Many of my newer connections may not know that I once founded a company with the goal of increasing the value of coworking memberships everywhere.
Our big hairy audacious goal? To 10x the value of each membership, by bundling in business perks, discounts, and deals into them.
If you do follow my “online stuff“, you know I’ve been trying to find the right next step for that coworking perks network. A big part of doing that was taking a deep, often painful look at what I got wrong, and finding a new partner who excelled in those areas.
Now I’m not saying we didn’t get anything right, but that’s a post (or book) for another day.
Today I get to share the results of that tireless long search, and what we’ve managed to build as the next phase for member benefits in coworking communities.
When I wrote about what I was looking for in a new home for the perks program a few months ago, I’d hoped to find a partner that could at least match the initial audacious goal.
🙏 Secretly, I prayed for a 20x multiple.
If I couldn’t get at least a 10x return for members, the best course of action would be to sunset the perks program and bow out from the perks-side of coworking things completely to focus on what our teams are building for flex space teams at Syncaroo and TWIC.
Then I met Aaron Bailey and the team at BuiltFirst. Straight away we knew there was so many overlaps between the future we both saw for partnership and perk marketplaces.
🙈 And then they got acquired by AppDirect, a $1.5B marketplace behemoth.
But we kept talking and planning.
And today, we get to share what comes next for perks programs across the coworking world.
Together we’ll be rolling out BuiltFirst for Coworking. A perks program the coworking industry has wanted to exist for over a decade now, alongside an easy-to-use platform that truly rewards our members (big and small) for being a part of our communities.
💰 $250,000+ in savings included with each membership.
But…just how valuable is what we’ve come up with?
Today, every company within a participating space, will be able to get over $250,000 in savings.
With the average price of a dedicated desk sitting (in the US) at $300 per month, that’s a whopping 69.4x multiple on each dollar spent on that desk over a year. Add perks access to your open plan or hot desk memberships and that quickly grows to 139x over their first year.
Of course these numbers are mostly relevant to the swathes of small and growing businesses leveraging (or considering) coworking memberships, but as many of the perks are percentage based – it could be argued that larger firms (who take 10s or 100s of desks) could still get a substantial return per dollar spent.
These $250,000 in savings per member business are just in our recommended default perk park. BuiltFirst already has relationships and perks from 200+ top-tier business-supporting vendors, meaning you can add perks from them, or ‘side-load’ your own partners. The sky is literally your limit with where you take your perks program from here.
I think that’s a fantastic upgrade for every coworking space if you ask me. What do you think?
To be first in line to get BuiltFirst for Coworking submit this form and their team will get you everything you need to pick the right plan, and get your members royally rewarded.
My way of saying thank you for being a part of the coworking and included.co story so far.
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As for included.co as a whole there’s a few other changes coming, but I’m extremely proud that coworking perks get a whole new breath of life through this partnership. I’ll be sharing other updates regarding profiles, news and other resources hosted by included in the near future.