Startup ISharespace offers tailor-made co-working spaces
, ET Bureau|
Oct 30, 2017, 06.30 AM IST
When Priyanka Krishnan saw her close friend struggling to find a workspace in Mumbai, she did a little more than what most friends would do. Along with Aarush Maheshwari— another friend—she founded a business, offering shared workspaces. It was an opportunity that needed to be tapped.
“Looking at my friend’s predicament, Aarush and I were convinced of the business opportunity in the shared office space segment. There was need for flexible workspace solutions and we decided to offer them,” says 31-year-old Krishnan, an alumnus of the Imperial College, London, and Manchester Business School.
In April 2016, Krishnan and Maheswari founded IShareSpace, a premium shared workspace providing company. “We offer modern shared working space, premium business offices that are open, well-ventilated, contemporary, high-end and uniquely designed to suit and adapt to organizations’ specific needs,” says Krishnan, Co-founder and Director.
The workspaces, available for freelancers, entrepreneurs, start-ups, small and medium businesses and MNCs (among its biggest clients), come with several value-added offerings such as legal, accounting, food and website development services, among others.
“By focusing on making both the space and the accompanying services flexible, IShareSpace has created an environment that appeals both to established business players as well as the enterprising newcomers,” says 28-year-old Maheshwari, Co-founder and Director.
Seeded with an investment of Rs 3.2 crore, put in by four angel investors, IShareSpace started its first co-working centre in Mumbai. Three months into operations, it received Rs 3.1 crore from an HNI investor, helping it acquire more spaces, improve infrastructure, hire staff and boost marketing operations.
Now, this Mumbai-headquartered company also offers workspaces in Bengaluru, Chennai and Gurugram—a seating capacity of 450 across all cities. IShareSpace follows a three-pronged business model: Taking spaces on lease, converting them into IShareSpace centres and sublease them; taking spaces on management contracts; and managing spaces on a revenue-sharing basis with landlords.
For a company that has been in operation for less than two years, IShareSpace boasts of an impressive record. It generated a revenue of Rs 2.6 crore in 2016-17 with a lean staff of 12, including the founders. The startup is looking to increase its seating capacity by 130 in Mumbai by January 2018. “This will help us grow our top line by at least 30% in 2017-18,” says Maheshwari.
ISharespace’s key challenge, say the founders, was perfecting its spaces and associated offerings while keeping them affordable. Getting the word out and marketing their offering was another hurdle. “It took us some time to gain visibility in the shared working space business and make people aware of our offerings,” says Krishnan.
The company targeted businesses via promotional material and reached out to brokers for publicity. “We also upped our social media Web presence—got listed on portals where potential clients could easily locate us and learn about our flexible and quality workspaces,” says Krishnan.
IShareSpace’s current challenge is to stand out from the competition, which has intensified over the past one year. “The task at hand is to show the end-consumer that we offer a different product, one that can be tailored to their needs and is not overly formal such as a conventional business centre or a chaotic and cramped run-of-the-mill coworking space,” says Maheshwari.
“Looking at my friend’s predicament, Aarush and I were convinced of the business opportunity in the shared office space segment. There was need for flexible workspace solutions and we decided to offer them,” says 31-year-old Krishnan, an alumnus of the Imperial College, London, and Manchester Business School.
In April 2016, Krishnan and Maheswari founded IShareSpace, a premium shared workspace providing company. “We offer modern shared working space, premium business offices that are open, well-ventilated, contemporary, high-end and uniquely designed to suit and adapt to organizations’ specific needs,” says Krishnan, Co-founder and Director.
The workspaces, available for freelancers, entrepreneurs, start-ups, small and medium businesses and MNCs (among its biggest clients), come with several value-added offerings such as legal, accounting, food and website development services, among others.
“By focusing on making both the space and the accompanying services flexible, IShareSpace has created an environment that appeals both to established business players as well as the enterprising newcomers,” says 28-year-old Maheshwari, Co-founder and Director.
Seeded with an investment of Rs 3.2 crore, put in by four angel investors, IShareSpace started its first co-working centre in Mumbai. Three months into operations, it received Rs 3.1 crore from an HNI investor, helping it acquire more spaces, improve infrastructure, hire staff and boost marketing operations.
Now, this Mumbai-headquartered company also offers workspaces in Bengaluru, Chennai and Gurugram—a seating capacity of 450 across all cities. IShareSpace follows a three-pronged business model: Taking spaces on lease, converting them into IShareSpace centres and sublease them; taking spaces on management contracts; and managing spaces on a revenue-sharing basis with landlords.
For a company that has been in operation for less than two years, IShareSpace boasts of an impressive record. It generated a revenue of Rs 2.6 crore in 2016-17 with a lean staff of 12, including the founders. The startup is looking to increase its seating capacity by 130 in Mumbai by January 2018. “This will help us grow our top line by at least 30% in 2017-18,” says Maheshwari.
ISharespace’s key challenge, say the founders, was perfecting its spaces and associated offerings while keeping them affordable. Getting the word out and marketing their offering was another hurdle. “It took us some time to gain visibility in the shared working space business and make people aware of our offerings,” says Krishnan.
The company targeted businesses via promotional material and reached out to brokers for publicity. “We also upped our social media Web presence—got listed on portals where potential clients could easily locate us and learn about our flexible and quality workspaces,” says Krishnan.
IShareSpace’s current challenge is to stand out from the competition, which has intensified over the past one year. “The task at hand is to show the end-consumer that we offer a different product, one that can be tailored to their needs and is not overly formal such as a conventional business centre or a chaotic and cramped run-of-the-mill coworking space,” says Maheshwari.
