A Different Kind of Melting Pot

Many are opting for shared workplaces not just for low rentals but for the whole ecosytem that allows networking and knowledge sharing. Enabling all this is a breed of new startups.

- Naina Sood

ASHISH BHATIA, co-founder of IT company Appworks, is a member of a new and rapidly growing club of Indian entrepreneurs: he and his company operate out of co-working spaces. The term refers to office spaces shared by freelancers, entrepreneurs, startups and companies who find the option more attractive than owning or leasing their own office space. Bhatia says: “We had rented a office space on Sohna road, but within six months, we realised that it was not what we had bargained for. Startups work in a VUCA world — volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.” Bhatia is convinced that the decision to give up the rented office was right.

According to a Nasscom startup report, co-working space is a flexible, ready-to-use, plug-and play office-sharing arrangement where people from different professional backgrounds, interests and companies work in the same place together. Rightly termed as today’s physical LinkedIn, people operating in these spaces describe their way of working as a ‘movement’, which comes with a vast range of possibilities.

Companies operating out of shared working spaces have everything on a platter — from eco friendly and homely environment, to disciplined co-workers and professional cabins. With membership fees ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 8,000 per month, co-working spaces work out cheaper than renting individual office spaces.