Courtesy / 75 Park
Danielle Snow and Derek Ribbons.
Updated: November 21, 2023
Lewiston-Auburn's first combined business incubator and coworking space set to open
Courtesy / 75 Park
An open house is scheduled for Lewiston-Auburn’s first combined business incubator and coworking space at 75 Park St. in Lewiston.
When Lewiston native Danielle Snow and her husband, Waterville native Derek Ribbons, returned to Maine from long careers in California, they saw an opportunity: the creation of a business incubator and coworking center in Danielle's hometown.
The result, called 75 Park for its location at 75 Park St. in downtown Lewiston, will support entrepreneurs and small businesses as they grow. The center will offer a range of amenities, as well as coaching and mentorship.
“We spent over 20 years in California building and growing businesses and fully understand how lonely and difficult it can be,” said Snow, who began setting up the space with Ribbons earlier this fall.
An open house is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 29, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Tours will be provided, members will share information about their businesses, and snacks and drinks will be available from local businesses.
For more information, click here.
75 Park is Lewiston-Auburn’s first combined business incubator and coworking space, according to a news release.
Snow and Ribbons bought the 10,000-square-foot office property this past January from the city of Lewiston.
Both have spent their careers working with startup companies, Snow told Mainebiz.
Ribbons is a software engineer and, throughout his career, switched back and forth between working for larger, well-known companies HP, eBay and LinkedIn and for smaller organizations such as TiVo. Ribbons co-founded Upwardly.homes in 2020 to make homeownership more approachable.
Snow has spent her entire career working with startups including TiVo and Reputation.com. She launched getinnerwise.com in 2022 to provide executive coaching and strategic advising, primarily to founders and executive teams.
Starting in 2016, the couple was back and forth between Lewiston and California as Snow opened offices for startup Included Health, then called Grand Rounds Health, in Lewiston.
They returned to Maine full-time in February 2020, and began working on the 75 Park project as a place where they wanted to work — but couldn't find.
They had also talked for years about wanting to make an investment in the L-A community, because of Snow's roots and since it's close to their current home in Turner.
Courtesy / 75 Park
The founders started the 75 Park project as a place they wanted to work — but couldn't find.
“We were lonely working at home and interacting through Zoom,” said Snow. “Yes, we could go to a coffee shop or a co-working space to be around other people. But we couldn't close a door when we needed a private conversation, and those places were missing a community that was sharing ideas and were invested in one another's success.”
Both have small business in their blood; Snow’s family started Roy I. Snow Inc., an electrical contracting company in Auburn, in 1947. Ribbons grew up in his grandfather's pizza shop Scotty's Pizza in Waterville until it was sold.
When the opportunity to purchase 75 Park presented itself, she said, they looked at it as an opportunity to create that space where business owners and entrepreneurs could come get support to build and grow their business, as well as network and build a community that is invested in one another's success.
To get set up, they worked with architect Gabrielle Russell at Platz Associates in Auburn on a plan and spent eight months renovating the space.
“75 Park is an architecturally interesting building, but it was tired and in need of renovations and repairs,” said Snow. “The renovated space is now light and modern where it was previously dark and dated.”
Courtesy / 75 Park
The renovated space contains co-working space, shared amenities, private offices, daily/hourly rentals and a conference room.
The upper floor contains a co-working space, shared amenities and private offices. The lower floor contains daily/hourly office and conference room rentals that can accommodate from three to 30 people.
Investment into the project was more than $1 million. The project was financed by personal savings and financing from the city of Lewiston and Community Concepts Financial Corp.
The facility’s mentoring and support services are primarily provided by Snow and Ribbons.
Snow is an International Coaching Federation certified coach with over 25 years of executive and leadership experience working at companies from zero to initial public offering, merger or acquisition. Her areas of expertise are leadership, operations, product development and member experience.
Ribbons has over 25 years of experience in technology as a full-stack software engineer and technical lead. His areas of expertise are system design and architecture, troubleshooting, and mentoring early career engineers.
“In 2024 we'll be bringing in guest speakers and workshop providers both from Maine and away,” said Snow. “There are many pathways to success and so it's important to hear many perspectives.”
On tap are different monthly membership levels that include group coaching, one-to-one mentorship, workshops, networking events, a shared receptionist, mail services and high-speed internet. Private offices, dedicated desk spaces and open desk spaces are available with sit/stand desks throughout the location.
There’s also drop-in space for non-members and meeting spaces, the largest of which seats up to 30 people.
Upcoming events include a networking hour on the third Wednesday of each month and a workshop on difficult conversations.
“Key to what we’re doing here at 75 Park is combining what entrepreneurs and small business owners want in an office space with support and community,” said Ribbons.
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