What happens when a non-technical coworking operator discovers AI coding tools and spends 90 days experimenting?
If you’re Justin Moran of Workplace in Massachusetts, you build an entirely new website on a rainy Sunday, replace thousands of dollars in SaaS subscriptions, and start rethinking what it means to run a lean, tech-forward operation.
In this episode of This Week in Coworking, I sat down with Justin to break down his journey, from stumbling into coworking to vibe coding his way into 2026.
From Inherited Space to 5 Locations in 10 Years
Justin didn’t plan to become a coworking operator. He was running another business with partners, needed a place to work, and discovered a small business center near Chicago. After four years as a member, the retiring owner gave him the opportunity to take over — and Justin said yes.
The space was stuck in the nineties (the fax machine was next to the coffee maker). Day one, it went in the trash. Justin rebuilt the operation from scratch, taught himself the business, and quickly realised that coworking is fundamentally about marketing, hospitality, and real estate — not just selling desks.
A year later, he added a second location. Then two more in 2022. Then a fifth in 2024. Today, Workplace operates 5 locations with just 5 staff — made possible entirely by technology and automation.
80 Automations and the Philosophy of Equal Hospitality
Justin’s management platform of choice is Optix, and his team has built over 80 automations inside it. His head of operations, Carrie, manages the bulk of them — and has become the resident expert.
But the philosophy behind the automations is simple: treat every customer the same, regardless of what they spend.
“The automations allow us to treat everybody the same. I don’t care if somebody’s going to come in and spend a thousand bucks a month for the next three years or spend $40 for a day pass — everybody gets the same welcome email, the same information about wifi, bathrooms, staff, coffee, everything.”
When Justin graduated from 4 to 5 locations, he knew this approach couldn’t scale manually. Now it just runs.
The Ski Trip That Changed Everything
Justin had a background in IT consulting sales — plenty of exposure to technology platforms, but no coding experience. Then came a ski trip conversation with his cousin, who was building a “second brain” using Claude.
Justin downloaded it immediately. That was 90ish days ago.
“I’ve never coded in my life. But I was on a ski trip with my cousin, who is also very tech-forward but not a coder. He’s like, ‘Have you ever heard of Claude?’ I don’t know what that is. And he’s like, ‘I’m creating a second brain.’ I downloaded it immediately.”
What followed was a crash course in vibe coding; the practice of describing what you want to build in plain language and letting AI write the code.
A Rainy Sunday and 20 Hours of Vibe Coding
Justin’s old Workplace website had been bandaged and patched for years. Legacy junk meant it couldn’t score above 50 on any SEO tool. It rained all day one Sunday. Twenty hours later, he had a brand new website… built entirely with Claude Code.
But he didn’t stop there. In the same sprint, he vibe coded:
- An AI chatbot for the website
- An AI answering service
- A custom booking/tour widget – replacing Calendly, with proper conversion attribution built in
- A replacement for Intercom (~$100/month) — because he only needed a narrow slice of what these tools offer
“Somebody’s invoice for a very narrow application really is your opportunity to get rid of that invoice.”
What to Vibe Code (and What to Leave Alone)
Justin is clear-eyed about where vibe coding fits. It’s not for replacing your core management platform — it’s for the small, specific tools that SaaS vendors overbuild.
His best example: an issue tracking app for his staff. When something goes wrong at a location — a light is out, a door isn’t working — a member raises it using a simple interface. A photo is taken. The issue populates a spreadsheet. The right contractor is looped in. It resolves.
“Optix has an issue raiser for everybody, but that’s all it is — it’s like a ‘hello.’ If you really want to optimize, those little processes are real opportunities.”
His workflow: start in Claude’s chat to describe the problem and scope whether it’s worth building. If yes, move to Claude Code, paste in the prompt, and let it start building — checking in at each step.
For security, he runs GSD (Get Shit Done) in the background on every project. When it’s done, he asks Claude to audit for vulnerabilities. He won’t touch anything involving Stripe, Optix core, or personal data.
The Guardrails Framework for AI-Curious Teams
If you have a young, tech-savvy team member who wants to start building, what do you do?
Justin’s advice: define a sandbox.
“I would put guardrails up as soon as possible and define a play box that they can play in. Here’s what we’re not touching — credit card info, personal data. Here’s what you can experiment with freely.”
The goal isn’t to block curiosity, it’s to channel it safely.
Getting Started: Justin’s Advice
- Go to YouTube for two days. There are thousands of tutorials. Ignore the ones selling courses. Find people actually building things.
- Start with something simple. Organize your junk folder. Sort 13,000 family photos by date (Justin’s Claude did it in 4 minutes). Let the tool do something small and let the light dawn.
- Bring determination and curiosity. You don’t need to know how to code. You need to know what problem you want to solve.
Show Notes
- 📍 Guest: Justin Moran, founder of Workplace Massachusetts
- 🔗 Optix — Coworking management platform
- 🤖 Claude / Claude Code — AI coding tools by Anthropic
- 🔒 GSD — Background security/QA tool for vibe coded projects
This Week in Coworking is hosted by Hector Kolonas. New episodes every week.