I’m a huge fan of author, and social demographer, Richard Florida, whose premise about the rise of the creative class has helped cities around the world shape its economic development policies and long-range planning.   The general idea of the creative class is that when you bring together creative types in largely urban cores, economic magic starts to happen.

While Florida’s definition of the creative class is largely based on adults, there’s a new type of creative class that’s bubbling up in downtown San Antonio.  When you stand in front of what’s positioned as “San Antonio’s Best Office Address,” The Weston Centre is home to Geekdom,

Having been a community member at Geekdom since it first opened in December of 2011, my first real encounter with the potential of the facility was observing the incoming class of the TechStars Cloud, who had 11 startups and their teams move here for 3 ½ months to bring their startups to life.

When you enter The Weston Centre, you know you’re in a first class office building.  The expansive lobby, the piano player who is there to serenade you on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as you take a break for lunch, walk down to the San Antonio River for an afternoon stroll, or run downstairs to Page Barteau’s restaurant for a healthy meal or snack.

You could be in London, New York, or Hong Kong, surrounded by largely well dressed lawyers, bankers, consultants and Texan good old boys with boatloads of oil and gas money. 

And then there’s the Geekdom Gang.  

We’re the ones in cut-offs or jeans, t-shirts that have either a startup’s logo on it, or some geeky expression or artwork that brings a smile to you as you enter the elevator. 

We’re the ones wearing flip-flops, tennis shoes and carrying back-packs full of gizmos, gadgets and toys that have empowered us to be part of the global startup economy.

We may be grown ups, but at heart, we’re still kids, with an insatiable curiosity to learn, make, break, disrupt and monetize.   Now that the TechStars Cloud class has graduated, another creative class is starting to at enter Geekdom. 

This time, the class are real kids and well, yes, adults, who are taking advantage of 50 (not a misprint) new classes and workshops that are in process and will continue to expand on the 11^th floor.  I’m finding myself staying late at work to sit in the back of the community room just to sit and observe fresh, new faces that are discovering the magic of the 11^th floor at Geekdom as a place to learn, connect and share.

In addition to these creative classes, there’s some plans in the works for a maker shop, multiple unconferneces, and even some Geekdom community projects that will reach out to, and impact parts of downtown San Antonio outside of the Weston Centre. 

Keep your eyes on a new type of creative class – or rather classes, that are now underway and continuing to expand in the months to come.  

And if you are looking to start something new, or just want to meet what is clearly becoming a central meeting and connecting point for some of San Antonio and South Texas’ brightest minds, come for a visit and consider becoming part of a movement in a class of its own.

High Fives to Geekdom-based companies, CallGrader, ZippyKid and SnappTours who swept the Innotech San Antonio Beta Summit placing out as 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place winners respectively. 

You gotta come see us at the 11th Floor of the Weston Centre, certainly the swankiest building in all the land.  It's an awesome place, with friendly and really smart people.

The Beta summit is a competition for new media, software, securities and related technology companies to showcase the latest technologies to a qualified audience of decision makers.

Critical Mass and Success at Geekdom: The New Normal

While it’s certainly great to see these wins, there are other amazing things taking place here that tell a story in a much greater context.

Thursday night:  a group of high profile investors were here to gain insights from Paul Singh, Partner and Master of the Hustle, of 500 Startups, in advance of next week’s Demo Day for the graduating TechStars Cloud class.   While money was certainly discussed, it turned out to be a lesson in the realities of angel investing in what’s become an environment where the founders are on equal (or even greater) with the investors to be.  Companies that make it into and graduate out of TechStars process raises the bar even more.

Wednesday night: a group of creative filmmakers and digital media producers were in the community room holding a meeting, bringing together what’s traditionally been a disparate group of individuals needing a place that they can now call home.

Tuesday night: I sat in a group meeting of something like 50 developers who were looking for ways to meet and connect with each other. 

I heard multiple stories from people who home-school their children, code from home, and looking for a way to not only get out of the house for a few hours and meet like-minded people. 

There were also rumblings of others in the group who had day jobs at San Antonio companies, looking for way to ditch the 9 to 5 (or longer) routine.

My sense was that they were here to see if their instincts were right that maybe it was time to leave, take the leap to self-employment, or at the very least, consider connecting with other programmers

The kingdom of Geekdom is the best place to grow and monetize your brain.  And it's tons of fun too!  Come join the community and see what blooms.

Yesterday morning, I was having breakfast one of the winners of the Innotech Beta Summit, ZippyKid’s founder, Vid Luther.  

It was a conversation not about technology, but his long term of vision of what ZippyKid could become.  Seeing he, and his co-winners at Innotech today speaks volumes about something very special that’s incubating on the 11^th floor at the Weston Centre in San Antonio.  

With the Geekdom community approaching 250 members (and growing) the real winner here is not one individual company, but the collective energy that is beginning to spawn new intellectual and capital wealth.

See related coverage @ Silicon Hills News and San Antonio Express-News.

Even as the holidays are approaching, there's no slowing down to what Nick Longo and his team are doing, as they bring Geekdom, the new collaborative workspace in the heart of downtown San Antonio to life.

There is something very special, not only Geekdom itself as a faclity, but the very cool building it's in.

Rooted In Texan Culture

From afar, you can see the tallest and most majestic office building in town - The Weston Centre.

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When you mosey into the lobby, there's lots of real Texas art and furniture you're not gonna see in New York City or Silicon Valley.  You see motifs of cowboys out on the range, exploring new worlds, creating something special.

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Roaming around the building, you see lawyers, bankers, and bidness people.

And then you see the new generation of builders, makers, and creatives on their way up to the 11th floor of Geekdom, with aspirations to do something really new.

Fit For A Geek

When you arrive to the 11th floor of Geekdom, you know you're in very special place.  Community members are starting to move in, people are starting to hang out in the hallways, and connecting in new ways. 

The furniture, the layout, the open offices, the private offices, the couches, the hot desks, the collaborative workspaces all say one thing:  come here and make something happen and do something meaningful.

Into the Cloud

If art precedes life, then the artwork downstairs in the Weston Centre is quite telling of something else coming in January 2012.

Jason Seats and his compadres are bringing in the first class of the TechStars Cloud  - the new accelerator that will fund companies who are focused on cloud computing and cloud infrastrcuture.  

Yup, only in San Antonio, where sparks will fly.

Come See Us

Aside from being surrounded by really smart people, everyone here is really nice.

So if your travels are bringing you to Texas, come on down to San Antonio and walk the halls and roam the prairie of Geekdom.  

You might discover the next big thing, some elements of code you were missing, or just a different way to look at what could be next by tapping into, and collaborating with a collective bunch of brains.

Come meet us, let us take you out for lunch for great Mexican, BarBQue or some down to earth Chicken Fried Steak.   You're not gonna find this type of hot / haute cuisine anywhere in Manhattan or the Bay Area.  

So don't be a stranger

We're a friendly bunch.

There's TopoChico downstairs, and freeWiFi for you and the kids.

It's all here on the 11th floor over at Geekdom.

All photos by me:)
 

I'm now residing #Geekdom the new collaborative workspace in the Weston Centre / San Antonio.  (When I am in Israel, I do the same over at TechLoft in Tel Aviv.)

My new place at Geekdom - Located on the 11th floor of the Weston Center / San Antonio

A few companies have moved in and I'm  thrilled to be neighbors with Suizo Serves' Frederick "Suizo" Mendler and ZippyKid's Vid Luther and Wes Wilson.  

A special thank you to Nick Longo who's the head ringleader and making this place way cool and feeling us very welcomed.

In early January, the first TechStars Cloud group will convene here and start creating some awesome new companies. 

If you are coming to San Antonio and want to meet some really nice and very smart people, come on down.  

I'll buy you lunch on the Riverwalk.