WHEN PAUL BARON WAS GETTING HIS COMPANY, WEBTEL MARKETING, OFF THE GROUND several years ago, he turned to UNC-Wilmington’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Not only did the university-anchored business hub provide a space to work, Baron said, it also afforded him the “unexpected encounters” he certainly couldn’t have found within a home office or traditional workplace setting.

Baron is not alone.

In what is a growing trend in major cities across the United States, an increasing number of entrepreneurs are turning to co-working spaces and incubators to get their napkin-stage ideas off the ground.

A bit ahead of the curve, the CIE opened as the region’s largest sponsor of training, events and networking for the entrepreneurial community in 2010. CIE’s co-working space offers members everything from free Wi-fi to weekly workshops and opportunities for mentorship.

“As a member, you benefit from the brand—in this case, UNCW—that creates the space, the ethos it aspires to and the people it attracts,” Baron noted.

Background screening company CastleBranch opened tekMountain, a technology incubator and accelerator, on the third floor of its Wilmington headquarters in 2014 to provide a creative environment for entrepreneurs and tech-based startups. The space—designed for flexibility—allows for groups and individuals to work and hold meetings.

And earlier this year, downtown’s latest co-working space, GrowILM, opened in the booming northern Brooklyn Arts District.

The private space is owned by Adrienne Vendetti and Stephanie Vendetti, sisters, authors and owners of the “How to Be a Redhead” brand. The idea for the “anti-cubical” office space—bar-top tables, online portals and living room-style seating— was inspired from the support they found as fledgling business owners.

“Before Wilmington, we were in Boston and New York City. As entrepreneurs, or for anyone who works from home, it can be very isolating. You want the community feel, and people need human interaction—it’s healthy,” Adrienne Vendetti said.

Downtown is already home to maker-space Elite Innovations (owner Andrew Williams shown above), a product-development firm that helps entrepreneurs turn concepts into prototypes.

While free coffee and internet access are nice perks, Baron believes the best amenities co-working spaces offer are support and collaboration.

“The unexpected encounters that are difficult to recreate in traditional office settings provide nearly immeasurable amounts of value for new businesses,” he said. “The knowledge and experience of your peers and small, informal interactions around the printer can spark new ideas or offer solutions to your customer or business problems.”