The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship has partnered with Geekdom, a company that provides collaborative work space for startups and entrepreneurs, since their coming to San Antonio in 2011. Geekdom offers memberships that allow members access to the space at any time, and desk and office space for individuals who want to make their main offices there until they are prepared to expand.

Students are eligible for membership through the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which also collaborates with the company for events.

“We have a special relationship with Geekdom,” said director of the center for innovation and entrepreneurship Luis Martinez. “[Members] will say, “˜We would really love to meet with Trinity students to work on these projects.”

The events that the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship has interacted with Geekdom on include the Startup Grind and 3 Day Startup, which students from the university participated in. The space in the Rand Building that Geekdom occupies in downtown San Antonio includes a floor for small offices and community space, a second floor for expanding businesses, and a third under construction that will offer more office and collaboration space. These small offices are utilized by predominantly technical startups, though there is a small population of service based companies as well. Martinez noted that there are a number of students and alumni working with companies within Geekdom.

“I went to Geekdom for a 3 Day Startup, where you start a company in three days” said sophomore Kylie Moden. “I definitely encourage people to at least get their foot in the door and tour the building, it is a really cool space [and] they are very open to visitors.”

Geekdom offers tours at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays through their main floor, which includes a number of small offices and their community spaces. These spaces are open and designed so that members can interact with one another and share work and ideas. In order to encourage community interaction at Geekdom, each member contributes an hour a week to what is called the Members Portal, where individuals can interact and contact one another about jobs and planned events. On the first floor of the building, there is an event space, where the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship hopes to continue planning events with Geekdom in the future.

“We welcome people from universities,” said Geekdom project manager Camille Seyler. “And we are always interested in collaboration.”

Students have the opportunity to become members through the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which encourages members of the Entrepreneurship Hall and major courses to do so. For students who are interested in becoming members, membership costs $50 per month for unlimited access to the community space.

“It’s a really open community,” said sophomore Olivier Dardant. “A lot of these businesses are small and the owners are there. A lot of people can get really great internship experience, where you can get this experience first-hand.”