Workbar Cambridge: A Catalyst for Innovation in Central Square

Workbar Cambridge got off to a famous start. Only a year after opening in 2013, Shark Tank came to town and needed a venue for 500 entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas (in 60 seconds) to a casting team in the hopes of making it on the show.

The producers recognized something special about the energy inside those walls. Boston’s founders, creators, and inventors were already gathering there daily, swapping stories, and building businesses that would go on to make headlines.

When Shark Tank Came to Cambridge

That year, hopeful entrepreneurs lined up outside Workbar before sunrise for a chance to pitch their ideas. The show’s producers said they were eager to “sink their teeth” into the Boston startup scene. It made sense: Central Square has long been a crossroads of innovation, with MIT just blocks away and a community known for turning side projects into success stories.

The Birthplace of the Workbar Neighborhood Design

The Shark Tank event made headlines, firmly establishing Workbar in one of the region’s most renowned innovation districts as a true launchpad for emerging ventures.

It’s hard to believe that the space opened in 2013 and is still as relevant today as it was more than a decade ago.  It was at Workbar Cambridge that we formalized the way members worked in the original Boston location, the concept of activity-based “neighborhoods.”

• The Café –Where to go if you enjoy background music and the hum of people coming and going while you get your work done.
• The Commons – Where to go when you’re working with other team members and need to chat with them frequently.
• The Switchboard – Where to go when you need to make calls on a regular basis but don’t want to step away from a desk to do so.
• The Study – Where to go when you need a quiet environment to knock things out.

This design didn’t just make Workbar more functional, it made it human. The Cambridge location also established the company’s approach to modular furniture, warm finishes, and digital community boards showing upcoming events and who’s at the location that day.

That balance of productivity and personality, combining work + bar,  turned Workbar Cambridge into a case study in how space design can drive connection and innovation.

As one OG member, Mobi.AI, put it:

“The Workbar in Central Square gave us the incubator we needed to develop, the room to grow, and the time we needed to find our footing in the AI space. Mobi.AI is where it is today in part because of what you’ve created.”

The Comeback Kid

It’s hard to imagine, but Central Square originated in the days of horse and carriage. The Longfellow Bridge was constructed in the late 1700’s, which opened the area by reducing the travel time from Cambridge to Boston.  In the early to mid 1900’s, the area was a major downtown metropolis with department stores, theaters and retailers. In an effort to revitalize the area and bring back some of its historic roots, the Central Square Business Improvement District (CSBID) has started a plan to transform the area into a more walkable hub for business, art, and community.  The types of initiatives in the plan include accessibility of public space and MBTA collaborations, filling vacant storefronts and activating ground-floor spaces to boost local commerce and creating new community gathering areas. It’s a pretty amazing time to run your business from this iconic neighborhood. 

In Boston, we take for granted the proximity of working near the people who are building what’s next.  Workbar gives you the accessibility to be part of that community and to help drive the future.  The mix of innovators, small businesses, and established companies here creates an ecosystem that simply can’t be replicated.

Here’s what makes Workbar Cambridge special:

• A design built around how people actually work
• A vibrant network of entrepreneurs, established businesses and innovators
• A location at the heart of one of the most innovative areas in the world, steps from the Central Square Redline MBTA stop

From Shark Tank hopefuls to AI startups, Workbar Cambridge continues to be the place where Boston’s best ideas take shape.