Free startup house in KC with Google Fiber
Call me crazy but I liquidated a retirement account to buy a house in Hanover Heights, the first neighborhood in Kansas City to get Google Fiber. I'm using the house exclusively for the Homes for Hackers program (http://www.homesforhackers.com) to lure startups into the area.
Here's a blog post I wrote a couple weeks ago about it:
http://www.banterant.com/2012/09/ideas-to-raise-money-for-homes-for.html
To be clear:
- The house is for startups only
- The house will have Google Fiber in about 3 weeks according to Google
- Startups pay no rent, no utilities, no taxes, no equity. They only pay for their own food. I'm doing this solely to pay it forward and get more startups to KC.
- Startups stay for 3 months at a time then are expected to move into more formal space to allow someone else to take their place.
Other cool stuff:
- There are 3 more startups located in a fiber-connected house 10 doors down (Leap2, LocalRuckus & FormZapper).
- There are 2 more startup across the street from that (EyeVerify & one I forget)
- The community housing org of the county is looking to buy and let startups live in the house behind mine.
Ask:
- Apply on http://www.homesforhackers.com if you're interested in coming to KC.
- Buy the remaining houses in Hanover Heights and let startups live there (even if it's not for free) so this thing can go viral.
Here's a blog post I wrote a couple weeks ago about it:
http://www.banterant.com/2012/09/ideas-to-raise-money-for-homes-for.html
To be clear:
- The house is for startups only
- The house will have Google Fiber in about 3 weeks according to Google
- Startups pay no rent, no utilities, no taxes, no equity. They only pay for their own food. I'm doing this solely to pay it forward and get more startups to KC.
- Startups stay for 3 months at a time then are expected to move into more formal space to allow someone else to take their place.
Other cool stuff:
- There are 3 more startups located in a fiber-connected house 10 doors down (Leap2, LocalRuckus & FormZapper).
- There are 2 more startup across the street from that (EyeVerify & one I forget)
- The community housing org of the county is looking to buy and let startups live in the house behind mine.
Ask:
- Apply on http://www.homesforhackers.com if you're interested in coming to KC.
- Buy the remaining houses in Hanover Heights and let startups live there (even if it's not for free) so this thing can go viral.
Yes the whole program is my idea. Here's the original blog post that started it all:
http://www.banterant.com/2012/08/kc-hacker-homes-google-fiber-inspired.html
Here's another post, one week after launch:
http://www.banterant.com/2012/08/kc-hacker-homes-one-week-in.html
People keep asking me why I'm doing this and I can't explain it. I just feel like it's something I have to do.
I had to google "successful exits" by the way... :)