Conceived in April of 2016 and launched in early 2017, Popices is a team of three that consists of a business developer, a growth hacker, and a designer, working to remedy the lack of standard office-based social interaction in the daily lives of those who work in startups and freelance.
Hailing from the Netherlands, Sweden, and Scotland respectively, the co-founders of this project aim to reclaim a plethora of unused spaces in Amsterdam that are available during the working day, such as restaurants and bars, and a few more eclectic options, like beaches and private rooftops. The idea, the founders say, is to "offer people a cheaper version of co-working, but with a hit of the unusual."
Popices temporarily converts the chosen settings into pop-up offices by bringing in helpful features like desks, wifi hotspots, projectors, printers, whiteboards, coffee-making facilities, and more. It functions as a pay-as-you-go version of the standard co-working set-up, and is a brand new kind of platform for startup-spearheaders, developers, and independent designers to network, promote their brands, collaborate together, and, most importantly, get some work done. This is without doubt a lot more than what can be said of the Starbucks-with-a-laptop approach to taking care of business while out and about, and it’s a whole lot more interesting, to boot.
To become involved in the Popices movement, the process is simple (provided, of course, you’re currently based in Amsterdam, where the venture has begun its initial operations. If not, you’ve got a little more work cut out for you – namely, begging the team to start expanding, ASAP, or getting involved with Outbox, the U.S. version based in Silver Spring, Maryland):
Firstly, choose one of the many spaces Popices has scooped up to offer as a workplace on the day you’re searching for one. This can be anything from a cafe (as with De Culinaire Werkplaats), to an art gallery (Hotel Not Hotel, to even a converted houseboat (such as De Ceuvel’s Metabolic Lab, a truly unique location sure to get the creative cogs turning).
The next step is to pick your Popices pass, which can provide you with unlimited access to your temporary office for either one, seven, or 30 days. These passes are completely flexible and are guaranteed to carry over into each new month, meaning you have total control over your Popices work schedule.
The purchase of a pass is all it takes to render the buyer a fully-fledged Popices member, meaning that supporting the venture is as low-stakes as it is low-commitment. Becoming a member of this swiftly-developing family of independent workers really is as simple as it seems.
And Popices benefits more people than those alone who attend its pop-ups. The team eagerly invite businesses and those who are otherwise responsible for potentially-perfect spaces to reach out and collaborate with them, joining forces to battle back against professional isolation and unexciting work environments. All the information they require to get things moving in making your location a Popices wonderland is a name, email address, name of business, business address, and worker capacity. It’s too easy to not, and with this project’s initial success seeming to spell out its future path of popping up throughout Europe and beyond, it seems clear that for members of Popices, co-working on an actual houseboat is only the beginning.
