Located in Downtown Des Moines, Gravitate is a workplace community for entrepreneurs, freelancers, remote workers, startup companies, and most importantly those who want to work better together.
Founded in 2013, the company strives to help people build up early stage, tech enabled businesses.
Gravitate could definitely be described as trendy, with modern artwork displayed throughout this “hip” workplace.
The work space features individual company offices, communal workplaces allowing one to spread about and work in the company of others, a fully functioning (and rather large) kitchen, and conference rooms for meetings or business calls.
In total, Gravitate contains 38 floating desk seats, eight dedicated desks, 10 offices and four meeting rooms that can accommodate 94 coworkers at any one time.
Gravitate also serves its members caffeine needs, as it serves Kickapoo Coffee’s official Mars Blend from Mars Cafe in the kitchen, which Gravitate believes to be the best cup of Joe in town.
Constantly Growing
- Originally the company started with 33 members
- Peaked at 89 members in February 2016
- All of their memberships are month-to-month
- Perfect for those companies looking for a temporary space as the company grows.
- Typically, Gravitate ranges between 75-85 members.
While Gravitate specializes in technology and innovation, it branches beyond just a singular focus. Members do include software developer,s but Gravitate also hosts customer service representatives, creative directors, freelance marketers, lawyers and IT support people.
At times Gravitate has even serviced novelists, PhD candidates, and book editors – showing there definitely is not a technology-only policy.
The membership community comes from an abundance of locations as well, so it isn’t just Des Monies natives getting in on the action. Gravitate members typically represent at least 50 different companies, many are based in Central Iowa with nearly 50% of the members being remote workers.
However, members companies also hail from places like Austin, Chicago,San Francisco and Anaheim.
Gravitate promotes a fun, yet focused workplace, the exact qualities Insurance Social Media chief operating officer Elisabeth Deffner was searching for when her company(hardhearted in California) opened up shop in Des Moines.
“Gravitate has been a perfect fit for our company, David(C.E.O) always wants to keep things light and fun for our employees and Gravitate has been just the place to do that,” Deffner said.
Deffner also places high value in the communal aspect believing it not only keeps things relaxed, but adds a sort of brain trust aspect to the workplace.
“Our employees have told us numerous times that the conversations they’ll have with other companies are so productive,” Deffner said.
“They say it feels like we are working in google headquarters or something like that where everyone can just bounce ideas off of each other in a great work environment.”
Gravitate is definitely an up and coming workplace whose model will most likely be copied down the road since it promotes such an intellectual, fun work place.
If you or your company is looking to branch out into a new community Gravitate is the place for you. Visit its website for membership and pricing information and start your journey today.
