Uneed Residency

Hey 👋🏻

If you follow me on social media or read the Uneed newsletter, you may have come across the name Uneed Residency.

After spending a month at the Hacker Residency in Vietnam, I wanted to organize something similar in France.

I started thinking about what format it could take, where it could happen, how to fund it, etc. I won't lie — it's quite complicated, prices being slightly higher in France than in Vietnam 😅.

But it's possible!

For the first edition, I want to keep things simple. If it goes well, we can think bigger for the second edition. Here's what I have in mind so far:

🐘 The first edition will take place in Nantes, France, for many reasons. First, because it's the city where I live, which makes finding a coworking space and accommodation much easier. It's also easily accessible by train from Paris, and prices are much lower there. And finally, living nearby makes the logistics much easier for me.

👥 We'll accept 10 people. Ideally, these people should already be generating revenue with their project. This ensures everyone is in the same mindset and takes it seriously. Also, even though gender parity probably won't be achievable due to the very low number of women in our space, I'd still like to make an effort in that direction and invite a minimum of 2 women among the participants.

🇫🇷 I'm thinking of limiting the number of French participants to 5 at most 😬. This might seem weird, but I've already received a huge number of applications from French people, and I'm worried everyone will start speaking French, which would effectively exclude people who don't speak the language. The official language of the residency will be English.

🏠 We'll likely rent a coworking space to work together, along with two separate accommodations. It all comes down to price: large accommodations barely exist in Nantes (you'd have to go outside the city), and the prices are far too high.

🧑🏻‍🍳 The big question is food. If we have two separate accommodations, let me tell you it's going to be a real headache 😅. I don't know yet how we'll organize this — it all depends on how much we manage to raise through sponsors.

💰 Unfortunately, it's very likely that this residency won't be entirely free. I'll do everything I can to keep costs as low as possible, sponsoring the residency through Uneed for €2,500, which should cover part of the accommodation. But the coworking space and food still need to be funded!

As you can see, many questions remain unanswered. But I'm extremely excited to organize all of this 🤩!

If you're interested, you can fill out this form to sign up. I'll be starting a newsletter soon to keep everyone updated 😊.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments of this article.

See you soon, Thomas