Community building is hard.
It’s also vital to creating a world of people who are connected, collaborative, and activated.
The Daily Co is a collection of thoughts, ideas, and insights intended to inspire coworking space operators and community builders (that’s you friend) every day of the year.
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✊ Coworking impact.
🇩🇪 300+ jobs created by community founders in 2023 #
Impact Hub Berlin shared their 2023 Impact Report, which is a fascinating read given they’ve been running for 10 years and counting.
Key takeaways are that founders within their community and programmes creates over 300 jobs, and 76 new impact solutions were built through their programmes.
👉 Read this.
📰 Coworking news & views.
🗞️ Big publication highlights growing investor appetite for coworking cos #
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.
👉 Read this.
🤙 That time 80+ coworking peeps met in an old car park in London #
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.
👉 Read this.
⚖️ Sublet office vs flex space #
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.
👉 Read this.
👩🍳 Could commissary kitchens be your next coworking product? #
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.
👉 Read this.
⛵️ Operator partners up to support entrepreneurial naval technologists #
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.
👉 Read this.
✅ This is the kind of activation we want to see at conferences #
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!
👉 Read this.
🤔 Should enhanced fees be more transparent, or dropped? #
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?
👉 Read this.
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💻 Coworking technology.
✅ Another platform adds interactive floor plans #
Spacebring have launched interactive floor plans to help admins monitor space occupancy, and help members book spaces more visually.
I truly believe that visual, interactive and auto-updating floor plans will become part of every tech stack, either within central management systems or through 3rd party integrations.
👉 Read this.
🧩 Platform adds another piece into the workspace analytics puzzle #
essensys have introduced Intelligence Engine into their Platform offering. In short, the system uses a range of data signals to provide operators with space utilization and digital experience insights.
It’s great to see platforms turning the huge amounts of data that moves through their systems into actionable insights that can help operators with reducing churn, discover upsell opportunities and highlight where optimizations can be made.
Data-driven tools are the next big battlefield in workspace tech. Watch this space.
👉 Read this.
🙈 Brokers are still googling for flex space options #
Mark Gilbreath from LiquidSpace shares that during a recent interview with a candidate (who used to work on the flex team at a large brokerage) it was shared that often brokers would search for providers via Google.
This raises a number of thoughts (other than Mark’s two about if they were kidding or the opportunity for a data-driven flex advisory) that impact you as coworking space leaders. 1. Are you being found (easily) on Google? 2. If you are, is there a quick/efficient way for brokers to find rates/contact you? 3. Is there a quick way to get them informations almost instantly, that won’t wipe out 2 hours of other work that needs to be done?
And yes. Some brokerages are changing up their approach, but more on that as more is made more public.
👉 Read this.
📈 Coworking data.
🇦🇺 Average desk rate in Australia up 4.2% to $688 #
According to Rubberdesk Australia, desk rates across the country have seen an increase of 4.2%, now averaging $688 per desk.
Sydney leads with rates soaring to $1000 per desk, marking a 6% increase since last quarter. Not far behind, Melbourne shows a 7.6% rise to $780. Meanwhile, Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide hold steady, reflecting stability in these markets. Canberra reports a modest 2% rise to $510.
👉 Read this.
🤝 Coworking market moves.
🇦🇹 Local operator announces 2 new locations in Vienna #
andys.cc announced two new locations in Vienna. Both locations are under construction, and will join 7 existing andys locations in th within the city.
👉 Read this.
🇿🇦 AfricaWorks opening in Jo’burg, South Africa #
Gregoire Schwebig shares that AfricaWorks are launching in Johannesburg on May 24th. The location in Rosebank area, will host 650+ desks across 3 floors spanning 59.2k sqft.
I’m delighted to see coworking growing across Africa, especially in the city I was born in.
👉 Read this.
🇨🇭 Swiss brand launches 4th location #
MoneyCab shares that Headsquarter are opening their fourth location, across 4 floors spanning almost 19k sqft. The article notes that a fifth location, which is over 2x larger (44k sqft), is already under renovation.
👉 Read this.
💰 Cast Group announces investment into Koba #
Zoe Moss shares that Cast Group have partnered with, and invested in, sustainable-workspace brand Koba.
No terms were made public, but group members Cast Interiors are handling the design and delivery, whilst sibling co Cast Furnitures is delivering the furniture.
👉 Read this.
🌟 Forget the stars, Michelin rolls right into coworking #
Michelin shared that as part of the regeneration of their former HQ plant, they’d be adding a unique, 18,000 m² (c194k sqft) space dedicated to innovation stakeholders called the Collaborative Innovation Hub.
Set to open in December 2025, it’s expected to accommodate up to 2,500 people each day, offering a wide range of services and host companies, as well as associations, academics and professional networks – and could be one of Europe’s largest co-living and coworking spaces.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Landlord converting 20% of portfolio into 300k sqft of flex space #
Grosvenor have made it public that they intend to turn around 20% of their UK office portfolio into "premium, hospitality-led flexible or fitted space", and that leasing at newly opened locations are beating expectations.
James Raynor, CEO, Grosvenor Property UK said: “The flight to quality is as true for flex as it is for traditional office space. We see a significant opportunity in bringing together the right teams, products and services to deliver a premium offer that provides occupiers with the choice and flexibility that they are looking for."
The UK flex space market is heating up, even more.
👉 Read this.
🇩🇪 Clockwise to open in Bremen, Germany #
Castleforge have announced their first office building acquisition in Germany, noting that they’re looking forward to expanding their coworking brand Clockwise into more so-called ‘secondary cities’ in Germany, and Mainland Europe.
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Tashi Dorjee shares a "short" 59-min love letter to coworking and proptech founders grinding it out, reflecting on his experience building and then closing a coworking startup once valued at $10M.
Simon Carter, CEO at British Land, chats with Susan Freeman on the Propertyshe Podcast to discuss what’s next for their portfolio, and their focus on campuses, innovation, retail parks and logistics.
Andrea Pirrotti-Dranchak from EXPANSIVE chats with Lisa Harvey, VP of Hybrid Experience at LiquidSpace, and Terry Weiner, a Workplace and Team Effectiveness thought leader about how some organizations are optimizing performance by focusing on the “me and the we”, and the value they can derive from purpose-driven gatherings.
Caleb Parker chats with Chris Boultwood, Head of Technology at Workspace Group, on the #WorkBold podcast, all about how evolving customer expectations are changing the way workspace is managed, especially regarding the role tech plays in customer experiences.
Brandon Medeiros and Ryan Donohue from REKalibrate join Giovanni Palavicini and Jamie Russo to dig into the critical role that data has on understanding occupancy patterns and tenant needs on the Flex Uncensored podcast.
📆 Coworking events.
💬 Convo: Staying Engaged and Inspired as a Community Builder #
April 26: Building community in a coworking space is hard! So how do you stay engaged and inspired? Let’s chat about it!
Event by TWIC supporting brand Cat Johnson Co
👉 Read this.