Our first 18 months: we doubled our revenue, and we're still losing money.

[Matt D.]

Hey everyone.

We just hit the 18-month mark, and we decided to take an honest look at how we're doing. Turns out we've had some nice growth, but were still losing money.

We've laid it all out - data, financials and some honest analysis of what's still gotdoing we're in our coworking business/operations in order for us to find profitability - which we will! If you're interested, please take a read:

http://www.theskillery.com/blog/2015/12/29/we-doubled-our-revenue-in-2015-but-were-still-losing-money-heres-why

Hope you find it useful. Let me know if I can answer any questions! Thanks!

-Matt @mattdudleytn, from The Skillery @theskillery

[Alex Hillman]

Another really insightful post, Matt!

I have an adjacent question...how are you doing those awesome graphs?

-Alex

------------------

The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.

Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com

Listen to the podcast: http://dangerouslyawesome.com/podcast

--
Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coworking+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Jacob Sayles]

This is great stuff Matt.  We just came through our 8th year and I compiled 98 months of data to present to an advisory group of members next week.  Susan is taking the data and making it all in to pretty graphs.  I gained a lot of inspiration from your post.  We are discussing succession planning so the focus is a little different, but this kind of analysis can really help us frame the conversation in the right way.  Thanks for the great post and the perfect timing.  

Jacob

[Matt D.]

Hi Jacob. Glad to hear it was helpful! I'd be interested to see the data you present, if it's something you're comfortable sharing. I'm sure there's much to be gained from picking through eight years of data. 

Best,

-Matt

[Matt D.]

Hi Alex. 

Many thanks for the kind words.

About the graphs:

• First, we make decisions about which data points to include. We could have included 100 graphs in here, but this data seemed the most relevant. 
  
• Second, we scrub our data to be usable. We've got spreadsheets galore behind the scenes, so coming up with a dashboard (which I'm going to share shortly) of the most relevant info is a really important part of the culling process. 
  
• Third - and this is probably the question you're actually asking - our site and blog are built in SquareSpace. Squarespace has a feature to embed a chart block, with a limited number of not-very-customizable graphs. Even using off-the-shelf features, it took us a few weeks to put together a blog post of this depth... it's pretty involved.
  

Holler if I can answer more questions. 

Thanks,

-Matt

[Tabari Brannon]

Excellent read. One of the goals I have for 2016 is to track everything. I would be interested to see what systems you have in place to track all this data. Thanks!

[Matt D.]

Thanks, Tabari. 

We use a few main tools to track our data:

First, we use Cobot to manage our coworking space, and Cobot does provide us with some basic analytics. We export information about the number of members we have, and we've just begun to make use of their accounting codes to allow us more granular tracking of how our revenue breaks down.

Second, as I mentioned in the post, we hired an accountant this year, and we use a mix of Xero and Google Spreadsheets to keep track of our financials on a regular basis. Our accountant does his magic in Xero, and then once a month we dump the data in a Google Spreadsheet so we can talk about it. In this spreadsheet we track revenue, expenses, and much of the data you saw in my blog post. (I plan to share some of our Google Spreadsheets soon... stay tuned.)

I would love to create some sort of dashboard software that magically pulls all of this info together, but, alas, I don't think it exists. For now, it's a combination of some custom reporting from Xero and Cobot, some manual entry in a Google Spreadsheet, and a monthly meeting to make sense of it all. 

Holler if you have additional questions. Happy to answer!

-Matt

[Jacob Sayles]

We use our own system, Nadine, and Xero, and Excel.   I like the idea of the dashboard, but the monthly meeting really is key.  It takes a little time and attention to look through the numbers.

Some time ago I was pitching the Open Coworking Database where we all feed numbers in to a central, neutral repository for data analysis.  I even started working with Steve King on this but we found people have a hard time being so totally open with their data, even if their identity is shielded.  I still like the idea and think there is a way to do it.  

Jacob

--

[Jerome Chang]

FYI, the hotels do it via some data company(ies) who then sell the data so everyone knows the competition.

Anyone know how they initially got started way back when?

JEROME CHANG

CENTRAL: Mid-Wilshire
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) | ph: (323) 330-9505

EAST: Downtown
529 S. Broadway, Suite 4000 (@Pershing Square) | ph: (213) 550-2235

NORTH: Pasadena (Opening 2016 Q2!)
600 E. Colorado Blvd. (@Los Robles)

[Matt D.]

I have a hard time imagining the data being valuable enough to sell - and I doubt that's an avenue we'd ever pursue - but it's certainly an interesting thought. 

Certainly, we'd participate in some sort of data exchange, if it were available. Who wants to build it??

=) MD

[Dana Cofer]

Matt,

Thank you so much for sharing this information. I have been working on my business and financial model to open a coworking space in Portland, Oregon so this is very timely. It also reinforces what I am seeing in my initial pass, which is "how can something so right be so unprofitable?" Portland office space costs don't help where we have to pay $20-25/sf/yr for anything desirable. So for 6,500 sf I am looking at $10,000 just for rent. Memberships alone won't pay the bills. 

My research has reinforced the market need for meeting space that is aesthetic, creative, and flexible. Basically, an alternative to the hotels that put you in a basement and force you to eat (and pay for) their food. 

I wonder if I should design my model to weigh more heavily on private offices, meeting space rental, and business support services over communal desk space. Obviously that is the nerve center for a community, but maybe shifts to 50% of the space/revenue. 

I guess I am interested in the communities advice for someone wanting to start a cowork business as their sole business and not have a side job to put food on the table. 

Thanks for any advice and for being so transparent with your experience!

Dana

On Friday, January 8, 2016 at 4:21:04 AM UTC-8, Matt D. wrote:

[Jamie Russo]

Dana,

I think these are good questions to ask. I think the reality is that many (not all!) successful coworking spaces rely on private offices as "anchor tenants" to pay the bills. Private office spaces are more expensive to build up front (think in the neighborhood of $10k each furnished) but most coworking spaces run with a much higher vacancy rate on their coworking memberships than their offices. We have 2 locations - Enerspace Chicago and Palo Alto and our revenue in each space is about 60% office space. The office revenue pays the rent and allows us to focus on community building which is why we're in the business. I've heard this explanation from many other successful coworking spaces. You might be anti-office from a philosophical standpoint, but if you want to have an impact and be financially sustainable, you might want to consider them. 

Also, I would like to note that our office members have always been some of our more active community members. The first ones to happy hour, the first ones to meet new members, the first ones to sign up for demo day, etc. They just need private space due to the nature of their work. 

We are also learning a lot more about how people best function at work and this idea of (I think this is Alex Hillman's term), "choice architecture." People do certain types of work better in certain types of environments, and shared spaces would be well-served to design for those activities. Some of those activities are private or require quiet, concentrated focus that gets done behind walls. 

I think a hybrid model can accomplish financial sustainability and a strong community.

[Alex Linsker]

Hi Dana, I'm in Portland too. Collective Agency is my only source of revenue. I'm open to expanding the brand to multiple locations. If you might want to collaborate or license, email me at al...@collectiveagency.co Why are you interested in coworking, instead of, say, a restaurant? What do you want your role to be / what tasks do you want to do that you're great at? Alex Linsker, Collective Agency http://collectiveagency.co

On Tuesday, January 19, 2016 at 4:06:09 PM UTC-8, Dana Cofer wrote:

[Felicity Maxwell]

Great points Jamie!  One comment I would add would be flexibility.   We  (fibercove  - Austin, TX) have 6700 sq and while we initially planned to do mostly open coworking with meeting rooms, we quickly realized that some of the rooms we had designated as "meeting" spaces were totally underutilized.  In November we decided to covert some of theses spaces to private offices.  In addition we added some private desk options.  Within a few weeks both sold out and we now have a waiting list.   We are also seeing better utilization of our existing meeting rooms.  

My overall point is, if possible, give yourself the flexibility to adjust how your space is used and what you charge for.  Which, coming full circle, is something you can definitely see The Skillery has done.  I think being open to new revenue paths, and using data to highlight any inefficiencies is key to long term success for any coworking space.  

Good luck!

Felicity 

[Dana Cofer]

Jamie,

Thank you for the reply. I have received similar feedback about the demand for private offices. I like the idea of designing in as much flexibility as possible to be responsive to the unique needs of that community. I'll keep you all posted as my plan progresses. 

Dana

[Dana Cofer]

Alex,

I would love to connect and discuss collaboration or licensing. I haven't met many Portland founders and would appreciate any advice or cautions! Your email didn't translate so perhaps you could reply again or email me directly at dana....@gmail.com and I can address your good questions. 

Thanks,

Dana

[Shannon Carlton]

thank you for the thought and insight you put into the analysis.  I look forward to following you and learning more in 2016!

[Marnee Chua]

Thanks Matt, this is a very thoughtful look at the ongoing problem of profitability in coworking. I'm going to share with our Seattle group too, so interesting! 

On Friday, January 8, 2016 at 4:21:04 AM UTC-8, Matt D. wrote:

[Matt D.]

You're welcome, Shannon. Hope it's helpful to you!

Best,

-Matt

[Matt D.]

Terrific, Marnee. Let me know if your group has any questions. 

Regards,

-Matt

[Nathan Daum]

Thanks for the heads up Marnee - Matt, you're my new hero for doing this. Thanks!

Nate 

Startup Hall http://www.startuphall.org/

On Friday, January 8, 2016 at 4:21:04 AM UTC-8, Matt D. wrote: