and who you place yourself within reach of.
We’re making VouchSafe in a radically inclusive way. That means we’re prioritising making it work for the people who most need it.
Economic exclusion is serious right across London, but according to our friends at the Trust for London, Peckham, and Southwark more generally, are at the sharp end of it.
The kind of people who would benefit most from VouchSafe are right on our doorstep.
Down the corridor from us is Hatch, a co-working space run by FaceWork, who equip people to “face the changing world of work”.
They, and the people they work for, are just the people we want to make VouchSafe work for, especially as right-to-work rules tighten.
Last month we acquired some sound-proof phone booths, kindly donated by a company vacating a nearby WeWork.
We’ve considered just moving into a WeWork or something similar. We’re a fast-growing team and the amount of desks we need changes almost every day.
On paper, we should be a model WeWork customer: eager to be freed from the constraint of fixed leases!
Sure, at Peckham Levels, our rent is a tiny bit cheaper than elsewhere, but it’s not like we’re getting a “never go elsewhere” sweetheart deal.
But when the going rate is so much higher than what anyone can afford, the effect is to nickel and dime you for every guest pass and meeting room hour.
It’s the same reason smart meters make me queasy.
We probably won’t move again until we can afford something like this:
Two announcements to round off the week.
Come see Lisa and I speak at Codebar Festival on Saturday! In-person tickets are all gone, but you can still join virtually. We’re on at 1315.
We’re hunting for a web design expert to help us overhaul our web presence. Could be an individual freelancer or a small team. Email hello@vouchsafe.id with a portfolio if interested!