By Brianne Sanchez

As the sweet smell of crêpes wafted from the shared kitchen at Gravitate, a downtown Des Moines coworking space, a small crowd of freelancers, entrepreneurs and remote workers gathered for a taste. Longtime member Julien Duhautois was whipping up French pancakes and offering a plate to anyone who wanted a reason to emerge from behind a computer screen.

“While he was cooking, we went around the circle and introduced ourselves,” said Scott Anliker, Senior Manager of Sustainability at HNI Corporation, a global manufacturer of workplace furnishings and residential building products.

When startup founder Ryan Warren began explaining his company’s solar energy offerings, Scott’s ears perked up. QstN provides energy consulting, solar services, rebate program implementation, and other sustainability solutions for organizations.

“I was like, Holy cow, that's right up my alley,” he said.

Shortly after their chance meeting over crêpes, he stopped into QstN’s suite down the hall to discuss the company’s capabilities and a project proposal. Their resulting collaboration shows how proximity inspires potential at a coworking space.

Coworking as an escape from a small apartment

When Scott joined Gravitate as a ‘floating’ member, he was looking for a simple alternative to working remotely from his small loft apartment. HNI Corporation is headquartered two and a half hours from Des Moines, in Muscatine, Iowa, and Scott travels extensively in his role.

The flexibility and community he found within Gravitate's coworking environment served his needs. At first, Scott assumed the other professionals using the amenities were ‘a bunch of lawyers and accountants.’ Meeting people with expertise in his field proved an unexpected bonus.

“Learning there's a renewable engineering company officing out of [Gravitate] was super cool,” Scott said. “They partner with a lot of the same companies we partner with on other projects, so [collaborating] was a perfect fit.”

Coworking as the place to build a consultancy

For Ryan, who holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University, Gravitate felt like the ideal place to build a business. He quit a stable job he enjoyed to explore entrepreneurship—but didn’t know exactly what was next.

“I grew up in a family business,” Ryan said. “I knew I always wanted to try something on my own.”

As a self-described extrovert, he thrives in the buzz of a workplace environment. Ryan began researching coworking options before he had his business concept. After Gravitate community manager Abby showed him to his first glass-walled office, next door to the space where his team currently sits, Ryan said he took a beat and then got down to business.

“I'll never forget: I straightened my coffee cup, and then I looked at my computer, and I thought, ‘Well, now what?’” Ryan said. “I figured out a business name, opened a bank account, created an email address and started making phone calls.”

In the eight years since launching, Ryan’s rented five different workspaces at Gravitate to accommodate his growing team. Gravitate hosts some formal events aimed at fostering a sense of community, but Ryan says that happens organically.

“There's a lot of very entrepreneurial folks here, and a lot of small businesses wrestling with some of the same challenges,” he said. “For me, it's helpful being in the middle of all of that. It's less about the structured events, more about meeting new people in the kitchen... Good people, doing good work for good reasons.”

Coworking space as common ground

Thanks to connections made over crêpes, HNI awarded QstN a contract to facilitate an ambitious new solar installation project at their Highway 61 facility. They engaged additional companies within the Gravitate ‘ecosystem’ to contribute, too. Tri-City Electric Co. handled electrical work and Cocoa Creative shot timelapse videography.

HNI touted the project as ‘a significant milestone in local sustainability efforts...which represents a shared commitment to renewable energy and environmental stewardship.’ The array will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the transition to a more sustainable energy future. It generates more than 1,500 MWh annually, equivalent to approximately 7% of the facility’s annual electricity consumption.

“Scott and HNI are wonderful to work with,” Ryan said. “They're very open to our ideas, and so we had a lot of fun. Their goals totally align with why we come into work every day.”

The success of their Iowa solution expanded the QstN partnership to include an additional project in Mexico—with potential for more. And, their work with HNI isn’t the only business referral QstN received through the Gravitate community. When a local architecture firm’s office was under construction, they shared space there, connecting Ryan with multiple projects.

For Scott, coworking’s lasting lesson is to stay open to chance encounters and listen for mutually beneficial opportunities.

"Don't just throw in your noise-canceling headphones,” he said. “Get to know people in the space; you never know what kind of connection you're going to make.”

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