We 💙 TWIC
So we thought we’d sponsor this week’s newsletter.
Just like Hector, we love seeing coworking businesses succeed.
(And we love it even more when they get there using our software).
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✊ Coworking impact.
🙏 How a coworking scholarship program boosted this startup #
Ryan Fogelman from COhatch shares just one of the results from the ‘Boost’ and ‘Give’ Scholarship programs they’ve been running since 2016. This piece (and the included video interview) looks at how these programs supported Chad Porter on his entrepreneurial journey with CHVD JUSTIN.
Are you running a scholarship program? It’s remarkable what an impact a single desk, some coffee and a great community can have on someone’s life.
👉 Read this.
📰 Coworking news & views.
🤩 Who will be sharing insights on the first Undercurrents trend? #
Seem the list of industry experts who openly shared their insights, warnings, pro-tips and lessons learned in our first 3,800+ word Undercurrent deep-dive?
They are: Antonette Benting from Workshop17, Kane Willmott from iQ Offices, Chris Edwards from The Flexi Group, Jerome Chang from BLANKSPACES, Justin Raymond from Flexday, Danielle Schindler from Engel & Völkers Work Edition, Jon Dweck from Space32, Amina Moreau from radious, Henry Burn from Hubble, Jocelyn Vincent from Landmark and Rafi Sands from Tandem. With thanks to Anne Olsen from The Shop Workspace and Kerry Charlick from Think Tank Cowork for helping with the proof reading
The first edition lands exclusively in the inboxes of TWIC email subscribers on Monday June 17th 2024. And the trend? Fractional Offices – friend or foe for coworking spaces?
👉 Read this.
👏 Great example of hyper-targeted coworking content #
The folks at The Shop shared this blog post on ‘coworking for travelers’. For anyone who runs a coworking space the content shouldn’t be that surprising (we all know coworking is great for travelers and remote workers), but you know who may not know that 100% for sure? Travelers.
Content like this is easily shared with prospects and great for SEO (especially if you add your city/state name in the SEO metadata), the only thing I’d do differently is probably create it as a landing page than a blog post. Are you generating localized niche-focussed content? If not, why not?
👉 Read this.
💗 What does it take to drive VO success? A heart of hospitality #
In this piece Mike Sullivan from Alliance Virtual Offices shares some insights around what differentiates an ‘ok’ virtual office offering, from one that’s unforgettable (and profitable).
In summary, it comes down to what Philip Cohen at Workuity calls "a heart of hospitality", or what would usually make people great hires in the hotel industry. Add to that detail-orientated personalization, plus being proactive and responsive, and you’ve got a winning VO offering. Interesting as this does come from a team who work with over 1k operators on selling virtual office products and services.
👉 Read this.
🤵♀️ Brokers continue filling UK flex space desks #
I always love seeing posts from operators tagging the brokers, agents and platforms filling offices and workstations. In this one Laura Walker shares the 4 brokerages that helped Adam Joyce fill 75 desks at two of Orega‘s locations.
👉 Read this.
📹 How one brand is carving their own coworking niche #
Michael Tavani shared the video Atlanta-based filmmaker Ethan Payne made about the day in the life of Switchyards member Marvin Guelce.
While the video is (pretty darn) awesome, I do love how they are defining their own category of shared workspace, hitting hard at how they’re a 24/7 neighbourhood work club.
👉 Read this.
🫣 The coworking “secret” the global businesses see, that SMBs don’t. #
Kane Willmott from iQ Offices shares that since the pandemic, the workspace landscape has evolved with global businesses filling the flex desks and offices once filled with smaller and growing businesses.
While the piece is targeted at SMBs who may be overlooking flex space options, it’s an interesting look into how large multinational firms are leveraging flex spaces, and where smaller firms might be going to seek "better deals".
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 What the frock happened in Manchester?! #
All I heard was good things from my UK network, especially those "up North" who finally got a coworking conference in their area. In this piece Emilie Lashmar summarizes what went down, some key takeaways and some musings after the sold-out GCUC UK event in Manchester.
As someone who’s coworking story started deep within Manchester’s creative sector, I had/have massive FOMO.
👉 Read this.
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💻 Coworking technology.
🇪🇸 Summary of tech panel at Coworking Spain conference #
Helga Moreno shares a summary from the Future of Coworking Tech panel at the Coworking Spain conference. The panel, moderated by Marc Navarro, included leaders from Cobot, Nexudus and Spacebring and touched on operator’s major considerations, current market drivers and what the landscape may look like in 5 years.
👉 Read this.
🇫🇮 Coworking app helped Finish tech co seamlessly relocate HQ #
Eetu Ristaniemi shared how Spacent helped local startup Wolt access spillover spaces during their recent HQ move.
I share this as a reminder that as booking platforms and services build relationships you may not be able to (or want to) manage, deals like this these could spill revenue into your balance sheet.
👉 Read this.
📈 Coworking data.
🇪🇸 What’s working in Spanish coworking? #
The Spacebring team surveyed 100 coworking space operators at the recent Coworking Spain conference in Madrid and shared the results.
Summary: 52.5% of respondents run a single location, and 20% ran more than 5. 80% had been in business for 3+ years. 52.5% of spaces had less than 100 members, while 25% had 100-500. The main challenges faced locally were marketing (34%), finances and community (both 20.8%) with tech following at 17%. 25% of the operators don’t use dedicated software.
👉 Read this.
🇷🇴 A look at the revenue numbers from a space in Romania #
In this post we see numbers from coworking spaces owned by COS, a provider of fit-out and other office design services. In it we see that their aggregate income of their owned spaces was €600k, with €423k of that coming from a single 1k sqm location (Stables) in Cluj-Napoca.
Fantastic to see growing revenues, and over half a million in revenue generated, from a market we don’t usually get a lot of data out of.
👉 Read this.
🤝 Coworking market moves.
🫨 WeWork gets new leadership #
Days after WeWork exited Chapter 11 proceedings in the US and Canada, it announced new leadership. John Santora (prev Cushman & Wakefield) takes the top job as CEO, while also introducing a new Board of Directors.
Who’s on the board? Well, from Yardi it’s Anant Yardi, Adnan Ahmad, Arnie Brier and Jason Yardi, alongside John Santora, Daniel Ehrmann (King Street) and Jagannath Iyer (Softbank).
Understandably Yardi-focussed, but surprising that there isn’t a single female board member, especially given the overwhelming number of women leading coworking and related businesses.
👉 Read this.
👷♀️ The Coven’s 5th franchise location under construction #
Alex West Steinman shares that The Coven are expanding to St Louis Park, Minnesota with a new location owned by Emily Rose Duea. The space promises the "biggest conference you’ve ever seen". You’ve caught my attention.
👉 Read this.
🇨🇦 Logistics startup co-founder launches coworking hub in Toronto #
Vincent Chiang, co-founder of last-mile logistics startup Shippie, announced the launch of a new coworking space tailored to early-stage startups in downtown Toronto called VSpace.
👉 Read this.
🍫 Bulgarian operator opens 10th location in old choc factory #
Emil Shekerdzhiiski shared that Networking Premium launched their 10th location, The Old Chocolate Factory.
I do wonder if the space smells delicious all day, and if so, whether they include a gym membership.
👉 Read this.
🇺🇸 SF operator leans into fractional offices for teams #
The Werqwise team are promoting a fractional office product called Basecamp which is touted as an on-demand team campus. The product, that covers their entire 2nd floor, can accommodate small and large teams up to 400 people, and bookable on-demand via Flexspace, Gable and Liquidspace.
There’s a reason the first edition of TWIC Undercurrents will dig deep into Fractional Offices. Look out for it.
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Andrea Pirrotti-Dranchak from EXPANSIVE chats with Natasha Asare from MeetingRoomz about boosting foot traffic, member satisfaction and income by providing spaces that are more relevant to how people really work today.
Liz Elam delves into the vibrant realm of coworking space design alongside EskewDumezRipple’s José Alvarez and Jill Traylor on the GCUC podcast.
Jamie Russo and Giovanni Palavicini chat with Ramon Gonzalez, co-founder and CEO of Thrive Coworking, about his journey from growing up in the Bronx, to a foray into property management, and into coworking on the Flex Uncensored podcast.
Maryann Baldwin chats with Jamie Russo on the Everything Coworking podcast about how her 2.4k sqft coworking space drives economic development in her town of 1000 people
