MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Since August 2009, the Hacker Dojo in this heart-of-Silicon Valley town has been a place where techies and entrepreneurs have come to start businesses, code among friends, and build a community of like-minded geeks.
Hacker Dojo is one of a growing number of so-called "hacker spaces" popping up in the Valley and elsewhere that provide co-working and event space. And with 250 members paying $100 a month, Hacker Dojo is a serious player on that scene.
Already a few start-ups have "graduated" from the Dojo, meaning that they have outgrown the space available on site for working.
All around the building here are geek-friendly signs like this one.
YourVersion, a start-up that is building an award-winning personalized content aggregation service, uses Hacker Dojo as its office space. Its five-member team shows up for work most days at 10 a.m. and saves money on office space while also benefiting from the overall expertise of the membership, as well as helping out visitors and new and existing members when they can.
Much of the furniture and other objects in the space has been donated or bought on the cheap from former companies. This markers and erasers holder is just one such item.
One member installed a virtual reality camera system that feeds 3D data on anyone inside a marked-off space into a video game platform housed on a nearby computer.
This book, which lists venture capitalists, was left sitting in the Hacker Dojo library, a sign that members there are looking to get new businesses off the ground.
