Where did your best membership leads come from this year?
In early 2021 I asked workspace operators about where their best converting leads came from.
Recently a few of you asked me to refresh the report, and so I put together a quick survey for you to complete.
Take the quick survey today and let’s compare numbers (anonymously) across operators.
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✊ Coworking impact.
⚔️ Coworking in a war zone #
Robert Kropp from Syncaroo shares an 11-min article in allwork diving into how four Ukrainian coworking communities are working through a war, and what it has meant for their spaces, services, priorities and needs.
The four communities interviewed are BeeWorking, Peremoga, Infinity Space and Coworking K15 and the piece was coordinated with the Ukrainian Coworking Association.
👉 Read this.
🤑 Free accelerator program launches for local entrepreneurs #
Sneh Kadakia shares that from Here have launched their accelerator program for entrepreneurs, that’s free for residents. The program is in partnership with Plainfield’s mayor Adrian Mapp and a range or local sponsors.
(You may remember that back in w14/22 we shared that Sneh and the firm were crowdfunding this location. Congrats on the launch!)
👉 Read this.
Coworking news & views.
🤕 Not all first coworking experiences are truly remarkable. #
Cat Johnson shares about her truly terrible intro to coworking.
This mirrors my own experience with flex spaces pretty closely, but is also a stark reminder that there’s a huge opportunity to win over and better-support freelancers, employees and others who are disappointed with their current workspace and/or community.
👉 Read this.
☑️ A video making the case for corp flex space, from back in 2019 #
Kayley DiCicco shares a video they previously posted in 2019 about how companies and multinationals were at a turning point of adopting flex workspaces.
Right on the money! Kayley, please send me some lottery numbers when you get a moment.
👉 Read this.
🧮 A tools to calculate remote work savings #
If you’re running a space that can or does cater to workers who would usually commute into an HQ further away, calculators like this can help make your case.
👉 Read this.
💼 Will the next in-demand job title have “community” in it? #
Caleb Parker makes a bold prediction that by 2024 that the most in demand job titles could be Chief Community Officer, or Head of Community, or Director of Community, and more.
What makes the prediction even bolder is that it highlights this shift for CRE firms. It also highlights an earlier observation by Jerome Chang that flex spaces could provide community direction
👉 Read this.
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💻 Coworking technology.
🎮 A new player has entered the (workspace tech) game. #
Jeff Johnson, a seasoned flex-space sales professional (having held VP roles at Industrious, TechSpace, Adaptive Office Resources and LiquidSpace) has launched a new platform called Flexy to help businesses manage their teams and work weeks.
Given their background, it’s a matter of time (and keyboard strokes) before 3rd party workspace bookings and access are added. At least that’s what I think we’ll see.
👉 Read this.
📥 CRE tech platform raises $125M #
VTS have announced the closing of their series E funding round, with participation from CBRE, BentallGreekOak, AmTrust, Brookfield Ventures and Insight Venture Partners among others. The $125M follows an $150M debt facility.
Alongside their investment, CBRE will also rollout the VTS platform to its agency leasing and property management teams in the US. Although primarily for traditional leasing, I can see VTS moving further into flex as demand continues to grow from corporate clients.
👉 Read this.
👩💻 Hybrid work app raises $5M #
deskbird, a European platform aiming to make hybrid work, well… work for organizations have raised $5M (totally $6.5M raised in total).
The platform does offer sleek desk and resource booking already, so I believe we may also see a shift towards enabling and activating 3rd party spaces here too.
👉 Read this.
💵 Hybrid workspace app acquired by Envoy #
Amy Yin shares that her company OfficeTogether was acquired by Envoy.
It’s a sweet post, and the news (and some other stories in today’s newsletter) highlight that the hybrid workspace market is heating up and that there’s definitely opportunity there for forward-thinking and fast-moving platforms and workspace operators.
👉 Read this.
Coworking data.
🤔 Is there a 100M sqft shortfall in UK flex space? #
James Rankin shares Instant’s latest research (alongside EG) into if the UK flexible workspace market can sustain a significant spike in demand from traditional officespace tenants.
They share that a 20% bump in demand would require an additional 100M sqft of flex space.
👉 Read this.
🌍 An update on Africa’s future of work #
Inc. Africa published a post by AfricaWorks’ Gregoire Schwebig looking into the the shifts in workspaces across the continent.
65% of responses to their recent poll chose hybrid work models, in comparison to just 15% who chose to work onsite. Another study linked in the piece also revealed that the shift to remote working has improved productivity for 29% of orgs in South Africa.
They also recommend that firms wanting to prepare for the office of the future should embrace coworking spaces, and I’d have to agree.
👉 Read this.
Coworking market moves.
🏘 Luxury flex space provider expands to London #
Emma Kennedy shares that Grafter will are expanding into London within a refurbished five-storey townhouse in Bloomsbury.
This 5.5k sqft space joins a portfolio of two restored buildings in Dublin.
👉 Read this.
😣 Discussing the abrupt closure of The Wing #
Liz Elam shared Felena Hanson’s post on The Wing’s sudden closure. Lisa Skye, Chrisine Wyckoff, Jenny Poon, Tracey Warren, Roxette Miranda and Maggie Segrich shared their own thoughts, links and questions about the news.
In the link shared by Jenny, it’s also interesting to see that a. the firm had raised $167M from firms including WeWork, Airbnb and IWG and that b. the firm has “arranged for workspace and membership needs to be fulfilled” by IWG.
👉 Read this.
💂♀️ Operator launches 22k sqft Web3 hub in London #
Huckletree announced their newest curated community hub in London’s famous Oxford Street.
Memberships will be curated and the community will be focused on Web3, the metaverse and the future of the web.
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Bernie Mitchell chats with Tash Thomas about the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility Handbook, aimed at guiding coworking spaces to become a more diverse and inclusive community.
Giovanni Palavacini and Jamie Russo chat with Lisa Skye about building the coworking wellness brand Primary.
Liz Elam chats with Shai Fogel about Mindspace, their plans to double the number of locations each year, and what makes up a great flex workspace.
Jamie Russo chats with Amy Toman, a local SEO expert, all about how coworking spaces can/should/shouldn’t let members use their address for Google Maps.