Tokyo to Saigon — Saigon’s Coworking Spaces
While renting a proper office might seem ideal, many properties in Vietnam are handed over in a skeletal state, which presents quite a challenge. It often involves extensive interior work and gathering office supplies from scratch.
Given these challenges, I decided to explore another option: renting a private room in a coworking space. Here, they call these “service offices.” This seemed like a good way to start our operations, so I began looking into what various coworking spaces had to offer.
I had already investigated Saigon’s coworking spaces during my research trip in 2019, and even before that, in 2017, I had used a coworking space when I held a workshop with the Saigon designer, Cobb. So I was already familiar with some of the well-known places.
This time, I researched Saigon’s coworking spaces again, with help from Hector and by asking Cobb about other options.
Here are the coworking spaces in Saigon that I looked into this time:
Dreamplex
In 2017, I flew to Saigon to design a product’s UX with the designer Cobb, whom I met through an international crowdsourcing site. We held a three-day intensive design workshop. At that time, Hector, who has now become my co-founder, introduced me to Dreamplex. It wasn’t so much that Hector knew about it himself, but rather that Hector’s boss, Mr. T, was a famous entrepreneur in Saigon at the time and had been invited to events at this coworking space. That’s how I learned about this place. Dreamplex is the most dynamic coworking space in Saigon, located in a prime location with spacious facilities. However, due to its premium location, it’s also the most expensive option.
Toong
Toong was the first coworking space I visited when I went to Ho Chi Minh City in 2019. I was completely blown away by how stylish it was. I remember daydreaming about someday starting a company from there. Toong has multiple coworking spaces in Saigon, but the one I visited then was:
The center of the space was abundantly planted with tropical plants, giving it a truly tropical coworking space feel that you just don’t find in Japan.
Later, when I conducted internship interviews in Hanoi, I also used Toong’s Hanoi space. At that time, they specially allowed me to use a space that wasn’t yet open to the public. I was impressed by the staff’s flexibility and hospitality.
However, this place is also in a prime location, so the prices are high. I inquired about the price for a private room for 6–8 people at Toong. I received a very friendly response quickly, but the price was indeed high. It was about the same as you’d pay in a prime location in Tokyo… 💦 My daydream from 2019 quickly evaporated… 😢
CirCo
In 2019, when I went to Ho Chi Minh City for research, I met up with Cobb, the designer I had worked with on the workshop in 2017, at a cafe to catch up. At that time, he told me that the international design studio he was working for was based in CirCo. I remembered him recommending it as being in a very convenient location for people living in Ho Chi Minh City.
When I checked Google Maps again to confirm the location, I noticed it had great reviews. I thought, “This is it!” However, Hector later informed me that this coworking space wasn’t responding to emails, and even when he called, they said they’d call back but never did. I wonder if the management has changed… We’ll keep this option on hold for now.
Saigon Co-working
Saigon Co-working is located away from prime areas, which makes it more reasonably priced. They have three locations, but I thought Saigon Coworking — Phu Nhuan might be a good candidate as it doesn’t seem too far from the city center.
The interior appears to have a simple design.
Sharespace
Although their website is only in Vietnamese, this space is located in District 1. It’s not very large, but the price is reasonable at around 700 dollars. I thought this might be the most realistic choice for us.
Mindspace
Oh, this place is on Pham Ngu Lao Street, the backpacker area where I stayed when I first visited Saigon as a 19-year-old backpacker! While the price is reasonable, the proposed room is only 12 square meters, which is quite small and not ideal. There might be larger rooms available, so I decided to keep this as a candidate.
Saigon has a variety of coworking spaces, each with its own unique characteristics. I enjoyed researching them. Will one of these become our starting point…?
To be continued.
Thank you for reading this fourth installment of my entrepreneurial journey.
As a reminder, our company, Goldrush Computing Inc., based in Tokyo, offers comprehensive services from requirements gathering and UX/UI design to development, testing, and post-launch support. We specialize in Web, Mobile, Backend, and Infrastructure/DevOps, with a current focus on Data Science and AI service development.
While rooted in Japan, we’re open to global collaborations. If you’re interested in working with us, please visit our website: https://goldrushcomputing.com/en
For any questions or potential collaborations, you can reach me at: mizutori@goldrushcomputing.com
Stay tuned for the next chapter in this cross-cultural business adventure!
Read the next part of this series:
