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Coworking news & views.
📨 Guide for nailing a scalable VO offering #
Sofia Stolberg shares a 22 page guide on how coworking and flex space operators can nail and scale their virtual office offerings.
I kinda love PilotoMail’s (new?) tagline, "freedom from sq ft", as operators increasingly explore new revenue models and operating efficiencies that aren’t strictly tied to finite bookable space.
💻 Virtual coworking spaces making a comeback. Again? #
Laya Neelakandan shares 3 virtual coworking hubs (Cofocus, Groove and LifeAt) and their popularity with individuals working remotely. Cofocus, for example, has 40k users.
This seems to be the third wave, and makes me wonder what kinds of partnerships or opportunities exist between these virtual communities and our physical ones. Thoughts?
🙇♀️ Operator mastermind grows following conference #
Geoff Wood shares how the ‘mastermind’ group of operators, started alongside Brian Watson and Garrett Tichy, has evolved since early in the pandemic. Their monthly call has now been expanded and invited two more owners Lauren Brewer and Sneh Kadakia.
I love informal and supportive collaborations between similar-sized or -visioned operators.
🏨 Hotel-to-coworking conversion in St Petersburg, FL #
St Pete Catalyst shares how the historic Betty Ann Hotel has been converted into the areas newest coworking space called Uptown Works by founders Amanda Patanow and Vinny Tafuro.
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💻 Coworking technology.
🤖 New cowork listing site built and designed in 5 days, by AI. #
Nico shares on twitter that they used AI to build, design and launch CoworkMaps noting that "99% of the app is made by AI. (Logo, code, database & content), so I can focus on adding features users want, and my AI-ssistant will handle the rest."
If AI can build marketplaces/listing platforms, are we going to see even more platforms, or a shift to more differentiation?
💵 Remote work tech co in LATAM & Europe raises $2M #
Andrei Cretu shares that Pluria have raised $2M in investment to help more companies leverage their curated network of flexible workspaces and keep remote teams connected.
As mentioned in my recent post on new or growing booking interfaces, keep an eye on what the remote work tech cos are doing, and how they’ll be shifting to focus on sending you more members and revenue.
📬 Virtual mailbox platform selected for AWS Impact Accelerator #
PilotoMail were one of the 20 companies selected to be supported by Amazon AWS as part of their $30M commitment to provide underrepresented founders with the resources, capital, and community they need to level the startup playing field.
The 8 week program kicks off this week in Seattle and closes with a pitch day in NYC (including the Nasdaq Closing Bell ceremony). Congrats to the Piloto team and the other 19 selected companies!
Coworking data.
📊 2023 Coworking Space Business Trends preliminary report #
DeskMag share the first findings of the 2023 Global Coworking Survey ft. answers from 278 individuals across Europe (64%), North America (21%) and other continents (15%).
Key takeaways: 48% of coworking spaces see member acquisition as their biggest challenge., followed by high RE prices (31%) and financial constraints (28%). Rural coworking spaces aren’t seeing all the benefits of remote work, with only 25-30% of rural operators reporting that business is good, as oppose to spaces in large cities where 60% report a good business situation.
🇬🇧 Flex occupancy hits 83% in UK #
According to latest research by The Instant Group, flexible workspace locations in the UK achieved their highest ever occupancy levels, with overall occupancy at 83% and nearly half (42%) of spaces reporting 90% occupancy.
In the core UK cities of Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol and Edinburgh flex vacancy rates have dropped between Q4 2021 and Q4 2022. While traditional office vacancy rates have increased in the same time period.
💼 3 shifts in office requirements for 1000s of companies #
Phil Kirschner shares Rob Sadow’s summary of the Q2 Flex Index report.
In it we see that "Structured Hybrid" models are becoming more popular (30% in Q2 from 20% in Q1), "Full Time In Office" becoming less common (down from 49% to 42%), and even large tech firms shifting towards Structured Hybrid models (up from 28% to 39%).
Coworking market moves.
🛎 Managed space operator announces first NYC location #
Steve Coulson shares that Kitt are launching their first NYC location near Union Square at 900 Broadway in partnership with Justin Management.
💆♂️ Local operator announces Wellness Center #
Charlotte Kirby announced their Wellness Center at The Village Hive Coworking to provide mental health and wellness professionals with the option to book an office by the hour or by the day without the overhead cost of renting an office by the month as well as the opportunity of being part of our supportive coworking community.
🇬🇧 Wellness-focussed flex space operator announces Holborn location #
Bethany Coyle shares that Uncommon are launching a new location in Holborn, London, with memberships starting at £750+VAT per month.
The space features a café, roof terrace, lounge, event/meeting space, wellness studio, focus zones, showers and is dog friendly. London is def one of the most competitive flex space markets on the planet.
🇦🇺 APAC network shares new Melbourne location #
The Flexi Group shared a first look at The Hive – the newest space to join their Australian portfolio in Melbourne, in partnership with Hirsch & Faigen.
Who are Flexi Group? You may remember that I introduced them back in week 49, 2022 through a 3-way merger.
🗽 Fractional office co launches NYC launch. #
Following the fractional offices trend we’ve been monitoring, Christelle Rohaut and Zachary Brown share Codi’s launch of their HybridHQ product in NYC.
In short an office in nomad area of Manhattan, with 14 desks, over 2,150sqft, with 2 conference rooms, and 2 bathrooms is available for 3 days a week.
⛪️ Convene opens new flagship location at St Paul’s #
Ryan Simonetti shares Convene’s second London location at Sancroft, St Paul’s.
"Set to open in Q1 2024, this addition will support local demand for meeting and event spaces and will offer a 900-person grand hall, the largest above-ground meeting space in the City of London."
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Lisette Van Doorn and Caleb Parker unpack the ULI-Instant report and uncover the hurdles real estate companies face in the first episode of Season 9 of the #WorkBold podcast.
Arian Lewis chats with Liz Elam about how missteps, crypto Mondays, revitalization, and nay sayers all played their part in today’s success at Kiln on the GCUC Coworking Podcast.
Brian Chen from ROOM chats with Liz Elam about everything from hybrid work, modular design, sustainability, interest rates, SVB and so much more on the GCUC Coworking Podcast.
📆 Coworking events.
🌍 1st European Coworking Day with 75 spaces in 15 countries #
May 10: On top of open house and special on-site events, some hybrid and virtual events invite everyone to join in. And it’s still possible to sign up as a coworking space
🧮 Convo: Attracting different generations #
May 26: Attracting different generations to your coworking space can be a challenge. How can you market your space and create a sense of community that appeals to different age groups? Let’s chat about it.
🇦🇺 GCUC in Sydney #
Aug 2-3: GCUC Australia returns to Sydney, in partnership with Flex Workspace Australia.
