“It's been there for two years, but it still blows my mind to see my logo on the front of Campus X!” wrote Benjamin Kane, CEO of TechPods, in a recent LinkedIn post.
As he notes, TechPods was born in 2018 at Campus X, on a couple of desks in a shared space “along with many other hopeful startup founders,” and his strong belief in his company's success. In 2023, TechPods’ team exceeded 50 people, and it is expected to be more than 100 at the end of 2025. Becoming a vital part of our community, they have outgrown several private offices and are now planning a new expansion, all between the walls of Campus X.
Coworking hubs can be pivotal for businesses seeking growth. At Campus X, we’ve always strived to foster flexibility, innovation, and collaboration as our mission. And this is what coworking spaces should be all about.
Coworking is on the rise globally. Estimations point out that there are close to 42,000 coworking spaces worldwide as of the end of 2024. According to Statista, the global shared office space market was valued at 41.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2024 and is projected to grow steadily to 62.75 billion U.S. dollars by 2029.
But how do shared office space providers address modern business needs like cost-efficiency, agility, and scalability? Can coworking hubs support scale-ups in overcoming challenges like market entry, optimizing processes, and attracting talent? Continue reading to learn more.
Why Flexible Workspaces Can Be Essential for Growth
Peeking into the future, coworking spaces and flex office hubs will shift more into hospitality and providing end-to-end services rather than selling workstations.
Scalability, flexibility, operational freedom, time and cost efficiency, and access to a global network of professionals are some of the main reasons coworking spaces are becoming a strategic choice for businesses seeking growth.
So, how do coworking spaces align with growth-oriented business strategies?
Smart Spending and Cost-Efficiency
According to a CBRE report, by 2023, costs have replaced recruiting and retention as the top issue for tech companies.
Choosing open-space desks or a flex office in a coworking space can reduce capital expenditures compared to traditional office leasing. What’s more, serviced office providers have flexible policies that allow scaling up or down based on temporary or continuously evolving business needs. For instance, a company doubling its workforce during a product launch can easily upgrade to a larger space within the same coworking facility.
Renting a flexible serviced office can ease growth with lower upfront costs. It allows companies to avoid capital-intensive contracts while expanding their teams or testing new markets without committing to long-term leases.
Build Bridges or The Power of Coworking Communities
Growing your business is like taking care of a child. You have to juggle hundreds of decisions daily, looking for answers to thousands of new questions to keep them happy, healthy and thriving. It is always best if someone can lend a hand and guide you. Coworking spaces open the door to global networks and empower you with the tools to cultivate strategic partnerships.
While hosting various companies under one roof, shared spaces provide excellent opportunities for collaboration, which often leads to new business opportunities. Just imagine that your fintech startup needs support to refine its compliance processes, and you’ve just had tea in the common room with a legal consultancy firm’s general manager who is eager to help.
“Whilst you can certainly build a company from your garage and work remotely, I'd strongly advise startup founders to explore innovation hubs like Campus X, where you can rub shoulders not only with like-minded founders but also utilise their existing infrastructure by becoming a part of that community”, says Benjamin from TechPods.
Building relationships with other businesses in the coworking ecosystem comes naturally if you are ready to connect. It is precisely what most people in coworking hubs are looking for. Thus, flex office providers are focused on facilitating connections through networking initiatives, meetups and community-building events. Many coworking spaces partner with incubators, accelerators, or funding providers, helping VCs identify promising investment opportunities and contributing to the growth and success of their members.
Enhanced Employee Experience
What keeps the world moving forward? Money, great ideas, innovation? No, People—people and their bright minds. The rest comes next.
Employees are the business's greatest asset and need constant nurturing to keep delivering. People are motivated when they are happy and vice versa. It’s a continuous loop, and we all know first-hand that work-life balance is critical.
As people are in their centre, coworking spaces foster work-life balance through modern, versatile amenities, wellness programs and community events. They bring like-minded people together. Moreover, coworking and flex office providers often support employers by providing additional social benefits, taking the administrative and organizational burden off their shoulders. Yoga classes and mindfulness sessions, movie nights, sports and fun zones, when your employees need to release the steam, we’ve got you covered without the need for additional investments.
Another excellent tool for supporting work-life balance is the increasingly popular “hybrid workplace.” While remote work may diminish the sense of belonging and stimulate loneliness and isolation, coworking spaces and flex offices may bring just the right balance between providing a physical location for teams to engage while remaining cost-efficient.
A survey conducted by The Harvard Business Review found that 67% of respondents considered working from a coworking site more socially fulfilling than working from home. One major reason was the flexibility employees crave regarding not only where they work but also with whom.
How to Maximize the Value of Coworking Spaces For Your Business
The shift towards coworking spaces represents a shift in work culture—not only in the physical space but also in the sense of what "going to work" means.
Nowadays, coworking hubs are more than a desk and a place to plug your laptop—they can fully provide the strategic advantage your startup, scale-up, or enterprise needs to thrive.
But how to get the most out of it?
Finding Your Perfect Fit
While open spaces are great for creating a collaborative environment and fostering innovation for early-stage founders and scale-ups, enterprises seek more privacy and less distraction. But is it possible to have the best of the two worlds?
Open spaces may fail to support growing enterprises' privacy needs and culture-building efforts. On the other hand, flex offices in coworking hubs tailor the choice of workspaces to different business models. Serviced offices allow companies to rent the amount of private office space they currently need, offering flexible contract terms and the option to add or remove office space when needed. The latter is beneficial and cost-effective for fast-growing tech businesses.
As Chris Chamoun from Mindspace notes, “Flex space providers offer scalability – allowing companies to adjust their needs without the commitment of long-term leases. Some say coworking is a stepping stone towards a company's eventual private space, however, we’ve seen a complete shift lately. Our retention rates have been extremely high, and that says it all about organizations embracing this model today more than ever.”
Using Coworking Spaces to Scale Smartly
Coworking spaces can be a low-risk launchpad for entering new markets. Setting up a temporary team in one allows companies to easily test the local talent pool or customer base without long-term commitments. Coworking providers with a global footprint can be a stepping stone to seamlessly entering international markets, mitigating the risks of establishing local offices.
Enterprises and scale-ups can use coworking hubs to streamline their market entry strategies and use them as knowledge pools. These hubs offer market insights, connections to local service providers, and access to skilled and diverse talents within the community.
To stay competitive, enterprises must view coworking spaces not as office substitutes but as strategic assets enabling growth and innovation.
“There's no better example than Payhawk - those guys started around the same time as us in Building One at Campus X, and by the time we became a 50-strong company, they were already Bulgaria's first unicorn! We are, of course, totally different companies, but the proof is in the pudding,” notes Benjamin from TechPods.
Beyond the Desk: Leveraging Amenities for Success
Coworking hubs reflect a modern, employee-centric company culture. The desirable workspace solutions, including location, design, comfort, attractive amenities, and more, are a powerful tool for boosting employers' branding and reputation.
Utilize the resources provided by your coworking hub to maximize the experience—leverage available services, such as meeting rooms and common areas, administrative support, and third-party discounts. Hosting client meetings in well-equipped coworking spaces enhances brand perception. Participate in workshops or community programs to build brand visibility. Attend pitch nights or industry-specific networking events and seize opportunities to present yourself and your company.
Unlock Your Business’s Potential with Coworking Spaces
Coworking spaces are designed to inspire connections between diverse professionals, promoting a positive work atmosphere and collaboration. They bridge the gap between creativity and focus, prioritize functional and aesthetic designs, and provide ample opportunities for building professional relationships, thus increasing employee satisfaction and retention.
Coworking and flexible serviced offices are strategic and cost-efficient enablers of growth, agility, and innovation for companies of all sizes. With the rising demand for coworking spaces, operators will continue to develop their offerings to meet the evolving market's needs.
Discover how the Campus X coworking and flex office solutions in Sofia can help your business thrive.
