Week 7, 2025

Tashee Dorjee, Head of Flex at JLL Asia shares his take on what 2025 will bring to the flex workspace market. Tune in for some great insights and the trends (like Flex LITE and Tenant Flex) he’s seeing taking shape in and around APAC.

Bernie Mitchell shares his take on how coworking space failures often stem from insufficient social capital rather than flawed business models or poor facilities. The analysis emphasizes that genuine relationships, community trust, and authentic networking are more crucial to success than physical amenities or marketing strategies. The perspective highlights how successful coworking spaces function as social hubs that foster genuine connections and create a sense of belonging, rather than simply selling desk space.

Shopify and mall-operator Simon are running a partnership to help more online retailers explore launching or growing IRL stores.

Having seen the offices of both ETSY and eBay, we always wondered why there weren’t more partnerships with coworking spaces and office buildings, coordinating co-branded workspaces and retails popups – especially as some coworking spaces have more footfall than most malls.

Christoph Fahle, Founder of One Coworking, and an OG founder of Betahaus, with over 17 years in the industry, outlines the crucial differences between successful community managers and those who struggle, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing people over physical space management.

The insights focus on key attributes including hospitality-focused leadership, storytelling abilities, and the skill to foster serendipitous connections among members.

In an unusual move, Timothy Tiah the executive director of Colony Co-work Space (in Malaysia, not to be confused with Colony in England) shared a video about closing their original Star Boulevard location, what happened and why.

It’s a pretty refreshing way to hear from the folks running spaces, explaining to their members and wider community why some locations need to close to support the rest of the business, network and impact they can make.

Don’t let AI tools fool you into thinking it’s easy to create great content. It isn’t. Taylor from Talemaker shares that while AI can—and will—help augment the process, it’s no silver bullet for putting your content on "auto-pilot".

Kaley DiCicco from EXPANSIVE reports that their team suite product, designed for groups of 10-100 people, has emerged as their most popular offering across their portfolio. The spaces are being utilized in multiple ways, from satellite offices and project team collaboration zones to experience centers and training facilities, reflecting the evolving needs of distributed workforces. Kayley emphasizes how these plug-and-play spaces allow corporations to provide professional, branded environments for their teams without the commitment of traditional office leases.

Alice Lyons’ clever satirical review of Manchester’s Ministry of Work, playfully highlights the space’s distinctive features through intentionally reversed criticism.

The reviewer humorously complains about positive aspects like free parking, friendly staff, office dogs, local food partnerships, and a calm working environment – all while painting a picture of a thoughtfully designed coworking space that stands apart from typical corporate environments. We’re willing to be it got more clicks and reads than any glowing review would have.

Charlie Moss at Interaction shares some notes for CFOs finding themselves with 40k sqft or more of unused office space. Pointing to CBRE and Industrious‘ model for Lever House as a blueprint, the case is made that larger companies could (and should) partner with experiences operators to manage and monetize additional space when it’s not being utilized.

This is an interesting approach, and is the flip-side of the coin to what Tashi Dorjee shared that he’s seeing in APAC – experienced coworking operators offering their solutions and services to the rest of the building as a revenue growth channel.