After almost two years of solid effort, Stuart and I have decided it’s time to put the Pig to rest. We’ve enjoyed covering the local geek scene, but neither one of us has the time or energy to keep it going. And frankly, we’d rather be putting the effort towards hosting events (like Ignite Seattle, Saturday House, and Six Hour Startup) than simply writing about them.
We’re leaving you in good hands, though. To find out what’s happening on the tech scene around Seattle for any given day, check out TechFlash, or Seattle Tech Calendar or Gary’s Guide. And keep coming to the events – you’ll probably see at least one of us there.
We appreciate all of the comments, kind words and support we’ve received over the past few years. So please join Stuart and me for a last salute to the blog, and to Rachel, our muse and inspiration. We’ll be at White Horse Trading Company from about 7:30 to 9:30 on next Tuesday, the 2nd. Come, hang out with us and plan the next great Seattle event.
For the last year, Giraffe Labs has held a special place in my heart, even though there are plenty of people that spent more time there than I did. When Jackson Fish Market moved out of the space last April, I was convinced that we had a great opportunity to create a Hacker clubhouse / co-working space / geek hangout. Thankfully, Brian Dorsey and Anders Conbere were thinking the same thing. It didn’t take too much work to also convince the Saturday House folks to move up to Pioneer Square. But, when I couldn’t cover the financial obligations of renting the space, Anders and Brian were happy to step up and manage the space. Everything that the space is now comes from their hard work. And it’s been working pretty well for the last year, until the past few months.
Brian sums up the reasons for the shutdown of Giraffe Labs pretty well in the TechFlash article. I think proper care and feeding of the space is the core issue. No matter how much it seems like any project can run itself, there always has to be someone in the center, keeping things running, taking care of the space, keeping an eye on members, etc. Someone who can take a plan from “hey, that’s a cool idea” to actual implementation.
I don’t want to use the word “demise” here. Giraffe Labs was an amazing experiment, and I think plenty of people learned a lot from it. I certainly did. There’s still room for a low-cost geek clubhouse (Hackerspace) here in Seattle, and I don’t doubt that one, or two, or three will come along. Hopefully, I can get in on the ground floor. There will be a grand send-off on April 27th. I’ll be there – hope to see you, too.
