How many new startups do you think India must have added in 2017?
You will be amazed to know that, according to the Nasscom Startup Report India saw an addition of over 1,000 startups last year. Yes, it means 1000 new companies or entrepreneurs. Today, India has the third largest startup ecosystem across the world, amidst mounting competition from countries like UK and Israel.
The new additions take the total number of technology startups to nearly 5,200, making tech-enables or technology startups as the hottest new companies. The country also witnessed a rapid rise in the business with these startups focusing on verticals like health tech, fintech, e-commerce and aggregators.
This comes to the next interesting question of how with restricted finance these new businesses, manage office spaces. With the whopping real estate prices, buying an office space means using funds that can otherwise be used to develop infrastructure, technology, operations, last mile delivery, etc. And if you thought the other option of renting a space was better, then a good location would mean higher rents and that in return, blocking not only a certain amount every month, but also pay an upfront security deposit of three to six months that is over and above the rent. This thus blocks huge funds that can otherwise be used wisely and for more important things.
Therefore, to keep that capital unblocked, we have an option for startups, professionals, small businesses, or any other business, and it is coworking. Welcome to era of coworking or in simple words, shared workspaces. These office spaces address the immediate needs of their customers by offering space options varying from pay-per-day to a limited period, thereby, making them affordable. Not only this, for meetings or a daily permanent space, some even offer conference rooms and fixed spaces for your workforce. These options give flexibility and helps save cost as you decide, what and how much you need.
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Unlike a rented space which comes unfurnished, coworking spaces are non-contractual and require no upfront investment. They come furnished, therefore, making them ready to move and ready to use. They also offer a cornucopia of services and benefits like private cabins, high-speed internet, cafeteria, lockers and much more, thereby, giving companies an atmosphere of a regular office and not of a rented office space.
That's not all, these are only the basics checked, let's look at more benefits.
Choose your location is one of the biggest benefits of a coworking space. As these places are located in more than one location, they give flexibility to companies to make their employees work from any of its convenient spaces. Also, the co-working spaces might be located in a prime area that gives solo entrepreneurs or small businesses an access to afford and work out of a prime location. Whereas, if you think of owning or renting an office space, it's a fact that the rent is primarily of the location and the facilities only later.
One of the biggest advantages of a coworking is to add-on space as you grow. Coworking gives companies an option to keep adding workspaces as and when they increase the workforce and not on the basis of growth projection, which is the case in a rented office space. Also, in case of customer or investor meetings, a coworking area seems to be bigger, is professionally managed and includes basic amenities. Whereas, the latter is restricted to the office space that the company has paid for and service and amenities on its willingness to spend at that time.
Apart from startups, these spaces are a boon for independent workers such as designers, developers and writers, as they work along with several like-minded professionals.entrepreneurs and innovators. The work culture and networking events help people of different backgrounds collaborate on a single platform enabling knowledge sharing and best market practices, thus, making them a conducive work environment