25 Mar 2018 | 03:56am IST
Not your usual boring office
A co-working space is more than just a workplace - it is a community of creative minds who prefer working in a relaxed environment to execute great ideas. Café takes a tour of coworking spaces in Goa and finds out what’s brewing
Close to a decade ago, India witnessed the startup
boom and it was quite natural then that
the coworking spaces, for their practicality and cost-effective trait,
witnessed a similar fate. Goa, however, took a longer time than anticipated to
be infected by this bug, but nevertheless has now registered its arrival.
Currently, apart from the immensely popular 91Springboard, Goa has a few other
coworking spaces spread in and around Panjim, such as – CoLABr, Coworking Goa,
Nordic Hub India, etc. New-age entrepreneurs are realising that coworking is
the new way of working. It is hassle free and allows them to focus on growth,
while also providing them with a support ecosystem rather than having just a
functional office.
When Siddharth Ashok, a developer who had been working with an
IT firm based out of its swanky office Dona Paula, decided to quit to found his
own company, multiple things had to be taken care of; having a new office space
was not one of them. For the four-member team, which includes two members who
function remotely from any part of the world, a coworking space made absolute
sense. Siddharth, the founder of his new company, Grandworks, says, “It was an
easy choice. Being a startup, we didn’t want to invest in office space. At
91Springboard, we just come and work. There is meeting space, there’s
connectivity and there’s everything that one may need. A coworking space can
also be great at community building. Through various workshops, start up
meet-ups, one is exposed to new people, freelancers and developers, who can
come in handy when the situation demands.”
Coworking spaces are ideal for brainstorming and creating
solutions whilst making full use of work spaces that come with the desired
flexibility and convenience. For individuals from different organisations,
freelance professionals and people who travel frequently, a coworking space
does what a conventional office setup won’t. Also, the fusion of creative
energies that can happen from working along with other working professionals
within the space is somewhat magical.
It is because of all these benefits that budding entrepreneurs
are leaning towards opting for a coworking space. While speaking with Café in
the past, Pranay Gupta, co-founder, 91Springboard, had said, “We are getting a
great response. In fact, many big teams are now adopting this too and we have
many VC funds, well established MNCs and teams as big as 50- 150 people working
out of our hubs too.”
Another benefit that the users of 91Springboard swear by is the
ability to work from other coworking centres of 91Springboard, located in other
cities. One can also freeze their account for a couple of months. Siddharth
says, “When I am travelling for a month or two, I freeze my subscription and
resume it after returning. This kind of flexibility is great for a small team.”
A
coworking space makes it possible for first-time entrepreneurs to work
alongside experienced and seasoned entrepreneurs. This provides access to some
amazing opportunities of mentorship, inspiring new ideas, and finding new
talent. Also, the rising commercial real estate prices are bound to have
start-ups look for more effective and cost-saving methods to carry out their
business. Therefore, it appears that the demand of coworking spaces is only
going to increase with time
