Dear friends of PARISOMA,
I really hope that you, your family, employees, and friends are healthy and safe and that you are doing well.
The Fabernovel team and I are doing okay.
Let me begin this important message with a few personal words of gratitude:
For the past 13 years, PARISOMA has been the crossroads of so many entrepreneurs, leaders, mentors, and activists. It is because of all of you that this great place has felt like a second home to many.
For this I thank you!
Given the current situation, I must inform you that our coworking space PARISOMA will be closing down for good on May 30th. We intend, however, for this community to continue to thrive in the future in new and innovative ways.
When Stéphane Distinguin and Clément Alteresco opened PARISOMA 13 years ago, we were one of the first coworking spaces in San Francisco. We wanted to build a bridge between Paris and the Bay area, to create a launchpad for entrepreneurs wherever they came from, and to open the doors of Silicon Valley to corporate organizations.
The space was born small, it grew, and it turned into an amazing community. This community will live on beyond its original space—and we have lots of ideas on how to do this! For now, this space will close.
During my first year in San Francisco, I was filled with pride whenever someone would tell me “Oh yes, I started my first company at PARISOMA”. This old SoMa belt factory turned-scrappy coworking space has launched more than 300 companies and nonprofits—not counting all the friendships, weddings, and babies—and we are proud if we have in some small way contributed to their successes.
Well, the times, they are a-changing. Fabernovel will continue to connect and build relationships, nurturing the community and helping entrepreneurs, but in different ways than before. We are now focusing on our consulting venture that has been developing over the last 16 years between Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore, Lisbon, and our brand new office in Morocco.
Now is the time to build; we are creating new and innovative programs. Some of these programs will benefit entrepreneurs, others will be tailored for large organizations. All are dedicated to business excellence, transformation acceleration, and to making people and organizations more agile and sustainable by opening new opportunities for them. We will also continue to help our corporate clients discover Silicon Valley innovations, identify trends in their industry and build solid relationships with innovative partners (your startup, maybe?).
If you want to hear about our future programs, consider subscribing to our newsletter (form above)
Special thoughts go to all the people who were the constant smile and face of PARISOMA.
The best is yet to come.
See you soon!
David Bchiri, General Manager, and The Fabernovel team.
I have always thought of coworking spaces as cafés or night clubs. In the Tech Holy Land, it may have been what we tried to bring to the Bay Area with PARISOMA, from its inception back in 2007: a sense of hospitality and happening. A utopia that brings together California and Europe too. A lag maybe, with an accent for sure. It was also a way for me to get prepared to this announcement: the best cafés and clubs don’t go out of business, they become a moment of your life.
When I arrived in SF in 2008 with my very French accent, I couldn’t imagine that PARISOMA would be such a defining part of my life. With my roommate Julian Nachtigal and many others, we worked hard to build an ecosystem with one single purpose: create value through interactions. And I can’t count how many conferences were held, projects were started, and people met at PARISOMA. I even met my wife there!