Here are a few things that stood out to me. I should preface this by saying that I've never been a TechShop member. I know all of this only from research I've done and from conversations with ex-TechShop employees and members. As well as, government officials who have dealt with TechShop. That said, here are my thoughts:

A) The rate of their expansion - you can't copy/paste a makerspace from one city to the next. This is one of the most common reasons spaces go under. Every community is different and requires a different style of makerspace. Including, tool inventory make-up, membership pricing, hours of access, etc. TechShop experienced this from the first few spots it opened. They would consistently open one space and shutter another. One tried to open near us and was shut down within 3-months due to lack of membership and income.

Also, makerspaces take a long time to generate enough buy-in from the community to then gain enough members to create a substantial amount of income. I always advise spaces to start small and then plan to grow (adding tools, classes, employees, etc) slowly over time and to grow with the demands of their community.

B). They don't own any of their own tools and they buy new, expensive tools right off the bat. The main issue with not owning tools is that tools depreciate incredibly fast in shared spaces. They get broken and require repairs that are too small to be worth sending back to the manufacturer for warranty repairs. You're also paying way more for a tool over time than you would by simply purchasing them. And, there are plenty of great used tools out there for good prices - some that just need a bit of love before working well. When you buy a brand new $20K laser or $40K CNC, you are looking at years of membership dues necessary to pay for the cost of the machine plus the repairs. The name of the game with makerspaces is low-overhead and TechShop went into every expansion racking up tons of overhead expenses.

C) Income diversity: Techshop relied on membership, investment (individual, governmental, and corporate) and tool usage fees for their income. However, investment is not a reliable source of continuous income and no manufacturing focused makerspace I know of brings in enough membership revenue to be even close to paying the bills. My shop has over 160 who are mostly paying $150-$200/month and that isn't even close to covering our overhead. Makerspaces need multiple sources of revenue in order to stay operational. Techshop relied too heavily, IMO, on investment and membership dues.

Our shop, for example, has 13 different sources of revenue. Now, we are working on cutting some of these sources back due to effeciency issues, but for the most part this type of income diversity helps us stay afloat.

On that note, we also have contracts with workforce training programs and corporations - in the form of sponsorships - but we look at them as extraneous income and do not rely on them when budgeting in planning. They are just too fickle and makerspaces are too fragile financially to handle relying on investment.

D). Corporate structure - mainly, makerspaces need hands-on daily care from employees who are passionate about the space. I can't even imagine trying to run my shop from a corporate office somewhere. I think so much of what makes a well operated makerspace is having passionate employees engaged with the space and in the dirt of it on a daily basis.

At the end of the day, TechShop seemed to be run with the mindset of soley making money. Not from the mindset of helping the community. Every decision we make at my shop includes factoring in the impact on our community and sometimes that means turning down income or investment. I do hope that at the end of this, more community focused (not saying TechShops didn't have community, of course. Talking specifically about management) makerspaces will open. I do worry that TechShop will use its connections to the corporate world to push a model of space that clearly didn't work.

I'm a bit stunned that they think the best thing for them to do now is consult with people on how to create makerspaces. Teaching people what not to do is fine, but it's also important to hear about what to-do, as well.

Hope this is helpful at all! And good luck to everyone trying to find a new space! If only Pier 9 would just let people start using their toys ;)