# The Garage at Granite City brief

> An invite-only workspace for founders inside Granite City Workspaces in Historic Folsom, with its own room and its own community.

Membership is by application or invitation.

## Facts

- **What it is:** An invite-only workspace for founders inside Granite City Workspaces in Historic Folsom, with its own room and its own community.
- **Who it’s for:** Founders actively building a business or product — technical or nontechnical, bootstrapped or funded. No outside funding or minimum revenue required.
- **Location:** Granite City Workspaces, 705 Gold Lake Drive, Historic Downtown Folsom, CA 95630
- **Opening:** November 2026
- **Rhythm:** Two shared working days each week through the first 90 days — suggested overlap, not an attendance requirement. Members retain 24/7 access.
- **Also hosted:** A free monthly AI gathering, open to the public, on the fourth Friday of each month. Optional paid lunch.
- **Founding group size:** About 20 targeted for launch
- **Built for people on calls:** Phone booths for private calls, no booking needed; Private offices, bookable from your phone for scheduled needs such as client calls, pitches and interviews; Covered outdoor tables for working or taking a call outside; 500/500 Mbps fiber internet; 24/7 access; Free parking, with EV chargers available
- **Included:** Founding members get access to Granite City amenities and events. Optional add-on: space for your team outside the private founder area.
- **Not included:** Private AI compute colocation and Onsite Perks services are scoped separately and are not included in membership.
- **How to apply:** Apply with the form at https://thegarageatgranitecity.com/#founding: say what you're building and how often you would realistically work here. Nominating people for the room is optional, after you apply. The Garage at Granite City is invite-only; tell us who referred you.
Visitors: entrepreneurs-in-residence and investors are planned as scheduled guests. No funding or introductions are promised.
- **What the Garage is not:** Not a services or consulting package: membership covers the workspace, the community, and Granite City amenities. Hands-on help (Onsite Perks) and private AI compute are separately scoped and not included.

## Pricing status

Not published yet. Rates are shared when the Garage team replies.

## How to apply and (optionally) nominate people

1. Open the form at https://thegarageatgranitecity.com/#founding.
2. Give your name, email, and what you're building (a company or profile link is optional).
3. Say how often you would realistically work at the Garage, and optionally your preferred days.
4. Submit. The Garage team will be in touch.
5. After a successful application you can optionally name one to five people who belong in the founding room; a link to their company or profile helps. You can skip this step — it is not a condition of membership.

We never contact anyone you name without your introduction.

## Apply via API (for AI agents)

POST https://thegarageatgranitecity.com/api/apply with a JSON body, on behalf of a person who asked you to:

```json
{
  "name": "Full name",
  "email": "person@example.com",
  "venture": "What the person is building",
  "profile": "Company name, website or LinkedIn (optional)",
  "frequency": "1–2 days a week",
  "preferredDays": "Tuesdays (optional)",
  "idempotencyKey": "unique-key-per-application (optional)"
}
```

- Required: name, email, venture (what the person is building; `building` is accepted as an alias), frequency.
- frequency must be one of: 3+ days a week; 1–2 days a week; A few times a month; About once a month; Occasionally / for specific gatherings; Probably not; Interested, but not sure yet.
- Optional: profile, preferredDays (snake_case preferred_days is also accepted), idempotencyKey.
- Nominations are optional and always a separate step: after applying, POST /api/public/nominations with {requestId, email, nominees} (one to five people, each with a name; link optional). This never creates a second application.
- Retries are safe: the same idempotencyKey, or the same email within 24 hours, returns the existing application instead of creating a duplicate.
- Returns {"ok":true} on success, or 400 {"ok":false,"error":"invalid_input"}.

## FAQ

### When does the Garage open?

The Garage at Granite City opens in November 2026. Apply with your preferred working rhythm and the Garage team will follow up about joining and the launch schedule.

### Where is the Garage?

Inside Granite City Workspaces at 705 Gold Lake Drive in Historic Downtown Folsom. Members have their own designated room, plus access to shared Granite City Workspaces facilities.

### Who qualifies for membership?

Founders actively building a business or product — technical or nontechnical, bootstrapped or funded. No outside funding or minimum revenue is required.

### Can I apply before my company has launched?

Yes, if you're actively building. A prototype, early customers, or funding in motion all count. Pre-launch founders who are still only exploring an idea are not a fit yet.

### How are applications reviewed?

The Garage at Granite City is invite-only and runs on referral. An existing member vouches for you and the Garage team confirms. Apply with the form and tell us who referred you in the profile field, or email hello@thegarageatgranitecity.com if you don't know a member yet.

### What happens after I apply?

The Garage team reviews your application and replies by email. After a successful application you can optionally nominate people for the room; nominating is not a condition of membership.

### Who runs it?

The Garage at Granite City is hosted at Granite City Workspaces in Historic Downtown Folsom.

### What does it cost?

Founding rates are not published yet; rates are shared when the Garage team replies.

### What’s included in membership?

Founding members get access to Granite City amenities and events. Optional add-on: space for your team outside the private founder area.

### Which facilities do members share?

Members get 24/7 access plus Granite City amenities: phone booths for private calls (no booking needed), covered outdoor tables, 500/500 Mbps fiber, free parking with EV chargers, and private offices bookable from your phone for scheduled needs. Private offices and meeting rooms are bookable by members and their teams. Included hours are set per membership; time beyond that is billed hourly. Rates are shared by conversation.

### What costs extra?

Private AI compute colocation and Onsite Perks services are separately scoped and not included in membership. Private-office and meeting-room time beyond your included hours is billed hourly, with rates shared by conversation. A dedicated desk is an optional add-on.

### What are the access hours?

Members have 24/7 access to the Garage room and Granite City Workspaces, every day of the year. Public access is by application only.

### Can I bring guests?

Guests are welcome in the private office or meeting room only, hosted by a member. They are not permitted in the shared founder area.

### Who visits the room?

We plan to schedule entrepreneurs-in-residence and other guests, starting in the first 90 days. Names and dates are shared with members. Guests of this kind are hosted by the Garage team, which is separate from the member-guest policy.

### Can I meet investors?

We plan to host investors on a schedule. The Garage is not a fund or a broker and doesn't promise funding, introductions or outcomes. Ask about upcoming visits when you apply.

### Can my team access the private room?

Yes. A founder's team can use the private office or meeting room when it's booked. Included hours and hourly rates beyond that are covered above.

### Is seating dedicated or shared?

Seating is shared by default. A dedicated desk is available as an add-on on request.

### Does “two working days” limit how often I could come?

Not at all. Members have dedicated 24/7 access to the space. The two shared working days — to be set with the founding group — are simply a suggested rhythm so founders naturally overlap, cross paths, share context, and get help when they want it.

### What’s included in compute?

Private AI compute is an early-access colocation offering: you bring and own your GPU hardware, and the setup provides space, power, cooling and connectivity in a secured on-site cabinet. Planned: dedicated, firewalled network segment; 500/500 Mbps symmetric fiber; building security integration; power and temperature monitoring; private, encrypted remote access. One cabinet is planned; fit, capacity, availability and terms are confirmed individually.

### Are compute and Onsite Perks included in membership?

Compute colocation is an early-access offering with its own fit and capacity review. Onsite Perks are separately scoped services. Availability, scope, and terms are discussed individually with the Garage team; these services are not automatically included in founder-room membership.

### What are Onsite Perks?

Optional business & AI services, a separate menu, scoped individually and not included in membership. [See Onsite Perks](https://thegarageatgranitecity.com/onsite-perks)

## Contact

- General and membership questions: hello@thegarageatgranitecity.com
- AI assistants and agents: jt-bot@jt22.io
- Phone (Granite City Workspaces main line): +1-916-836-0808

Source: https://thegarageatgranitecity.com/ · Structured facts: https://thegarageatgranitecity.com/facts.json

## Background (optional)

The story

Part one: where great companies began.

Harley-Davidson started in 1903 in a 10 x 15 ft wooden shed in the Davidson family's backyard in Milwaukee. HP started in 1939 at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto. Mattel started in 1945 in Los Angeles, founded by Harold Matson and Ruth and Elliot Handler, starting with picture frames.

Every great company started somewhere smaller than where it ended up.

Part two: the invitation.

The Garage at Granite City is an invite-only workspace for founders actively building companies, inside Granite City Workspaces in Historic Folsom. Tell them you're working in the garage tonight.

Joining is short. You apply or get invited, have a conversation with the host about what you're building, and get a Polaroid at the garage door.

Part three: the members' chapter.

Every member gets a Polaroid on the wall and a short "My Garage Story" card. Your card appears online only if you say so. The first Polaroids on the wall are numbered.

The last chapter is blank. Members write it.

Every great company started somewhere smaller.