Why should your startup be in a co-working space?

Discover why startups are embracing coworking spaces post-pandemic. Learn how socialisation, networking, resources, and flexibility are driving the return to workspaces.

The pandemic is over. Long live the pandemic ways of working (not).

It’s been a while since we shook off the coronavirus pandemic from this world. What it left in its wake is an inevitable return to the workplace. We’ve also begun to redefine what it means to work. Prior to the pandemic, it meant going somewhere in order to do work. But post-2020, work is something that can be done out of anywhere.

Within our product here in WeWork Labs—Growth Campus—we were able to scale our base from about 60 companies before the pandemic to about 500 in 2023, indicating that people are definitely thinking about getting back to work. So what’s really driving this motivation to return to work?

1. Greater socialisation

Thanks to the pandemic, we learned how to do things digitally and remotely from any corner of the world. What it left behind though is an intense feeling of social isolation. While tools like Slack and Teams helped us organise ourselves across the world, it also drew us into silos. Now, with that phase behind us, we’re increasingly placing greater emphasis on socialising with our peers. For instance, more people who work hybrid often use their in-office days to coffee badge—a phenomenon of logging into work purely to socialise. At WeWork Labs, for instance, we connect all our founders physically—either through physical networking events or through our digital community, so that you don’t miss out on an opportunity to network with like-minded people.

Networking opportunities

If you’re a startup in the early stages of the journey, then you know how critical it is to have your business visible in the network. You want to seek out the chance to meet as many investors as possible, maybe even interact with other founders who are on the same journey as you. In a traditional office set-up your opportunities to do that are limited and restrictive. In co-working spaces, these types of opportunities can be readily available. At WeWork Labs, we curate events that are strategically designed to further your networking goals. We regularly host founder meetups and focus and curate events for different cohorts. You can be among the first to attend them, by signing up to our product Growth Campus.

(Side note: If you’re seeking out active networking opportunities, make sure you subscribe to our events calendar so you don’t miss out on an event near you.) 

1. Access to resources

If you’re thinking about setting up an office, there are a lot of things to take into consideration. For instance, to begin with, you’ll need to set up your WiFi, sort out a printing system, and maybe even a coffee machine. What’s more? If you’re a startup, you might need even more support on the technical side of things—having the right resources and tools to build out a product, and maybe even find the right beta testing team. At Growth Campus, we can enable all of these things for startups so the team can focus on execution. We give them a helping hand to finding the right space and location, accessing a tech stack valued over $1 million and even assisting in their journey from building a minimum viable product to figuring out a go-to-market strategy. So if you’re a startup that needs a push in the right direction, maybe finding a co-working space that suits your company’s needs is the right avenue for you.

1. Flexibility in space

This might seem like a trivial one, but flexibility is key for startups that are early in their journey. Particularly as you begin the first leg of your journey, your team size is constantly fluctuating. And as you scale, your requirements as a company will constantly change. Until you reach the late stage, it’s going to be critical for you to have flexibility in the place you work out of. This is why co-working spaces are a great option for startups that have varying degrees of team sizes. With Growth Campus you can access over 500+ locations with ease.

And with that, I leave the decision up to you. I hope this piece helps you decide whether a co-working space is exactly what you need for your growing startup. See you in the next WeWork Labs blog!