AXOM Foundry LLC originally began as a concept idea for utilization of the unused HRMG office space inside Wilson Plaza. The original founders were Liza Wisner, Taylor Smith and Avery Pfeiffer in 2017. We had developed the concept in late September and launched a draft website through HRMG that was discovered by The Bend Magazine. They asked to report on the idea which ultimately forced our hand in launching the coworking concept. We officially opened the doors of the company in November 2017 and held our hard launch celebration in December.

The company operated for a full year before we decided to conclude its operation in November 2018. It produced minimal revenue but was worth every penny invested by our team due to its benefit in growing our network and knowledge of Corpus Christi’s economy. We were very excited by the city’s level of small business engagement and support. The company had tremendous success with marketing in the way of social media livestreams, free weekly events and community engagement. We partnered with many businesses and non-profits such as Frost Bank, The Exchange, YBPCB, BUS, WES:CC, CASA and others. The building management at Wilson Plaza jointly supported our endeavor to develop new tenants, breathing life into an otherwise vacant floor.

Major pain points for the company were long term funding, parking for customers and staffing to help manage the company’s endeavors. The financial constraints without investor support, proved to be a major chokepoint for continuing the company’s development. In late-2018, AXOM Foundry attempted to produce a mobile application through one of our founders but was unsuccessful in its execution. We began to see a decline in customers and saw major relationships falter due to lack of follow through and commitment.

The company’s long term goals were to develop an environment where entrepreneurs could foster their growth and find the community and tools needed to launch their ideas. Looking back, we simply bit off more than we could chew without institutional or investor support. A shared office space in today’s gig economy simply did not prove valuable enough in Corpus Christi as there were many low cost alternatives such as Starbucks or Greenlight Coffee. We worked hard to grow the space’s value and our city from the ground up, but met much resistance along the way.