BKLYN Commons, Brooklyn's premier coworking space and home to more than 300 indoor storefront businesses owned and operated by entrepreneurs, creators, change-makers, and forward-thinking innovators.
"What we've done at BKLYN Commons is create a community where our members collaborate and support each other," said Johanne Brierre, BKLYN Commons head of growth.
Building a community - both inside and outside its walls - enabled BKLYN Commons, its members and partners to survive COVID-19's destruction of Brooklyn's small businesses.
Indeed, BKLYN Commons was the glue that kept its members together at the peak of the crisis and enabled many of them to survive.
It's a two-street. The members and broader community partners helped BKLYN Commons to keep its doors open at a time when many other coworking spaces shut down permanently.
At the height of the pandemic, BKLYN Commons leveraged its partnerships with community-based agencies, civic leaders and members to share updated information on the government's complicated Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), where to obtain Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), and other important resources.
The members also supported each other. For instance, BKLYN Commons member Nadia Aristide, the president of business finance company Maroon Strategist, provided information to other members on PPP. BKLYN Commons also teamed up with its community partner IMPAACT Brooklyn, a community development corporation, in hosting Zoom forums on how to apply for the government funding program.
BKLYN Commons in partnership with BK Reader began publishing articles on March 16 that share members' survival stories in a series collectively named Straight Out of COVID.
It will inspire struggling entrepreneurs, as well as share ideas about how other small businesses, nonprofits and solopreneurs can reinvent themselves.
New articles appear every Tuesday and Thursday, in the Local Voices section. In today's post, we meet tech entrepreneur Andres Peguero. He's the owner of 3Aces Studio, an ad conversion company, who found innovative ways to thrive amidst the global crisis.
COVID Ignites Bushwick Entrepreneur to Create Ad Conversion Software
By: Lindy Hale
Andres Peguero graduated college thirsty for something more.
While working in software sales, Peguero was approached by friends who wanted his help building a fantasy sports app. Excited for the opportunity, he quit his job and joined his friends on their entrepreneurial journey.
Over time, several hundred people signed up for the app. Nevertheless, the company went a full year without funds. This monetary stress prompted Peguero and his friends to think outside of the box. To earn funds for the app, the team used their individual strengths to offer services and build a portfolio of client work. Soon, the team was using payments from these clients to fund the app.
In 2016, Peguero founded 3Aces Studio, an ad conversion company born from this expansion. Today, 3Aces Studio operates with two co-founding team members and a group of contract workers. Through data collection, 3Aces helps companies develop marketing creatives so that the right audience finds their products and/or services.
We caught up with Peguero, a BKLYN Commons Bushwick/Bed-Stuy member, to discuss how his business has continued to pivot and thrive amidst the global crisis.
It sounds like you are no stranger to a business pivot. From software sales to app development with marketing clients landing you where you are today - what's been 3Aces most important pivot thus far?
When I first founded 3Aces Studio, I wasn't focused on strategy. I was taking orders from clients and building whatever they asked for. Once I began to understand what it was that the client really needed, why they needed it, and then proposing how I could use my knowledge to help them before building, 3Aces began to flourish. Strategy was the brand's missing link and most important pivot.
3Aces now focuses on extracting data to gain as much information as possible before marketing comes into play. The more accurate the data is, the more we can optimize our strategies. The faster and more accurate we are on the back end, the easier it is to pivot to the ever-changing thoughts of the individuals we're marketing to. Thanks to accurate data, we're able to adjust our strategies regularly, leading to more conversions for our clients.
Due to the pandemic, many businesses have had to pivot to focus on their use of technology to boost sales. Technology is needed now more than ever. How has this shift affected 3aces?
One upside to the pandemic is that our attainable market is much larger now. There are more online businesses now than there ever have been before. On the flip side, a lot of companies also went bankrupt. Some of our own clients went bankrupt. The team at 3aces saw this first hand.
So, we began to brainstorm ways to build and produce products. Our goal was to further service the businesses that needed a boost. Through this process, we've begun to develop a plug and play marketing software that increases ad conversions by 30-40% using tracking and optimization. Keep an eye out for more details on the launch!
You started out as one of BKLYN Commons' youngest members. How has being part of a collaborative coworking space supported your entrepreneurial journey?
I cowork at the Bushwick/Bed-Stuy location and the floor I'm on was full of ecommerce, sales, and agency focused businesses. We all got to know each other and pulled our strengths together to collaborate. Once I got to know the brands on my floor and the people behind them, I began to form partnerships. I'd help write emails for the different businesses on my floor or help them bid on large projects. It became a bartering system of sorts. We all just wanted to help each other out.
To me, that's the true advantage of coworking. Since it's not a traditional office space, people are always coming and going. You have the opportunity to build relationships with people from all walks of life.
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For more information about 3aces Studio and their upcoming ad conversion software contact Andres Peguero at andres@3aces.studio or follow them on FB at https://www.facebook.com/3aces.studio
