Ray Titus (left), CEO of United Franchise Group, and Thomas Weber, President of VentureX, pose at United Franchise Groups’ offices in West Palm Beach. Venture X opened its first space in Naples and is planning to add more in Miami and several other cities. United Franchise Group (UFG) joins the workspace market with Venture X. The idea behind Venture X is to promote co-working by creating a place where an entrepreneur without an existing office can come work and share ideas or a cup of coffee with other entrepreneurs for as little as $99/month. The first location in Naples, FL has led to others in cities such as Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, New York and San Antonio which is already up and running. Ray Titus, CEO of UFG, and Thomas Weber, President of Venture X, are excited about the future of Venture X. The idea is to give the “working from home” entrepreneur and freelancer a professional workspace that is inspiring and can be used for client and vendor meetings. WEST PALM BEACH — With flexible office space all the rage in big cities, West Palm Beach-based United Franchise Group hopes to capitalize on the latest trend in commercial real estate. United Franchise Group’s new concept has a trendy name — Venture X — and a marketing pitch based on providing entrepreneurs with workspace for as little as $99 a month and without long leases. Venture X opened its first office space in Naples and is working to add locations in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, New York and San Antonio, said Ray Titus, chief executive of United Franchise Group. Venture X is aiming squarely at entrepreneurs and freelancers who are a bit too prosperous to keep toiling on the couch or the local coffee shop. “Working from home and Starbucks works for a certain amount of time,” Titus said. “But once you build the business up, you outgrow that. When you’ve got machinery in your living room, or inventory in your den, or vendors coming to tour your facilities, it becomes an issue.” The concept of business suites is nothing new. In fact, Titus said, United Franchise Group rents space in Las Vegas from Regus Business Centers, a long-established provider of office suites. Servcorp is another longtime player. And the co-working concept created by WeWork has become a venture capital hit, achieving a valuation of billions based on its model of ping-pong tables and afternoon happy hours. Meanwhile, new ventures such as PivotDesk and Liquid Space operate a model similar to Airbnb, allowing landlords to offload empty space. “It’s a hot market with a lot of competitors, but that’s something we’re used to,” Titus said. He positions Venture X as a concept somewhere between Regus Business Centers’ relatively staid approach and WeWork’s hipster vibe. Tenants can interact with each other and use their memberships at Venture X locations in other cities. “It’s really a comfortable business atmosphere,” Titus said. “There’s some fun, but we’re not promoting ourselves as this just-for-startups type of scenario.” Read More / Source: Palm Beach Post
