Founding Coworks
The Future of Work: Space as a Service
We live in the digital age. Thanks to the power of technology (companies like Uber, AirBnb, and Postmates) consumers expect a level of service and convenience in the places they stay, where they eat, and how they travel. Similar changes are also occurring in the way these consumers work. Thanks to powerful tech like slack, hangouts, and cloud computing, we are no longer confined to a desk to get work done and collaborate. The shared digital economy has created new opportunities to collaborate without needing to be next to each other. Yet, paradoxically, we as humans still crave the camaraderie, energy, and relationships that a traditional, physical office can provide. Through the combination of these two opposing concepts, we have seen a workplace evolution emerge: Coworking. Coworking represents a fundamental working change, and it is a cultural shift. It is the culmination of the flexible work (powered by technology tools), the convenience of shared work spaces, and the community needed to promote a productive and engaged work environment. It is work space, as a service, and it is undoubtedly the future of work.
You don’t have to believe me. With 50% of the U.S. workforce projected to be remote workers and a projected 5 million coworking members in the next few years the coworking growth trend is evident. As a business owner, instead of being tasked with signing a crippling 5–10 year lease, furnishing the office, buying coffee/beer, providing other amenities, I can pay a monthly membership and have everything included.
I remember when I got my “First Office”; A huge milestone for a young entrepreneur and business owner. We’d finally graduated from working out of our living room, to a nice and cozy (and tiny) corner office in an 8th floor suite in downtown Raleigh. I’ll never forget that first day looking out the window and feeling like we’d finally be able to have a “serious business”. Sure, we were using my dining room table as a desk, but damnit we had an office!
Around that same time I could feel that something was changing in the entrepreneurial community. The rise of of the digital and remote workforce meant more people could in fact work from home, yet most flocked to the local coffee shops. I saw a cultural shift on where and how people want to operate their business.
During this time I was running my first business, Lithios, a mobile app development company I founded after graduating from NC State with a Computer Science Degree (and a passion for Entrepreneurship). As a local software development startup, we needed customers so I set out to engage with the community to find them. My first action was to get a coworking membership at HQ Raleigh, a coworking space and entrepreneurial hub located in downtown. At the time HQ was the go-to place for budding entrepreneurs in the area. I’d heard of HQ Raleigh while at NC State and been told that all of the city’s young innovators typically congregated there. We began holding office hours at HQ and soon became connected with other businesses, networks, and entrepreneurs in the area. This was my first true taste of the power of the community afforded by a coworking space and just how meaningful and impactful that could be for the success of my business.
Seemingly overnight in late 2015/16, the number of Coworking spaces exploded in the triangle. We went from one to SEVEN in just a short few months. One of these spaces was actually founded by a good friend of mine and peer in the entrepreneurial community. My friend convinced one of our part-time Lithios contractors, Tim, to be his community manager. Tim would come in every day with new questions and challenges on how to better manage his members, generate leads, and build community. What I realized at that time were two important things that helped create the impetus and mission for Coworks:
1. Coworking was more than just a community of people working together. It was really this concept of space as a service. There were a staff of people whose job it was to make sure the space around us was always functioning as expected (coffee full, space clean, music not too loud etc.) and that the community was in sync (events scheduled, rooms available, discounts/resources, onboarding etc.).
2. There weren’t any great tools to really help people manage this new workplace. There were CRMs, real-estate systems, billing tools etc. but coworking combined hospitality, real-estate, event space, commercial office retail estate, and many industries all into one. Community Managers of coworking spaces were tasked with handling billing, finances, solving member’s issues, filling up coffee, generating leads, and much more all on a daily basis. Most people were using spreadsheets, paper checks, and clunky, rebranded real-estate systems that were not purposed for the flexibility and user engagement of the coworking industry.
As an entrepreneur, software developer, and creative I saw an opportunity to help usher in and lead the new era of workplace. We had the opportunity to make coworking simpler for all and provide a better experience for not just those who manage, but those who work in a coworking space. For me standing in my little room in a small suite, everything came full circle. I knew that the the way we work had changed, but the tools we use to manage the workspace and experience the workspace had stayed the same. So like Uber and Airbnb provided tools for a cultural shift, so did I want to be the driving force for Coworking. Thus Coworks was born.
Our mission at Coworks is to empower coworking space owners and operators, through automation, analytics, and communication to optimize their business and enhance the community experience, so they see growth in their space.
With Coworks we’ve created the tools for Coworking space owners and operators to manage and operate the future of work. Our key differentiator is that we’ve also designed the technology experience for the members of these coworking spaces and how they interact. Through the data we collect, we can support community managers in telling compelling stories on how to improve their spaces and increase efficiency.
Our mission is to create the best coworking management tool on the market. However, Coworks is much bigger than that. We intend to make coworking more accessible and more efficient for all and to be the driving force and brand for the future of work. Coworks is not just a software, it is the engine behind a shift in the workplace, a shift in culture. We are building a community and redefining the workplace and employee of tomorrow with an attention to detail and a focus on innovation.
I’m thankful to have an amazing team around to support me and the mission behind Coworks. We couldn’t be more excited to be at the forefront of this movement and we hope that you join us.
Cheers to the future,
DeShawn Brown
