Everything was in place for Daniel Wiegand and Katie Russel earlier this year. Their new venture, Draper Startup House, a hostel for startup teams and venture capitalists, was anticipating a big splash at South By Southwest.
“So we had a launch party set up, sheets on beds, everything," Wiegand said. "Then, when Covid hit, we were hit extremely hard. The three pillars of our business were international travel, community and shared accommodations. And those were like the three things hit the hardest. So we decided that that model wasn't going to work for the next year or so.”
The co-founders, who are backed by venture capitalist Tim Draper and license his brand, changed lanes and began selling beds online to clear space and convert the hostel into a coworking space.
Now, Wiegand says the 10,000-square-foot space on East 6th Street just east of Red River has a couple of advantages in the Covid era. Because it was designed as a hostel, it now has 26 private offices, along with two conference rooms, a professional podcast studio and a backyard patio.
The space opened a couple weeks ago, and the founders are offering two weeks of free coworking to encourage people to try it out, as well as hourly rates for anyone who wants to simply drop in to get some work done. Weigand said temperatures are taken upon arrive, all offices are disinfected after each visit and all snacks are individually packaged.
While the space is open to everyone, Draper Startup House is especially attractive to founders because it offers access to the Draper network of 23 venture funds, as well as a network of other VCs and angel investors.
Both Wiegand and Russel have a long history with Draper. They both have attended Draper University, a pre-accelerator for founders. Russel helped launch and became head of business development for Draper University Ventures. Weigand, meanwhile, helped launch Draper's nonprofit and set up a VR arcade and makerspace in San Mateo, Calif.
“We really wanted to find a way to expand this impact and make it more accessible to everyone," Weigand said.
So far, Draper is their sole investor. But the founders plan to raise a new round at the end of the year. Austin is the startup's first U.S. location, and it serves as their flagship and HQ -- though there are nine international locations, including spaces in Indonesia, India, Portugal and Estonia.
Now, let's take a look inside Draper Startup House in downtown Austin at 612 E. 6th St.
