Kate Dezarnaulds penned an interesting piece as the founder of WorkLife about a recent email she received regarding the WeWork Affiliate Network, and what this very strategic move could mean for other indie brands.

While Kate makes the case that this isn’t a moment to panic, "it is a moment to stop sleepwalking".

Further listening: This TWIC Discussion from 2024 with John Santora (CEO, WeWork), Anant Yardi (Founder, Yardi) and Jason Anderson (CEO, Vast) about the formation of this affiliate network. And this TWIC Discussion with Sam Rosen and William Sandford about the acquisition of Deskpass, Breather and Hubble.

Max Freedman, founder of Spice, outlined 10 predictions following the recent Toast + Uber Eats strategic partnership announcement, forecasting that POS systems will become marketing command centers with closed-loop attribution, real-time offer engines, dynamic pricing by daypart and demand, and allowing automated promotion budgets to replace calendar-based campaigns. Freedman predicts this will compress campaign setup workflows, shift team structures from multiple tab-hoppers to single growth ops leads, and pressure DoorDash to ship similar POS-native integration within 6 months.

For flexible workspace operators, this signals the increasing convergence between space management platforms and aggregators to enable similar closed-loop attribution, dynamic desk pricing based on demand patterns, and automated member acquisition campaigns driven by booking behavior and profitability scoring. Not far off from what it looks like the team at Yardi is up to after aqcuiring WUN Systems (now Yardi Kube, Hubble and Deskpass.

Jon Seal from technologywithin summarized Green Street’s (infuriatingly email-gated) report that UK-based flex workspace brokerage Officio has engaged consultancy firm Deloitte to float a potential sale for the firm.

The news has not been confirmed by either parties, and we dislike sharing any form of gated content, but it does point to consolidation trends in the industry as it matures. Also makes us wonder what ripples this will cause across Rubberdesk, Instant/Worka, Office Freedom, Hubble/Yardi and the likes of C&W, CBRE, JLL who are all diving deep into flex.

A recent piece in Commercial Search featured an interview with Will Sandford, Director of Coworking at Yardi. His take is that there are three key trends driving the industry: traditional landlords seeking flexible solutions from coworking to spec suites, successful operators building strong landlord relationships while supporting broader community needs, and multi-site operators targeting corporate users who spend two to three times more per user.

The problem however, are technology gaps including lack of standardized backend systems for inventory and booking, unified building access systems, and enterprise workplace integration tools that extend companies’ owned workplace experiences. With control of WeWork and ownership of platforms such as Yardi Kube, Deskpass and Hubble, does this mean there are more acquisitions on the horizon for Yardi?

Richard Smith, founder and CEO of Office Freedom, has strongly criticized a recent conference talking point for office providers to "disintermediate" flex agents to improve efficiency and cut costs, describing it as a betrayal after 32 years of industry advocacy and revenue generation.

In particular, he highlighted the contradiction in the company’s (Yardi) position, noting that they recently acquired flex broker Hubble while simultaneously calling for the elimination of brokers, and argued that most flex providers aren’t recognized brand names that rely on broker partnerships for visibility and client acquisition. Its being argued that abandoning the broker model could lead to increased voids, reduced revenue, and transform the industry into a "glorified oligopoly," while emphasizing that flex deals are growing larger and becoming viable lease alternatives rather than just stepping stones.

As long as clients value centralized market comparison and expert advice, we believe that it will be tech-enabled brokers that remain an essential support system, rather than unnecessary intermediaries in an increasingly interconnected global marketplace.