“Kowrk offers an easy to use, a location-based search that lists all spaces available within a specified distance of the user. All spaces listed on Kowrk have been individually vetted and users can view amenities, user reviews, photographs and indicative prices for each space. We are currently present in 22 cities across the globe”, says Kowrk Founder Honey Jain Kathuria.
Excerpts from an exclusive interaction with Honey Kathuria of Kowrk:
Background of Promoters
My experience of managing the offline business in the Asia-Pacific region for Hotels.com helped me recognize the future of co-working spaces and develop a deep insight into the nuances of connecting users and providers of perishable real-estate inventory. I leverage 14 years of consulting and management experience gained across 5 countries and 3 continents to manage Kowrk. The visits to 95+ co-working spaces in Asia and interactions with founders & managers of such spaces have provided an in-depth knowledge of the co-working industry.
Abhishek, my life partner and Co-Founder of Kowrk, is a consultant on business performance improvement, enterprise value creation, business and IT strategy to start-ups and medium & large sized firms in manufacturing and service sectors in the United States, China, India and the Middle East. He provides strategic vision and guides innovation at Kowrk. He has conducted research on the co-working industry through surveys and interviews of co-working space founders and users.
The initial period- the challenges & the ecstasy of quick wins!
The idea behind Kowrk was born when I helped a friend find a co-working space in Hong Kong by visiting 10+ spaces. Our market research indicated a demand for a unified platform so that booking a space becomes as easy as booking a hotel.
We launched in Q42015 with 20+ spaces in Hong Kong. At that time, our team worked from different co-working spaces and coffee shops. By Q1 2016, we had expanded to 90+ spaces in Singapore and 3 metro cities in India.
The best word to describe the first 6 months of Kowrk is – Crazy. It was like a roller coaster ride with unexpected ups and downs at every turn. We faced challenges with product stability and organic traffic growth. We were ecstatic when we got our first customer (in Q1 2016), gain 2K+ followers on Twitter and were covered on international media platforms.
The journey so far!
We held first-ever contest to find the coolest co-working space in the World, conducted surveys of founders and users of shared office spaces, organized events in different countries, formed international alliances to build and promote co-working culture around the world. Though we have come a long way since our inception, I still feel there is a long way to go.
Strategic Alliances & Partnerships
We are currently official partners with Coworking with Iris and Coworking India Conference.
Coworking with Iris series was created to help drive the co-working industry as a whole towards sustainable success through sharing the stories and insights of workspace creators, community catalysts, and co-working thought leaders.
Coworking India Conference focuses on a unique opportunity to openly address all topics related to the co-working model, its value system and its role and importance in creating a thriving ecosystem of start-ups and digital communities.
We are also at advance stages of forming value added partnership with other companies who target similar customer segment.
The future, as you see, 3 years from now in terms of scope & scale of your business enterprise
In 3 years, I envision Kowrk to be an organization with an efficient team to manage its growth and value proposition. And I see myself starting my next start-up, giving back to the world by being part of an NGO that deals with human rights and building wonderful memories with my friends and families.
Key moments of reckoning in business life
There have been so many great moments at Kowrk and it is very hard for me to pick some. If I have to then, the time we made our first sale when I hired first full-time team member, when I had to fire a team member, and opening of our second office in Mumbai were some of the defining moments for Kowrk and me.
The feelings on getting the first big order / contract for your company
It’s very hard to define my feeling when Kowrk made its first deal. Emotional, euphoric and ecstatic are probably good words to describe what I had felt at that time. It was a result of hard work put in by the whole team, a validation of our belief in what we were doing at Kowrk, and an indication that we were doing things in the right way.