HQ Raleigh

HQ Raleigh is a great addition to the downtown Raleigh startup scene. The space is gorgeous and should be very welcoming for entrepreneurs looking to get started on their ideas.
There are several tiers of membership available depending on where your interests lie. Individuals can sign up for community memberships to get more exposure to startups and for networking, and people who are already working on ideas can sign up for coworking memberships or even for private suites. This model should allow people to use HQ Raleigh to grow their companies from the initial founders up until they can afford their own private offices.
I recently attended an event sponsored by Citrix Systems and Redhat for the Raleigh Innovators program. HQ Raleigh served as a great venue for networking, and it’s exciting to see so many different ideas competing for spots in the program. Networking is always an important aspect of business, and HQ Raleigh should make that much easier for new entrepreneurs.

This is a beautiful space on South Harrington Street in the Warehouse district. Like many areas in the warehouse district, parking is complicated, but just drive around the block with the same strategy that you have when you go to Humble Pie (across the street) or The Pit (around the corner).
Nice hardwood floors. High ceilings. Steel beams. Modern fixtures. Abstract art. Open space. A great venue for events like the one I attended tonight with a wide great room and some small rooms off to the side. As the daughter of a builder, I was impressed with the design and the layout too. As a sometimes event planner, I also appreciated. Nicely done. When you’re networking, you want to be able to see well and move around easily.
From what I learned tonight, this is also a great location for start-​ups, entrepreneurs, small businesses and people who just need an office space. It’s collaborative and friendly with the allowance for your own work space. In addition to the networking event tonight, I did talk to some people who actually work in offices there.
They said it could be a little hard to concentrate at times with people coming and going or playing music with such open spaces. Downstairs I saw a ping-​pong table and large counter-​space. Apparently sometimes they have food there. My new friend pointed out that it can also be a little distracting knowing there’s beer on tap downstairs… maybe so, but I relax a little after a drink and work better (no, I’m serious — did most of my top notch graduate work with wine in hand). But, we’re all different.
There are some really neat businesses at home at HQ Raleigh though. Really neat to check something like this out for myself.

Gorgeous space, especially for events! Friendly, easy to work with staff that cares about the community.