The Google Campus in London celebrated its 5th anniversary in 2017 (coincidentally, on the same day as the General Election). Google’s co-working space in Shoreditch is one of the best venues to do work, network with entrepreneurs and get mentoring.
Membership
It’s free to become a member of Google Campus (the sign up form takes about a minute to complete). The Campus is “Google’s space for entrepreneurs” and it encourages a collaborative approach among its members.
The Café space is free to use to members and it has free wifi but it’s first come, first served so expect it to be busy.
So far the “Campus Family” comprises of spaces in Madrid, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Tel Aviv and Warsaw.
The co-working space is operated by Techhub, which you need to contact to rent desk or office space.
Events
Events at Google Campus are aimed at start ups and entrepreneurs seeking inspiration, mentorship, finance and more. The calendar of events shows what activities are planned, including networking opportunities and workshops. Google Campus also runs wellbeing days with activities such as yoga to help members reduce stress and improve productivity.
5th Anniversary
As a first timer at Google Campus, I felt very welcome during the 5th anniversary celebration. There were live music courtesy of The Night & Day Collective and free refreshments, in a room full of entrepreneurs and freelancers making connections. Like in other Google venues, there was also a picture booth available, perfect for those embarrassing drunken team pictures that will haunt you for years to come (please use phone booths responsibly)!
In conversation with other Google Campus members, I realised that many use the venue to do focused work and they tend to allocate their networking time to specific events. In other words, don’t expect to be able to socialise at the water cooler too much and save your business development efforts for networking events.