Coworking Labs

Fun Chinese Coworking Video (with subtitles)

Coworking is truly a global phenonmenon, with new locations springing up around the world.  Europe in particular is a hot bed of coworking, but Asia is also embracing this trend.

The Xin Dan Wei coworking facility in China released a short video explaining coworking.  It is very well done and fun to watch.  It's in Chinese, but with English subtitles so those of us without Mandarin skills can follow along. 

The video is on a YouTube-like Chinese video site called Todou.  It is one of many Chinese Internet startups that has received substantial venture funding from investors outside the country. 

The site is safe, or at least as safe as the average US Internet site, so feel free to browse for other videos from China.

Linking Innovation and Coworking

Over at Smallbizlabs we have an article on accelerated serendipity and linking innovation and coworking.

Rethinking Coffee Houses as Workspaces

There have been several recent articles on coffee shops and cafes rethinking their growing role as workspaces.  The New York Times article The New Coffee Bars: Unplug, Drink, Go is one example. 

Some coffee shop and cafe owners are taking out WiFi, or at least limiting it during peak hours, to cut down on people taking up space.  These coffee shop owners feel a shop full of heads down workers takes away from human interactions and hurts their community. 

There is also a view that people working at coffee shops take up way too much space - especially during peak traffic times - and discourage non-working customers from visiting.

We do an informal poll whenever we visit a coffee shop.  We count the number of people who appear to be working.  We consistently find 25-40% of the people sitting in coffee shops are working. 

We don't think there will be a broad trend against working at coffee shops.  Many, including Starbucks, are working to attract even more workers to their shops.  But in most growth markets segmentation occurs, new niches are created, and customer choice broadened. 

The new "workless" coffee shops are an example of this process and provide an alternative to the roaming offices many coffee shops have become. 

Finding the Right Coworking Space

Good article in WomenEntrepreneur on selecting a work space.  It points out one of the key issues when choosing office space - privacy versus community.

Most coworking spaces do a great job of providing community, but privacy is often at a premium.  Traditional office suites provide privacy, but often little in the way of community.  The same is true for leased offices.

In our interviews of coworking users, we almost always hear about this trade-off.  Coworking users tend to love the community and dislike the lack of privacy.  In most cases the lack of privacy is not a big issue, but for some it's a reason to use other space.

Of course most coworking facilities provide access to private space.  I particularly like the private phone booths that many facilities have.  Very retro - Superman would feel at home in many. 

Coworking users also tell us that use other spaces - home in particular - when they are looking for privacy.  So while most coworking are very happy with this trade-off, it is worth considering as part of a space decision.   

Two-Thirds of Knowledge Work Done Outside the Office

The Future of Work is a research group focused on enhancing both individual and organizational productivity while reducing the cost of workforce support. Their clients are mostly  HR, IT, and Facilities/Real Estate leaders from large corporations. 

Their most recent newsletter (which is free) has a great article on the workspace planning challenges faced by corporations.  It also has this really interesting statistic:

"...our own research has consistently shown that a full two-thirds of knowledge work activity in the United States takes place outside of traditional corporate office buildings"

It is interesting how many of the challenges corporate workspace planners face could be fully or at least partially solved through coworking.

Emergent Research is a Future of Work research affiliate. 

Suitematch - An eBay for Offices

Suitematch is startup offering a website connects companies with excess office with companies that need office space.  Think of it as an eBay for offices (I'm really tired of that analogy, but it works so well...).

They call this concept "shared office space" and describe it as:

"When an individual or company with extra offices, unused office space or empty cubicles rents or subleases to another individual or company, we call it shared office space. Think of it as an office within an office."

This is, obviously, not a new or uncommon concept.  But turning this into an Internet application and bypassing less efficient offline methods makes sense.

I don't know anything about Suitematch except what is on their website.  But it seems pretty new and I didn't find many listings.  It will be interesting to see how it does.

Betting on Business Incubators

Good article in Business Week on business incubators and job creation.  Business incubators are mostly non-profit organizations often linked to local economic development groups.  They provide office space and advice to startups.  Membership at most incubators is limited and by application. 

According to data from the National Association of Business Incubators and quoted in the story, incubators are quite successful.  Key quote:

"... 41,000 startups using 1,200 incubators across the country. Participants' survival rate after five years is 87 percent, compared with 44 percent for companies that didn't use incubators ..."

The article points out the growing interest in government at all levels in incubators as job creators.  Local, state and federal government agencies are increasing, or planning on increasing, their financial support of incubators.

Private owners are also jumping into the incubator space.  The New York Times has an article focused on the privately owned technology incubator Betaworks.  It is one of the growing number of VC backed or private owned technology incubators, with yCombinator probably being the best known.

An interesting trend we're seeing is business incubators offering coworking options, and at the same time coworking facilities offering incubator-like services.

As these two types of business facilities continue to grow, we expect more blurring of their definitions and capabilities. 

Coworking Financials Indicate Business Model Challenges

GigaOm Pro, a paid subscription site, has an article covering the financials associated with the operation of two coworking facilities. 

Since I don't want to violate their copyright, I won't go into detail here.  The bottom line from their article is coworking facilities, at best, operate on thin margins. 

This analysis highlights that coworking facility business models are still a work in progress.  This issue could impede the broader growth and success of the coworking movement. 

The good news is lots of business model experimentation is going on the in the shared workspace area - and there are lots of new entrants with new approaches.  It seems likely that strong business models will emerge from these diverse efforts. 

BTW, I subscribe to GigaOm Pro and find it very useful.  They are also an interesting example of a disruptive business model.  They are providing good research at a substantially lower price than offered by traditional analyst firms.   

The Hospital Club - Coworking for Creatives

I haven't been there, but London's Hospital Club is high on the list of the places I plan to visit on my next trip to London.

From the website pictures and information, It looks like a combination of a traditional London social club and a coworking facility for creative professionals. 

They describe themselves as "the only club designed specifically for the creative industries" and their role is to "to discover and feed the best creative talent, and produce, publish and celebrate their work."

In addition to the standard club amenities - bar, food, cozy chairs, etc. - they also provide shared video and music studio space.

The Hospital Club also illustrates the growing diversity of shared work spaces. 

Check out their website - it is very cool. 

OfficeLinks Blurrs Office Suites and Coworking Facilities

OfficeLinks is a provider of (from their website) "all-inclusive, furnished and equipped office space."  They have 3 locations in New York and recently opened space in Chicago. 

I've never been in their facilities, but their space looks very cool.  I'm also impressed by their blog and they have a nice brochure pitching their Chicago space, cleverly called The 21st Century Office.   

Because they are provider of office suites, they aren't considered a coworking facility.  Or at least they aren't considered a coworking facility by people in the coworking field.

OfficeLinks recently announced a coworking program that sounds very, well, coworking-like.  From their website:

"OfficeLinks, the premier provider of ready-to-use offices and meeting rooms, today announced the launch of its latest product, Co-Working Offices. This innovative product is designed to reduce office space costs while providing enterprise-grade technology and workplace infrastructure that enables and inspires collaboration. Interested companies may try Co-Working Free on Fridays at OfficeLinks' locations in Chicago and New York."

They go on to say this about the coworking trend:

"Co-working is an emerging trend that offers work-at-home professionals, independent consultants and those who travel frequently, a business-ready alternative to coffee shops and cafes. Co-working also provides a viable solution to the isolation experienced by many telecommuters. Additionally, the social and collaborative nature of such spaces can generate positive synergies not found in independent or home-based offices."

A pretty good description. But all the cool kids know you don't hyphenate coworking:).

The new OfficeLink coworking program illustrates the blurring and overlapping of traditional office suites and coworking facilities.  As we've gotten deeper into to our coworking research, we've come to realize how much this is happening. 

Incubators are also offering coworking-like spaces and programs.  And, of course, coworking facilities are providing alternatives to incubators and traditional office suites. 

Coworking's success is leading to competition, new types of coworking spaces and new forms of shared work environments.   The market is working and more choice is being offered to those seeking work space.