The Cannon Brings Coworking and Community to Houston Startups

Austin, Texas may be known as one of the country’s top startup hubs, but just a few hours away in Houston, one company is looking to give entrepreneurs a place to thrive with a new incubator space.

The Cannon, a coworking company that develops communities for entrepreneurs seeking to network with investors and advisors, opened its first coworking space and headquarters in West Houston at the end of 2019.

The Cannon’s founders chose to repurpose a 1950s-built manufacturing warehouse for its flagship location. The Cannon building is the first completed phase of The Founders District, a 36-acre project that aims to become an entrepreneurial hub in the area. The walkable development will eventually include commercial office space and multifamily housing, as well as retail and dining.

“They wanted it to be a campus, and the idea was to attract millennials or up-and-coming entrepreneurs and make the space attractive for them. [The Cannon] found out through studies that this generation is looking for the convenience of living near where they work, and they want to [form a] community with the people they work with. So, they are building out housing, restaurants and bars to make the whole area a cool campus,” said Rebekka Glass, interior designer and associate at Texas architecture firm Abel Design Group, which led the project.

However, the company “took a bit of a gamble” on the West Houston location, which is located about 20 minutes outside of downtown and is characterized by industrial and warehouse buildings. This type of development is the first of its kind in the area.

“It’s a brand-new concept [in the city], especially in that part of town — there’s nothing else like it, so there was some risk involved,” explained Patty Fadhouli, senior associate at Abel Design Group. “But this entire lot really fit the bill of what [The Cannon] was trying to create and they saw it as a huge opportunity.”

The process of creating a space that nurtured innovation and a sense of community began with making the property somewhere that members could “thrive on connectivity, flexibility and access to create technology. [The founders of The Cannon] wanted to create an atmosphere that was really attractive to come to, one that drew people in and made them want to work there,” said Glass.

“One of their [philosophies] is that people become the idea of what they surround themselves with, so the physical space had to cultivate exploration and networking,” she added.

The team stripped the 65,000-square-foot building down to just the beams, which are now the only remaining original feature of the space, and painted them a striking neon blue to stand out against the light interior. “We took inspiration for the colors, both on the exterior and interior of the building, from the idea of an actual cannon, so the [end product] came out with these deep, rich colors,” said Glass.

They doubled the location’s amount of usable space by adding a second floor and two extensions on the building.

The Cannon now occupies 73,000 square feet in the 120,000-square-foot structure and is accompanied by six other tenants in the building that complement the company’s mission, such as a marketing firm and a finance bank, for example. “There are a lot of auxiliary businesses that have a presence in The Cannon building now that want to service or cater to these startup businesses,” said Fadhouli. “It’s creating a little microcosm or ecosystem, which was the goal.”

She noted that Houston is historically dominated by the oil and gas industry, while Austin is known for having more resources for startups and access to venture capital. “While Houston is a wealthy town, investing in startups just wasn’t part of the culture,” added Fadhouli. “But the founders of The Cannon had a vision for keeping startups in Houston and providing a venue for startups and venture capitalists to meet each other.”

The building centers around an open staircase that connects the two levels and serves as a meeting point and presentation space, or an amphitheater of sorts. Cannon members use it for ”Shark Tank”-style pitch sessions where entrepreneurs can present their ideas to investors or mentors, as well as other building-wide events, like broadcasting sporting events on the presentation screen.

The Cannon coworking space has 131 rentable offices and 300 open “hot desks” and dedicated desks that can be reserved. The private offices along the outside edge of the space are all built out with demountable walls that can be reconfigured if businesses need more or less space.

“You could be a startup of one person or one hundred, and you can find the rightsized office for you there,” said Fadhouli.

The rest of the space has no shortage of areas for connection and collaboration, whether it’s for building-wide events or two-person meetings. The break room with a coffee bar has sliding barn doors that connect to the lounge and game room, and operable garage doors that open up to the courtyard — all of which can be employed to create an expansive indoor/outdoor event space when needed.

The site also includes a theater and library. Members can choose to work in several rentable huddle or conference rooms, all of which offer a unique change of scenery with nature-inspired designs.

“There weren’t a lot of windows in this space because it’s a warehouse, so we made sure that we incorporated biophilic elements where we could and found ways to bring those in,” said Glass. Wallpaper and carpeting did the trick here — one huddle room is a galaxy space with porthole windows; another is a wooded scene with carpets that emulate a mossy forest floor; and the wellness and yoga room uses a tree bark pattern. “Even the carpet in the open office area is inspired by outdoor pavers,” said Glass.

“There are a lot of those biophilia-inspired nature elements throughout this space to help cultivate healthy minds, which in turn brew healthy ideas, productivity and creativity,” she said.

Other design elements in the space harken to the namesake of the building, added Glass. “We infused the space with the abstract concepts inspired by a cannon — there are many doors throughout the space that have big, round circular glass windows, and the gold pipes draw you from the exterior into The Cannon, which is a unique design feature.”