2024 State of Coworking: Key Insights from Inside the Industry
This article kicks off our series checking the pulse of the coworking and flex space industry, offering insights for both newcomers and experienced operators alike. In this opening overview, industry insiders, thought leaders, franchise holders and owner-operators share their perspectives on the State of Coworking. Subsequent articles will center on design, tech, AI, amenities, and community.
Table of Contents:
- Properly Select Your Offering
- Flexibility Is the Focus
- Balance Your Sheets
- Find Your Passion
- Understand Coworking’s Position in the Greater CRE Context
Despite the post-COVID boom, the flex space industry is still finding its footing. Some of us have transitioned our conventional offices into more flexible offerings, while others have planted the seed for a mission-driven approach. Yet, many are still delicately fumbling in the dark, searching for the “light switch” to define their niche. The result? Some businesses are thriving, others are scaling, and a few are going belly-up. It’s truly new territory.
Deskworks has been listening closely to the challenges and successes shaping our industry. To offer a fresh perspective, we’ve compiled 5 key insights—each packed with valuable takeaways from voices across the field—to reignite your enthusiasm and help keep your business buttoned up.
#1 Properly Select Your Offering
“The pandemic was the catalyst for the disruptive movement of coworking,” Kayley DiCicco, EXPANSIVE’s Director of Enterprise Accounts, shares. But where do we go from there?
One of the central secrets to their success: “We have a good pulse on what drives people to our offices. Whether it is learning and development, community events, food and beverage, lunch and learns, heads down work events, we really can pick up on so many areas of why people are coming into the office.”
So how do you know what to choose? Kevin Whelan, Marketing Consultant at Everspaces with over ten years of experience in this field, contributes, “Like anything else, there are many flavors to it. Fundamental to it is that it is a flexible industry. Whereas before, getting an office meant long term commitments and a fend for yourself, take it or leave it proposition–with landlords having all the power–now we are getting much more down to hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual kinds of commitments. That is a good thing.” Key takeaways? Know your audience, understand your market, educate your prospects, and gain insights as to your prospects’ needs.
#2 Flexibility Is the Focus
This may seem obvious, but what brings the most reliable success to flex space providers is the flexibility inherent in their offerings. With the ups and downs of any industry, everyone from entrepreneurs to well-scaled franchisees need to remain adaptable to succeed. Our industry is no different. Jaime Munoz, Managing Director of CO+HOOTS, admits, “There is so much enthusiasm building up around this industry, but as with everything in life, there is a boom and a bust. As time evolves, we also have to evolve. But our community is so strong and thriving.”
Adrian Simpson, Director of Operations at The Yard, shares, “There is no lack of enthusiasm, but we aren’t necessarily as bullish as we were right before the pandemic. Growth was then the focus, and things have changed since then, with this potential Great Return to Office. Flexibility is now key. Things are still optimistic, but a lot comes with time. The landscape will continue to evolve, and the needle keeps moving as well, as to what the focus might be. But right now, flexibility is the focus. The industry has to be nimble to keep pace with what is going on.”
#3 Balance Your Sheets
When one first stumbles upon coworking, it’s easy to get sold on the intentionality, shared economies, and equity-based vision; but as the industry grows, so does a focus on the bottom line. As Kevin Whelan so eloquently yet succinctly puts it: “Profit is permission.” Thus, how do we create an accessible yet inviting offering for one of the age-old commodities, office space, that has been around since the Industrial Revolution, if not even before?
Well, when it comes to enthusiasm for coworking, no one is quite as zealous as Hector Kolonas, self-described flex space geek, co-founder of Synacroo, and author of This Week in Coworking: “I am very much all-in. I am pretty bullish, but I also write a weekly newsletter on the industry, including deep looks into news, events, trends, social impacts, market moves, and tech updates. My arena is to figure out what is happening from a 3,000 mile view, but integrate those insights with what is actually being done, and where the next one million coworking members may come from.” And how does he see success most frequently occur? “Each space is created for a different reason, but many, if not most, seem to be eyeing expansion. I see optimism across multiple viewpoints. Operators who have a good balance sheet are in a very good position to expand on favorable terms.”
#4 Find Your Passion
Few match the excitement and enthusiasm of the effervescent Lisa Skye, founder of Skye Advisory. She finds her success through her passion to bring productivity and belonging to her community: “I’ve felt so inspired. I just love this industry. Toggling between creating belonging, fostering connection, and a sense of community, and serving office spaces in a corporate real estate world… Solopreneurs, self-employed, and independent workers are at an all-time high. If that continues to increase, so shall coworking.”
For others, their passion is hospitality. Michelle Stiegler, Vice President of Corporate Accounts and Partnerships at Premier Workspaces, knows that during her 20+ years in the industry, tech innovations can drive improvement. She knows that there is one thing that is proven and never changes and that is a hospitality mindset. Not only is hospitality her nature, she sees how hospitality has and will always drive success for both retention and acquisition.
Then again, what makes coworking such a huge draw is the Uberfication of the sector. Clark Rinehart, founder of LOCAL Coworking in Raleigh, North Carolina, shares these sentiments: “The thing about coworking and collaborative spaces that gets me excited is that the innovation economy, entrepreneurship, and the shared economy might be accessible to more and more people in hopes of generational wealth creation.”
For Sam Shea, Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships at LiquidSpace, it’s all about staying connected to what fuels her passion for the industry: “I started my journey in coworking back in 2017, and it’s been incredible to witness its growth. At first, coworking was mainly for tech companies and startups, but now it’s a vibrant space for everyone—from remote workers to enterprise companies. Coworking is truly going mainstream, with major markets thriving with flexible workspaces. There’s so much more potential ahead, and familiarity with coworking is only growing.” Reflecting on her journey, she adds, “There are always days that can feel routine, but most are inspiring. It’s all about the conversations you engage in and the connections you foster.
#5 Understand Coworking’s Position in the Greater CRE Context
“Real estate is a slow-moving industry,” says Geoffrey Hunt, former Senior Director of Real Estate at Common. “Anything that doesn’t fall into a traditional bucket–industrial, single-family, multi-family–banks have a hard time lending against it because they don’t understand it. Insurance companies have a hard time underwriting it. Even equity partners have a challenge, as there isn’t the required track record to point to. Coworking didn’t fall into a traditional bucket for a long time, so the early movers had a steeper hill to climb. Coworking was simply a higher-risk venture. And until Covid really, the overall market was unsure of the need for flex space, where and when it should be utilized, and how the broader ecosystem of space should work together.”
With his vast experience in the fields of hoteling, architecture, coworking, and coliving, Geoffrey has the perfect perspective to encapsulate coworking’s growth. “Now that it’s evolved and there is clear demand and operating histories, banks are more willing to lend against it, landlords have gone ahead and started their own coworking brands, and the broader industry has matured enough to give coworking its chance to shine. It will only get better for coworking (and other flex industries) from here and we will continue to see the adoption of coworking and these hybrid product types more broadly, which is reassuring.”
As the coworking landscape evolves, Deskworks is here to support you every step of the way. Whether you’re refining your offerings or expanding, our tools and insights make a difference. Curious? Let’s talk. Together, we can shape the future of coworking.
