TechBrewery: 19th Century Architecture, 21st Century Innovation

May 1, 2016

How the Historic Northern Brewery Became a Hub for Ann Arbor’s Thriving Tech Community

By Samantha Audia in MML Review May/June 2016 (PDF)

Nestled in Ann Arbor’s historic Broadway district, TechBrewery plays host to a community of tech entrepreneurs and their colleagues who gather every Friday for Beer:30. This TechBrewery tradition gives its attendees time to give and receive input, crack open a cold one, and share a collective nod to the entrepreneurs who constructed the building as a brewery in 1886.

For Dug Song, TechBrewery’s founder, Beer:30 is only one of the many things that sets TechBrewery apart from other, more traditional co-working spaces and fosters a culture of collaborative innovation among entrepreneurs. Having successfully piloted information security firm Duo Security, his own startup, to success, Song understands that fledgling businesses are more apt to thrive in a supportive atmosphere. “In order to see companies grow here, we have to create environments in which they can,” said Song. “It’s about sharing, about giving to get, and we pay it forward as a business community and as a community of technologists helping each other.”

The result of a joint effort between Dug Song and building owner Doug Smith, TechBrewery opened its doors in 2009 and now serves as a thriving hub for Ann Arbor’s ever-evolving tech community.

From Unoccupied To Inventive

In 2009, Dug Song perceived that, although Ann Arbor had the potential to support a thriving tech community, Michigan’s dominant culture of ‘big company, big salary’ business held the area back from fully embracing an entrepreneurial mindset. If Ann Arbor failed to foster companies that diverged from the state’s traditional auto industry roots, it ran the risk of depending on California tech companies looking to outsource their cheaper labor needs to an economically desperate Michigan.

As a result, Song was eager to help create an ecosystem where startup founders and fledgling companies could find success. “It takes a community to raise and support a startup economy,” said Song. “Create enough companies and the jobs will be there.”

Enter Doug Smith, owner of Ann Arbor’s historic Northern Brewery. While Song aimed to grow Ann Arbor’s startup economy, Smith was faced with a quandary of his own: how to fill an office space in Northern Brewery recently vacated by online streaming service Zattoo. After Song, a former employee of Zattoo, approached Smith with his goal of spurring Ann Arbor’s tech community forward, the two realized that they could team up and create a mutually beneficial arrangement.

One gentlemen’s handshake later, TechBrewery opened its doors to local tech entrepreneurs looking for a relaxed yet collaborative environment in which to grow their business. TechBrewery quickly became a staple of the Northern Brewery building, offering shared or dedicated desks to its many startups at $75 per month and $225 per month, respectively, to cover the aggregate monthly rent. Other costs, like shared office appliances and Friday’s beer, are covered by a contributory model in which individual tenants chip in for items they’d like to use.

Sustaining A Startup Culture

Over the past seven years, TechBrewery has grown and changed, and the startup population has fluctuated between low occupancy points and wait-list points. Smith indicates that it certainly hasn’t been without its challenges, the most transformative of which was perhaps the real estate aspect. Smith explained that the needs of startups differ dramatically from the needs of a traditional long-term tenant. Startups grow and shrink erratically; a business present one month could be nonexistent by the next.

Despite the unpredictability, however, Smith says that more than half the building is filled with groups that have spun out of TechBrewery. Overall, he says, the experience has been great for business, self-sustaining, and even personally fulfilling.

At TechBrewery, the co-working space is not the only thing that’s held in common. Technologists also share their ideas, unique talents, and most importantly, their support. When individuals reach out for help with things like marketing or tech specifics, they find a community eager to provide input. “They’re all at a similar state of growth,” says Song. “The kind of problems that companies deal with in the early stages may sound mundane but can really kill a company.”

Scott Goci, TechBrewery community leader, calls a desk in the co-working space home. He oversees the space’s basic operation, manages the website, and works as a web developer. Like Song, he indicates that having the support of those facing similar circumstances or obstacles can be reassuring, and tenants choose to call TechBrewery home for this very reason. “People are taking these risks into new ventures,” says Goci. “They don’t want to feel alone.”

TechBrewery has moved almost 50 startups through its space, some of whom have dropped out of the game, but many others have attracted the interest of investors and remain in full operation. Of those startups still in existence, many, like Song’s own business, are still in the Ann Arbor area and continue to support its growing tech economy. Others, like technical experts Alfa Jango, have even acquired their own space in the Northern Brewery building after outgrowing the TechBrewery co-working space.

“TechBrewery was perfect for us starting out as it provides a great atmosphere,” says Steve Schwartz, Alfa Jango founder. “We were able to easily move into offices across the hall when we outgrew the co-working space, and then again down to our current office in the basement after we outgrew that.”

Today, TechBrewery serves as an irreplaceable part of Ann Arbor’s thriving and highly interconnected technology community, along with organizations like a2geeks, Ignite Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire, and A2 New Tech Meetup. It’s a cooperative space in which entrepreneurs diving into new endeavors can work together, sharing in each other’s obstacles and triumphs.

Indeed, TechBrewery and its many occupants have put a new, interesting spin on Ann Arbor’s historic Broadway district, turning it into a center of innovation dedicated to creating an economy in which they’d like to participate. But building-owner Doug Smith can’t imagine Northern Brewery any other way. “We didn’t design or build it,” he says. “It just kind of grew.