CubeSpace coda

I was dreading writing this post. But somehow, given the state of things, it seemed—barring a miracle—that it was inevitable. And so it was, this evening, that the story we’ve all be following and anxiously awaiting, finally came to its unfortunate conclusion: CubeSpace is no more.

Communities need campfires around which to gather. Whether they be meeting places to tell stories, warm safe places to meet friends, or roaring bonfires to celebrate our victories. Or even—at times—simply a place to Camp.

CubeSpace was the campfire of the Portland tech community. And now its flame is out.

In a post on the CubeSpace blog, Eva and David offer a final eulogy for the space that launched a thousand camps:

It is with deep sadness that Eva and I announce that CubeSpace will be closing its doors on Friday, June 12, 2009. During the past two weeks of negotiations, we have very much appreciated the support from all of you. Yet when it came down to it, we realized that even though business has been up and the outpouring of support from the community has been so great, we do not have the resources to keep CubeSpace open.[HTML2]

For roughly three years, Eva and I have poured ourselves into CubeSpace. We have poured in all of our financial resources, and have never taken any salary. We have poured the vast majority of our energy into CubeSpace. We have poured most of our attention into CubeSpace. Now, we have no more to put in. We are tired and broke, and it is now time for us to move on.[HTML2]

We do not consider CubeSpace a failure. Rather, we succeeded in fostering a meaningful community that supports each other in hard times and celebrates together in good times. We feel privileged to have been a part of this community, and look forward to participating in other ways in the years to come.

You can read the complete post announcing the closure on the CubeSpace blog.

My chief concern is people recognize just how quintessential CubeSpace was to our current community. It’s terribly hard to quantify. And even I am shocked just running through the laundry list of times that CubeSpace stepped up to provide space for the community and its efforts.

Time and time again, the space and its seemingly indefatigable staff served as the go-to location for user groups, random gatherings, and any number of celebrations.

Here are some of the most memorable for me:

• Providing space for the Silicon Florist Portland Lunch 2.0
• Hosting BarCamp Portland throughout its existence
• Helping people get From Side Project to Startup
• Stepping up to make the first ever WordCamp Portland a reality
• Providing the location that incubated Open Source Bridge
• Pulling together the meeting with Portland Mayor Sam Adams to talk about the startup environment
• And of course, perhaps the most poignant, witnessing the community rallying to Save CubeSpace

Those are the immediate things that jump to mind. But honestly, every single meeting there was memorable. Every single user group meeting. Every single random pop-in. Every single time I rented a desk there.

Because it was like being home.

How to help

CubeSpace helped all of these things happen. And now, the founders could use our help.

Many of you have asked what you can do to help. Eva and I have been unable to answer, until now. What we need now are jobs. We have mountains of debt, no assets, and are facing the possibility of personal bankruptcy.

Eva and David, Portland is forever in your debt

I can’t really find the words at this point. And honestly, I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to find the words to describe what their time, their compassion, and their energy did for the Portland tech community at this critical time in its development.

I’m sure others will find ways to say this much better than I. But I just want to thank Eva and David, from the bottom of my heart.

Without CubeSpace, the progress we’ve made as a community would never have happened. I’m confident of that. And for that, we all owe them a significant debt.

Thank you, CubeSpace. You will be missed.