Week 17, 2022

Cat Johnson summarizes Jo Meunier‘s summary of the recent Coworking Convo on nailing prospective member tours.

Check out the 14 highlights, read the full summary or watch the recap as "your coworking space tour is the most important touchpoint you have to turn a lead into a member".

Opening a coworking space can be both an exciting and daunting prospect there is so much to think about and even more to be done. The Melting Pot put together a free guide on what you need to consider.

The guide was built at the European Coworking Conference at the end of 2022, where we facilitated a workshop with Happy Working Lab to explore the critical steps you need to consider when opening a coworking hub.

Richard Lawson pens a piece in Forbes about how investors are looking past WeWork troubles to place bet on coworking companies.

In it, we’re reminded that Bullpen Capital led the recent round into Switchyards, joined by Cercano Management and Overline. We also see that Radious is on the verge of closing another round, including from Robin Daniels (ex-WeWork CMO) and Nick Bloom, whilst similar-but-also-different Jarvo recently expanded from the UK into the US market with a NYC pilot.

I absolutely love that big publications are sharing that coworking is growing, investable and I hope that TWIC can be a bigger resource for journalists like Richard to tell more stories about brands like yours.

Facework Group share a snapshot of their recent Cowork Plus unconference in London co-hosted with the London Coworking Assembly and Urban MBA.

I love that 80 attendees came together for a new kind of coworking event in London, but the videos opening line stuck with me. "We can bring our pets to work… but we can’t bring our kids" – London is in dire need of more coworking + childcare solutions.

PS. I’ve already asked for a wider summary of what went down, and will share as soon as I get that.

David Walker shares a post digging into multiple roles that are often blended under the "community manager" title.

"So if no one has told you lately: we see you. The late nights, the last-minute fixes, the small things no one notices—but everyone feels. You’re not just a community manager. You’re what makes coworking work." Sing it David!

Coworks continue their look at how to hire and hold onto great staff members in your space. Lauren Walker talked with a coach and consultant who uses Strengthsfinder and DiSC to help teams work better together.

So. Many. Lessons! Among them? Small teams need this even more than bigger ones.

Saw a lot of raving reviews (and FOMO-inducing photos) from GCUC in Chicago last week, but in this post Michael Abrams shared 5 of his quick takeaways from the conference.

I also liked Charlotte Kirby’s GCUC summary here, so adding that in here too.

Bernie Mitchell reminds us how for so many coworking isn’t a perk, but a lifeline. This includes himself, as he shares how the community at a local London space helped him through some very dark times.

"I was going to write a book called Coworking Saved My Life… When you work alone, you don’t just lose connection. You lose motivation. You lose perspective. You lose resilience. You lose the little sparks that keep the bigger fire going." Write the book Bernie. We’re so happy you’re still flying around the sun on this rock with us!

Christoph Fahle from One Coworking shares 7 core differences between flex space and sublet offices for businesses exploring both options.

From lease terms, to standardization, to hidden risks, if your flex space solutions/offers are constantly being compared to sublets, these 7 observations could help you and your team with objection handling and locking in more deals.

A marketing expert shares five practical tactics inspired by The Village Hive, his coworking space, and their effective review collection system. After noticing how they outperform most ecommerce brands in gathering feedback, he shared strategies they inspired to increase review rates from the typical 0.5% to 2-3%.

The recommendations include customizing review templates with brand elements, optimizing email timing, replacing generic copy with branded messaging, highlighting unique business attributes, and offering incentives for leaving reviews.

The team at Spacebring take a quick look at how some shared workspace cos are building entire offerings and products around shared commercial kitchens.

Curator Note: I do think there’s something in here if you’ve got the space to offer commercial cooking space, but I do wish the article looked more at the actual issues/risks/challenges to overcome for actually running this kind of offering (eg licenses, insurance, food storage, etc). The main reason I’ve included it in the newsletter is because it does highlight the models/approaches of 9 shared kitchen companies – which may be helpful to some of you who I know already offer commercial kitchen offerings.

South African fintech company Yoco partnered with workspace experts Workshop17 to create a tailored office environment rather than committing to traditional leases. The custom-designed 20 Kloof workspace in Cape Town embodies Yoco’s values while allowing them to focus on their core business instead of facility management. This partnership provides Yoco with flexibility for expansion across multiple cities while offering employees an inspiring work environment that boosts productivity, collaboration, and talent retention.

It’s not news that coworking and flexible workspace operators are partnering with building owners, rather than signing leases. But, another trend we’re continuing to see is another form of partnership where occupiers sign for private, dedicated space (beyond just an individual office) that is designed and managed by the operator.

Cat Johnson poses a conundrum for those of us in coworking.

If it’s no longer news that we’re in a loneliness epidemic; and it’s no longer news that we, as humans, need connection; AND it’s no longer news that isolation is really bad for us… then what do we need to do more of?

This link runs over how TULU, a startup that rents appliances like vacuums and mops to apartment dwellers, has raised $20 million in a Series A round.

It’s a fascinating model, and makes me think if there’s opportunity for a brand or even operator-specific offerings that could help nomadic/slomadic members leverage better or more equipment like additional screens, specific hardware or others on monthly terms.

Alanna Imbach shared that Vibe Coworks have turned an old ‘back-of-the-napkin’ idea into a partnership wtih NavalX Northwest Tech Bridge to build more pathways between Naval technologists and the emerging regional startup ecosystem.

Steven Clarke shares that of the ~40,000 coworking spaces, if only 120 of them offer childcare then the ‘system has failed working mums specifically.’

Miro Miroslavov shares 19 ideas to help workspace operators manage meeting rooms, their demand and their utility.

John Ho shares how Alt_ crowdfunded the $650,000 they needed to build Alt_PingRiver in Chiang Mai, their second coliving and coworking space.

They raised the amount from 40 investors, and took 10 months.

Mike LaRosa shares some snaps from the Deskpass Coworking Lounge at the recent Running Remote conference.

It’s always great seeing brands do activations that introduce more people to coworking, and coworking spaces, at conferences outside out industry. Nicely done!

… and 10 years in the making. Jamie Brown shares how he started with a tour by work.life cofounder David Kosky. He got a hot desk in Camden, then an office 12 months later, then moved to Soho in 2019 – growing through 4 different offices as their team grew.

As another bonus, the workspace brand has also worked with Jamie’s firm (Two Boys) for all their design and marketing for over 6 years.

Michael Dubicki shares that there’s a growing trend of brokers asking for ‘enhanced fees’ to secure more bookings or leads for flex space brands – and asks if this unbalance in fees actually hurts the operators, and the end customer, by putting distorting the impartiality of the results.

What do you think? Are you willing to up your fees to get more leads? Does this affect the quality of the leads? Does this negatively impact the customers who may not find their perfect space and shift to alternative solutons outside of coworking or flex?

PilotoMail shared a 2026 Virtual Mailbox Pricing Guide that includes how to layer offerings and avoid common pricing traps.

Steve King shares an article from The Information which highlights some examples of "combo coworking" – which focus more on being social spaces, and less on being a workplace.

Note: I don’t usually share email-gated or paywalled content, but large publications highlighting the rise of third places (or as they put it "not-home not-office"), is worth noting just for the growing trend.

Antonette Benting highlights the core message she travelled from South Africa to Boston to share with us all.

"Crafting spaces that inspire creativity and innovation should also prioritize geographical accessibility to have a real impact. Let’s unite efforts to diminish barriers and create connections together." Yes!

Angel Kwiatkowski shares that 10 years ago, a cold email asking her to help start a coworking space in Ulaanbaatar started and adventure that included Craig Baute flying over there and resulted in Mongolia getting its very first coworking space.

When folks ask just how helpful Coworking Leaders are, point them at this post.

Dave Cook who I believe is doing a PhD in Anthropology at University College London, has had a paper published on the definition and taxonomies of digital nomads.

The paper updates the definition of digital nomadism and provides a new taxonomy which subdivides the digital nomad model into five distinct types: freelance digital nomads; digital nomad business owners; salaried digital nomads; experimental digital nomads and armchair digital nomads. Useful terminology for operators serving this industry.

Edward Griffin, the CEO of WorkPad shared an interesting take on where we stand overall as it relates to how the general public has adopted flexible workspace. Many in the industry reference a "hockey stick" type of increase in the market, but how can you determine just where we stand? According to the adoption theory, flexible workspace has now crossed "The Chasm" from early adopters to early majority, as evidenced by compelling market indicators. UK flexible workspace enquiries have risen 14% year-on-year and are now 206% higher than pre-pandemic levels according to Savills, while their flex advisory division, Workthere has published research that shows inquiries for larger requirements (20+ desks) have doubled to 24% in the past year. The shift represents a fundamental market evolution, with landlords expecting more than half their portfolios to be flexible by 2030 as businesses of all sizes embrace flex solutions to reduce financial risk while maintaining professional workspace.

Editors note: this was supposed to be in last week’s newsletter and was even discussed on our last Weekly Recap episode – but a tech glitch (they do happen!) prevented it from going out in that email. So here it is, this week instead.

Jerome Chang points out that "fax machines and traditional office leases are dying for the same reason."

He explores how the unbundling and eventual demise of what fax machines can be compared to what’s happening with the unbundling of "office" products and solutions.