There is something about the 80 feet road at Koramangala, Bangalore —other than homes, shops and cafes, its home to the India’s busiest start-up locality and co-working spaces. The working out of coffee shops to garages before setting up an office is passé. Co-working spaces have identified the gaps that exist in terms of what start-ups look for and have started creating the right environment, ambience and facility to cater to the start-up brigade.

“The best bit about Innov8 is the inspiration aspect. There is inspiration all around. There are posters of Forbes billionaires and inspirational quotes scribbled on the walls. There is a lot of attention to detail which means that the productivity levels are high,’ says Pooja Bhayana, co-founder, Let’s Barter India. She along with her cofounder Sahil Dhingra operate from co-working space Innov8 located in Connaught Place, in central Delhi.

Beyond convenience

The term co-working space refers to the shared work space, an office where independent set-ups work together. “Co-working spaces in India have almost doubled in the last two years. The business model of start-up incubators has been around for a while and a lot of them have evolved into co-working spaces. The idea of a co-working space is like a plug and play system where a start-up team or a sole proprietor can go out and passionately dedicate themselves to working rather than worrying about things like internet connection, printing and other office issues,” says Geetika Dayal, Executive Director, TIE , Delhi-NCR.

There are several compelling reasons why start-ups prefer to work out of co-working spaces. The cost factor is just one of them, as for any new venture, every penny counts.

One of the biggest costs a start-up has to bear is that of office space. What makes this worse is the high rent for commercial real estate in prime business locations of major cities and also initial deposits that need to be paid.

Says Pooja Bhayana, “As a startup, you need to save money. If you look at rent and add up the electricity bill, office boy costs, housekeeping costs and also that of snacks and coffee, the costs of a co-working space works out to be 30 to 40 per cent less than traditional office space.”

This is where co-working spaces come in. “Finding the right office space can be very challenging under a conventional lease agreement. The premises you require will often need hefty deposits, refitting, furniture and IT infrastructure put in place. This will drastically increase your start-up costs and limit your organisation’s flexibility,” says Himanshu Bindal, CEO & Founder, One Internet, a co-working space based out of New Delhi.

The next important factor is the facilities that co-working spaces offer–cabins, power supply, and housekeeping, meeting rooms, pantry and ease of access to visitors as well as those using the premises. Unlike lease and long-term contracts drawn when you plan to use a commercial office setup, co-working spaces offer you plans that meet your needs. “You can choose plans for a given number of days and there are options of daily passes, private cabins and monthly passes,” says Mohit Dudeja, co-founder of Imagintz, a digital agency which functions out of the One Internet co-working space in Connaught Place, New Delhi.

Core focus

The upside of these setups is the hassle-free environment it offers you to focus on your business. “Finding an office space, setting up the infrastructure and then worrying about basic office amenities like broadband connection, printers, food and coffee can take up a lot of time. At a co-working space all this is provided for and a start-up can just go there and passionately dedicate themselves to make their idea work,” says Dayal.

“All that is taken care of and we can focus on building our product,” says Dudeja who is currently working on building a matchmaking product for the hiring industry. Agrees Bhayana, “As a start-up one has to already handle a lot of things and not having to handle mundane office stuff makes it so much easier.”

“Many small start-ups work in apartments, dealing with landlords, power cuts, fear of deposit not being refunded. At IndiQube, everything is taken care of, letting you concentrate on things that really matter to your business,” says Meghna Agrawal, co-founder, IndiQube, a Bangalore based co-working space. Priyanka Gole, proprietor, Gole & Associates, Company Secretaries, a company which helps businesses with business and legal compliances, recently moved from their home office to a co-working space MumbaiCoworking.com.

Network zone

When working at a location which is home to several other start-ups, there is immense opportunity to draw inspiration, ideas and also use the networks to pitch for your work and explore funding. “Interacting with others help you so much to learn and grow. Whether it is ideation, technical help, financial planning, graphic designing or social media, you can always find someone to discuss it with or help you out,” says Dhingra of Let’s Barter India.

For Dudeja, such interactions mean sharing of thoughts and discussions on industry. “Every great idea starts with a discussion. As a start-up you love your idea too much, so unbiased feedback helps a lot,” he says. For several team members, such work-zones also help in future when they look for contacts.

“I get to meet many people from different professions and network with them. It is a good platform to network; even get more business from their referrals. For start-ups such a platform is very crucial to grow,” says Gole. For Varun Khurana, co-founder, Crofarm, a digital agri-suppply chain that works out of SproutBox, a co-working space in Gurgaon, it helps him stay connected , use mutual services, get to know what happens in other industries, connect with others over networking events or more casual pizza and beer parties.

Before selecting a co-working space, explore the ones that are functioning to check its suitability for your needs. Do not be carried away by just the cool quotient and costs. You need a work place where you can work from and put plans into action. Have a plan for when you will move out, with a tentative place in mind when it comes to actually moving out.

What to look for in a cowork space?

Finding an ideal workspace can be a challenge for someone starting out with a fuzzy idea. The genesis of most start-ups has been at coffee café’s and informal outlets. Tapping this need, several coworking spaces have mushroomed for the young and the restless. So here is what you get when moving into coworking space:

Workspace: Uninterrupted internet, printers, basic kitchen with tea/coffee, snacks, work desk, chairs and access to washrooms

Timings: Most spaces are open for long hours

Space or seats: Availability of work area, work desks and charges based on that

Common amenities: Meeting rooms and conference facilities available on share

Location: Access becomes vital for meetings or adding team members

Track record: Speak to others who have used the space to find out about their experience

Cost: Look at the various plans on offer to start with a plan that suits your needs

anaghpal@outlookindia.com