Serious Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please!

[JohnTan]

SINGAPORE: Content delivery network and Web security firm Cloudflare was on the lookout for a new office in Singapore earlier this year and even though there were cheaper office spaces available in the rental market, it decided to move into JustCo – a co-working space located in the Central Business District (CBD) along Robinson Road.

“It was just much easier without having to deal with getting furniture and outfitting the office,” general manager of Cloudflare’s Asia operations, Grace Lin, told Channel NewsAsia. “The time spent on doing all that will also mean that I’m not expanding the company, or meeting potential partners and clients.”


“There were cheaper office options for sure, but a co-working space saves us time and allows us to continue growing quickly,” she added.

The San Francisco-based company has been swiftly expanding its team since venturing into Singapore last July, growing its headcount from just one person to 16 within a year. With plans to double the team’s size over the course of 2017, the firm needed a new space that could accommodate that growth flexibly.

Given its hiring spree, renting a traditional office which typically comes with two-year leases, would not have made sense, Ms Lin said.

As such, Cloudflare has decided to take up half a floor at JustCo for now, but should it decide to grow its team in Singapore further, it would be able to do so comfortably as an entire floor at the shared office accommodates up to 64 people, she explained.

COLLABORATIVE CULTURE, PROXIMITY TO OTHER BUSINESSES A DRAW

Even though co-working spaces – premised on the concept of having multiple companies or individuals sharing the same working environment – have typically appealed more to start-ups and freelancers, bigger enterprises, particularly from overseas, have latched onto the trend.

For example, Japanese messaging app provider Line Corp and popular cloud storage firm Dropbox are understood to be working out of JustCo.

According to Cushman and Wakefield's research director Christine Li, foreign companies tend to opt for co-working spaces during the initial stages of venturing into a new market. “They are not prepared to take a long-term lease in a traditional office yet as their businesses have yet to stabilise and the workforce is not sizeable enough to push them to rent a traditional office space,” said Ms Li.

Apart from being able to enjoy flexibility as they expand into Singapore and the region, bigger companies are also attracted to the open-concept, vibrant collaborative culture and easy accessibility to other businesses at these trendy shared offices.

Said Cloudflare’s Ms Lin: “In Singapore, a lot of the traditional offices for rent don’t have an open concept … and that doesn’t work for us because we have a Silicon Valley culture where no one sits in separate offices. Even our CEO sits next to an employee, and we are able to sit together, talk and work.”

And this culture of collaboration extends to partnerships between members of a co-working space. For instance, Cloudflare has been in discussions with a recruiting firm on the same floor at JustCo, to lend it a helping hand in its expansion plans.

For Braintree – a payment platform acquired by PayPal three years ago – being located in another co-working space, The Hub Singapore, gives it a leg-up when it comes to growing its client base and recruiting new talent.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...eign-firms-embrace-co-working-in/3138266.html

 

[frenchbriefs]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

cloudflare,why is that so familiar?cloudflare is a sg creation?wtf must boycott it immediately.this Just co seems to be harboring alot of illegal immigrants.its cheating my reits out of our rightful income.

 

[frenchbriefs]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

this proves that IT workers and silicon valley entrepreneurs arent really employees,anyplace can be a office for them even a starbucks,might as well just go to a library,set up a nespresso machine and call urself a IT developer/start up company.investors will be throwing money at u pretty soon.i laugh whenever i hear a app company say they have gone through 2 rounds of fundraising and raised nearly 8 million dollars and havent even produced $100,000 in sales or revenues.

 

[retrenched]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

wasn't elim chew complaining about rents? why is starbucks so generous - paying what must be high rent and letting pp sit for ages esp students?

 

[scroobal]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

Cloudfare lady is talking thru her arse. The open concept office was in SIngapore among the MNCs in the early 90s - 26 years ago. Shared office space among start-up and small companies were already in practice in places like Robinson road with shared receptionists, pantry etc. The rates were monthly with 2 to 3 months notice. Even small law firms took on these offices. They usually had closed meeting rooms ranging from 4 seaters to 12 seaters that you book for meeting and confidential client meetings. The meeting rooms all had fancy names around a theme - Sumatra Room, Java Room, Borneo Room etc.

IBM was the first company to do hot desking in their Anson Road Office in the late 80s.

Cloudfare probably got a PR firm to create publicity and awareness.

 

[Narong Wongwan]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

Cloudfare lady is talking thru her arse. The open concept office was in SIngapore among the MNCs in the early 90s - 26 years ago. Shared office space among start-up and small companies were already in practice in places like Robinson road with shared receptionists, pantry etc. The rates were monthly with 2 to 3 months notice. Even small law firms took on these offices. They usually had closed meeting rooms ranging from 4 seaters to 12 seaters that you book for meeting and confidential client meetings. The meeting rooms all had fancy names around a theme - Sumatra Room, Java Room, Borneo Room etc.

IBM was the first company to do hot desking in their Anson Road Office in the late 80s.

Cloudfare probably got a PR firm to create publicity and awareness.

Yes I was reading and thinking how this cloudfare any different from this virtual offices?
With nice office address, mail box, answering services etc.
this is just old soup in new packaging

 

[50000]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

Yes I was reading and thinking how this cloudfare any different from this virtual offices?
With nice office address, mail box, answering services etc.
this is just old soup in new packaging

virtual offices were individual rooms for different companies with different activities and shared the address, meeting rooms, reception etc.

The co-working concept is slightly different and is more a strawberry generation thing. They use the space as and when they want and some places charges by per use. There are no rooms and everyone is virtually sitting next to each other as if they are in a canteen. The idea is that everyone can help each other with whatever they are doing, ie company A and Company B will help each other today and tomorrow joined by Company C.

 

[borom]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

Actually these foreigners are already paying high rentals-for their housing.

They should just make use of their rental accommodation to do business and meet clients in the clients office. Corporate Secretarial firms that provide their Registered Office & Location of Statutory Records can easily rent out meeting rooms to them as their registered address is there anyway.

 

[johnny333]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

I recently saw a report on CNA & they are already doing it in places like Jakarta.
So this is nothing new. If Spore doesn't do the same then the businesses will lose out to our neighbours where cost are much cheaper.

 

[scroobal]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

This too has been available when Suntec City tower blocks were built. No personal desk, no different to hot desking. They used to call it serviced office. Used primarily by IT staff who are contract staff who are working on projects. The later versions had desks that were electronically connected and you had to flip the "vacant" to "occupied" so it registers in the central control for charging.

Usual tenants are coding staff from India, PRC and the Philippines.

I am however hearing for the first time that Company A is helping Company B etc. There are issues with privacy, company intellectual property, staff poaching etc. I am not sure if their clients will appreciate this scenario it as these locations are used by similar industry users.

The co-working concept is slightly different and is more a strawberry generation thing. They use the space as and when they want and some places charges by per use. There are no rooms and everyone is virtually sitting next to each other as if they are in a canteen. The idea is that everyone can help each other with whatever they are doing, ie company A and Company B will help each other today and tomorrow joined by Company C.

 

[scroobal]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

Lot of MNCs allow staff to work a number of days from home. GE Singapore was one of the first. Also more than 10 years ago. Thus the reason for less desk space and pick any hot desk when you come in.

Actually these foreigners are already paying high rentals-for their housing.

They should just make use of their rental accommodation to do business and meet clients in the clients office. Corporate Secretarial firms that provide their Registered Office & Location of Statutory Records can easily rent out meeting rooms to them as their registered address is there anyway.

 

[mojito]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

Cloudflare is the name you see when this site breaks down. Not very smart PR if you ask me. Do not think they white means sophisticate huh, closet Pinkertons..

 

[bushtucker]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

this proves that IT workers and silicon valley entrepreneurs arent really employees,anyplace can be a office for them even a starbucks,might as well just go to a library,set up a nespresso machine and call urself a IT developer/start up company.investors will be throwing money at u pretty soon.i laugh whenever i hear a app company say they have gone through 2 rounds of fundraising and raised nearly 8 million dollars and havent even produced $100,000 in sales or revenues.

it is true, all they need is a laptop, internet connection, power socket and handphone. Office setup completed.

 

[eatshitndie]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

it is true, all they need is a laptop, internet connection, power socket and handphone. Office setup completed.

if it's ott apps, it's that easy peesy to work from anywhere. but if there's dev ops and developers need to huddle for a scrum, they need to be around each other to test concepts, solve problems, hash issues, and debug. and if a lab is required for gadgets to be tested, that's a different business altogether. cannot easily duplicate lab anywhere, especially when rf-shielded room is required or when multi-million dollar test equipment is used. majority of tech startups are now in ott apps, thus the more flexible requirement and lower cost of workspace.

 

[Narong Wongwan]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

Lot of MNCs allow staff to work a number of days from home. GE Singapore was one of the first. Also more than 10 years ago. Thus the reason for less desk space and pick any hot desk when you come in.

Insurance agencies also been doing that for their agents many years already.

 

[Bigfuck]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

Serviced offices are also used as tax avoidance vehicles. Some big rooms are booked with payment in advance for a year or more but nobody ever comes.

 

[eatshitndie]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

Serviced offices are also used as tax avoidance vehicles. Some big rooms are booked with payment in advance for a year or more but nobody ever comes.

tell me about it. 3rd workplace, a startup in the bay area, leases retail space all over the area for techies and biz travellers to hang out for their meetings and work, and hardly a soul shows up. worse. they sign expensive multi-year leases at spaces right next to starfucks. charge usd8 per customer per hour with complimentary coffee (wc). usd9 in sf. who the fuck wants to go there when starfucks is right next door? starfucks attracts all the traffic as it has free wi-fi, charging stations and enough tables for a usd1.95 to usd4.25 cup of coffee. after a couple of years, it makes no money but still attracts funding and is still alive.

https://www.thirdworkplace.com

 

[eatshitndie]

Re: Start-Ups Freeloading On Rent By "Co-Sharing"! Chase Them Out of Starbucks Please

Insurance agencies also been doing that for their agents many years already.

but that's not considered a "neutral-host" site. the office belongs to the insurance company and is only meant for own insurance agents who do not require permanent offices. agents from other insurance companies cannot suka suka park there. neutral-host sites are becoming the norm in sf as space is premium and small startups share workspaces 24 by 7 to optimize the use of space. in the equipment room where a common isp terminates multiple pairs of fiber or cable, you can see every enterprise having their own wi-fi modems. some neutral-host sites provide a free public wi-fi ssid for visitors, but that typically is wide open for hacks.