I'm a bit confused about what Hacker Dojo actually is...

- Who runs Hacker Dojo? - Is Hacker Dojo "for-profit?" - What separates Hacker Dojo from another co-working space in The Valley? (I assume they exist) - If you need $250k, why are you only raising $154k?

The hacker dojo is more of a computer club than a co-working space. (I wanted to call it "the mountain view computer club" but was outvoted. The people on the board seem to be pretty competent; certainly way more socially competent than I am, so I'm not complaining.)

People use it for workspace, sure, but I know when I go there, I'm going to socialize as much as I'm going to work, but I'm going to socialize with interesting people. I ended up buying a (very small) company from someone I met there. I've learned a lot from those people.

It's also an event venue for small conferences and technical talks.

But yeah; it's much more 'community space' and much less 'cheap place to rent an office' - I mean, the membership fee is $100/month, which isn't really sustainable with their model for renting desks. (I mean, you could rent cubes for $100/month, I think, but you'd need a cheaper warehouse, and the whole operation would have to be setup to ensure full occupancy.)

Me, I find it's a useful place to meet businesspeople that are also technical. It's been good for me, I think, as I generally don't have a lot of respect for business types, and I regularly meet semi-business types at the dojo who are more technically competent than I am.

Thanks for the description! I've been mulling over visiting/joining Hacker Dojo for quite some time, and this description as a "community space" where tech minded folks can come to hang out and learn a thing or two (rather than a space consisting of startups racing for success) makes the place much more appealing and friendly for someone like myself.

Cheers~ :)

Yeah, the empty suits don't seem to stick around long. The interesting thing is that I've met at least one person I dismissed as an empty suit because of how he talked. My god, it was full of buzzwords. But, turns out, he's a fairly competent sysadmin; like, someone worth hiring, and I'm working with him on some projects.

I dono. I kinda enjoy seeing my prejudices being upturned. It reminds me that they are just prejudices, and are not to be trusted very far.

I am one of the Directors. Hacker Dojo is a non-profit community center--a hacker space. It has a Board of Directors to keep the lights on and the IRS happy, and its members vote on operating policies. The Dojo is currently running a campaign to raise money for expansion. Part of the money has already been raised. We are located in the same neighborhood as Y Combinator's HQ, but are unrelated.

We are only raising $154K because we have people actively fundraising corporate sponsorships, and we are leaving the rest to them. Additionally, this portion of the funds will make sure the Dojo continues to exist, while reaching the rest of the way to the goal will open all four buildings.

Thanks for the answer...seemed a bit odd there for a second.

For one membership is quite cheap compared to other co-working spaces. It also has the potential to host very large group meetings outside of a corporate setting.

Why did I get downvoted? Did I offend someone? I think my questions were valid and I'm glad that someone stepped up and answered them. I meant no harm otherwise.

I don't think there is a downvote button on Hacker News, I think other votes just got more upvoted :p

You've been on Hacker News for over 800 days and have over 300 karma so I'm surprised you don't know this, but...

You get a downvote button if you have sufficient karma (likely 500, since this has been verified in the past and I haven't heard otherwise.)

You can verify if you were downvoted based on looking at the points assigned to your own post generally based on if it was greyed out.

Wow, that is awesome! Sorry to be a noob, and thanks for the info!

discussion on HN about how downvotes work: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2380729

There is indeed a "downvote" button. I'm yet to exercise mine.

I would agree with this completely. I just walked away confused from this whole post.

Contrasting information, too much information, no focus (from a crazy quick glance) on anything but space pics. The founder plaque actually bugged me, because your name will be on the wall while contributor's won't.

My two cents on why I didn't dig in more.

There is a contributors plaque too at the $1024 level, the founders plaque is shown to give an idea of what it will look like.

I've been a member of the Dojo since the first August weekend when a bunch of us turned up to sweep and clean the space, so pardon my bias but...

This is a really unique place and has a totally different atmosphere during business hours, weeknights and weekends, but there are almost always friendly people there doing something interesting. Plus 3D printers!

Seriously, one of the reasons the City of Mountain View is having a bit of difficulty dealing with us, IMO, is because they really have nothing comparable here or nearby.

For the curious, I encourage you to drop by--we don't charge just to sit and work for a day and most events (listed at http://events.hackerdojo.com) are free or low cost and open to the general public. One membership benefit, though, is you may attend events without paying if there is a fee. Most Friday nights we have a happy hour, if you, um, like that kind of thing.

Hacker Dojo is an awesome place to work and network and learn with like minded individuals in the valley. I will purchase the t-shirt.

OK, we so need one of these in Cape Town!!!

That place really does look awesome. And space for hardware hacking too, great. I live in an apartment nowadays and really miss going out to the 'barn' and working with power tools until 3AM, seriously.

Looks pretty busy too...

Good luck.

Why is the funding goal not $32,768?

Zomg. I'm so sad I didn't realize that myself, and even sadder that I can't change the funding goal.