Co-working space onboarded direct competitor

[Ivo]

Hi all,

Our startup team has been a member of a co-working space in central London for a year.

Our ambition has always been to build up a team there, be a member of a community, and have a longer-term recognised place for our company.

Now, the co-working space has on-boarded a direct competitor into the community.

Their response is they will not do anything about it.

It makes our situation unmanageable:
1. We cannot discuss our work in the co-working space and the community anymore.

2. Our team cannot engage with the community (which is a perk for people joining a startup team)

3. Our investors and partners raise serious questions about the situation.

The current situation cannot hold and will force us to leave if nothing changes.

In our view, this situation is very unfair.

Our team has done nothing wrong and because of an error by the co-working team, we are forced out.

Does anyone have an idea how to go about this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Ivo

 

[Caner Onoglu]

I would suggest try to see this as an opportunity and the competitor not as a treat but potential coworker. The world is big enough for 2 companies even they have the same idea.

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[Ivo]

Thanks Caner for your response. 

That would have been ideal! 

However unfortunately it's putting serious risks on our investor and partner relationships as they have raised concerns about it.

We can't really ignore these concerns I'm afraid.

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[Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking]

Hey Ivo,

As an owner I don't think you can expect me to say no to your competitor to occupy the space unless it was discussed before hand. We are community builders and turning people away because of a potential conflict of your interests seems short-sided in my mind. I want everyone to be part of the community and to treat each other as equals.

Yes, this might mean some self censorship on your teams part. This also means you two can learn from each other. Your team can learn to adapt to the new situation or you can leave. It's how you want to approach it but I wouldn't be mad at the space owner. He wants everyone to collaborate.

[Tom Ball]

I hear you, Ivo - but I agree with Craig

The whole point of co-working is different people from different companies under the same roof. It may be that your investors are not happy with you being in a co-working space? Or they don't understand the trade off you are making? (Better perks/community for less privacy)

The opposite is often true... that people *deliberately* cluster by sector - so go out of their way to be next to competitors/partners etc!

I do not think it is a co-working space's job to prevent competitors both being in a space. If you need privacy you may need a mix of a private office inside the co-working space?

[Miroslav Miroslavov]

As a member of a coworking space, startup founder and working with hundreds of coworking spaces, I would add that one of the key features of a coworking space is to:

1. Make you feel that you belong to a community. A place where you are safe!
2. Help you grow your business by removing barriers. 
3. Help you find opportunities.

The community managers should be the biggest evangelist of your business.

In my opinion, bringing direct competitor without speaking with the member first, is a violation of all points. In case the member agrees that actually, having the competitor will be fine and even it might open doors and create opportunities, then it's all good. 

Otherwise, if this breaks the safety zone and even may reduce the opportunities for the member, then it's surely not OK.

@Ivo, if I was you, I would probably leave and give them direct feedback that they should consider a better community service. 

[Jeannine van der Linden]

I agree with Miroslav on this I have to say.

I have indeed onboarded people in direct competition with my existing coworkers.  I have done this in collaboration and conversation with the existing coworker adn the onboarding coworker, and whatever boundaries people felt were called for were developed in that conversation.

I have also found out later that we had onboarded someone in direct competition with an existing coworker, and then had that conversation later. We are not a thematically limited space so I do not necessarily know enough about the market in which my coworkers are busy, to know that a new coworker might be problematic.  

I am curious what the new coworker has to say about it: if it is a problem for you then it seems to me it is also a problem for them.

[Ivo from Albert]

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for your thoughts on this. Much appreciated.

I’ve also received plenty of opinions from the local tech and co-working scenes.

Really helped to take the right informed and appropriate action and hopefully triggers some helpful debate on this topic.

There seem to be two clear separate schools of thought: 

1.) An facilitating approach where the co-working space facilitates in providing an environment and boundaries are set by the company that also takes consequences for its own boundaries.

2.) An directing approach where the co-working space establishes the context and plays an active role in maintaining that; the companies play according to that context.

Because of our sector, partners and investors, our business needs a clearly defined context. Feeling safe, unrestricted interactions and data protection are important for us.

This means that in our specific case we need to move to an environment that respects and protects these values.

I understand that different companies and organisations have different needs, which is probably a leading factor in defining a coworking-company fit.

Thanks again.

ivo

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