Week 23, 2025

Brad Hargreaves threw a metaphorical grenade into our feeds this week with a note titled "Coworking Must Rise from the Dead" and anticipating the resurrection of the "old coworking model" sharing that there’s "a WeWork-shaped hole" in what has become the "flex workspace" industry.

While the post circles around their experience (read: challenge) trying to find 3 affordable desks to rent in Manhattan, it looks at how so many businesses who started in coworking shifted towards private offices, top-tier amenities, and sometimes almost-astronomical prices per desk. Other brands mentioned include Industrious and The Malin.

The post raised a whole bunch of questions I wanted to ask Brad. Firstly, regarding the search, where did he look? Were any aggregators, AI search engines, or flex brokers involved? If so, what were the criteria and results? If not, why not? Brad, you know where to find us, let’s hop onto the pod and chat?

On the flip side, this does present a threat and opportunity for your space. If the Thesis Driven team, who are "plugged into the forefront of the future of work, managed office, and commercial real estate in New York" couldn’t find you or your offering, could less connected and CRE-experience growing businesses?

Jamie Dundas shares that Good Space have not only launched a new website and rebrand, but refocussed on what gives their business (and team) purpose – and to regroup around their most important members, the hotdeskers.

work.life has launched a new video series called "Leaders fail too…" that focuses on how successful business leaders have navigated challenges and transformed setbacks into growth opportunities. The first episode features Paul Dutnall, their COO, discussing his journey of learning to accept not knowing everything as a leader.

The series aims to move beyond typical sanitized success stories to explore the uncomfortable realities of leadership and specific actions that convert failures into genuine growth experiences.

Firmspace CEO Kenny Kane recently published a LinkedIn article discussing how artificial intelligence can enhance rather than replace human hospitality in flexible workspace operations. He argues that AI’s role should act like support staff by anticipating member needs through usage pattern analysis or automating repetitive tasks, and enabling 24/7 responsiveness – while preserving human empathy for high-touch interactions.

Helen Knight shares a post about her business ALCOVE is sometimes being pinned as the ‘opposite’ of coworking (or at least the streotypical coworking spaces featured in Apple TV specials).

The linked post is unfortunately gated, but I’ve pinged Helen about hopping on the pod top chat about whether she is building an anti-coworking business, or whether Alcove fits into the work ecosystem of the future – alongside other flex and coworking options.

Sofia Stolberg takes the whole Disintermediation debate, but this time sharing her ‘unpopular’ opinion that it’s essential when it comes to building profitable and sustainable virtual office businesses.

We’re certain the VO aggregators would disagree with most the points, but our job is to share links and viewpoints that contribute to the worldwide discussion.

Nomadworks has partnered with Theorist Agency to introduce Theorist Studio – a professional-grade podcasting facility & service located on the 4th floor of 1216 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan.

The full-service content creation hub offers three pricing tiers: $300/hour studio rental with raw files and on-site technician, $500/episode including multicam 4K video editing and social clips, and $5,000/month for a complete podcast and social media package with four episodes and daily social content.

Studio features include adjustable seating for up to four people, custom RGB lighting, three camera angles, multicam live switching, and professional audio setup with technician support.

Work.Life has redesigned its coworking products following their recent hackathon and customer feedback, introducing two main membership tiers.

Their Unlimited membership is now available for Single Space Access at a lower rate, or All Space Access. A new Flex membership provides subscription day passes that can be shared among team members, comes with 24-hour access, and allows flexible scaling usage up or down based on working patterns. The company has also introduced increased savings for longer subscription commitments to reward loyal members.

Anouk Braune, an innovation hub and community strategy expert shared insights on implementing community software, emphasizing that success requires more than just selecting technology platforms.

Key learnings included avoiding overly complex all-in-one solutions, not to build software in-house, involving users early to avoid expensive assumptions, and making platforms intuitive with engaging features. She recommends finding the right partner to co-build rather than simply purchasing off-the-shelf software, looking for platforms with solid baseline features that can be tailored to specific community needs.

The post emphasizes that community software serves as infrastructure while real value comes from underlying community strategy.

Yes, focus on community in your coworking space tours and marketing. But you can’t bypass the hard, patient work of actually building community to beeline straight to marketing and selling community.

Cat Johnson reminds us that people can sniff out bulls**t, and they may never come back.

You’ve probably scrolled past a squillion posts about AI search and the “SEO Armageddon” (or the “SEO Apocalypse,” if you prefer dramatic flair). But here’s the real scoop: AI-powered search is flipping the script on how future members may find and book coworking spaces.

This post by Asen Stoyanchev at OfficeRnD explores how firms like Expansive and Industrious have gone about preparing their SEO for AI-enabled search results.

Paloma Strelitz shared Patch‘s new short film called "This Is Your Patch" in which they show off their unique positioning within UK towns’ high streets (I believe called ‘main streets’ in the US).

Take special note of how they frame the benefits of their hubs and their embedded approach to the local community.