Coworking Bansko 2020 — What’s Next?
by Matthias Zeitler
The year is coming slowly to an end which is always a good time to reflect and make plans. Especially after having several great coworking operators in Bansko for our CUBB event and spending time with nearly 600 coworking professionals at Coworking Europe the week after.
And I also spent some time with 250 nomads on Nomad Cruise X to make connections and get a feeling what is happening in the nomad ecosystem outside Bansko.
So here are my plans going forward
We launched a Connections App to surface more opportunities between members
We are slowly growing to a size where it is difficult to figure out who is doing what and how can we do things together. The connections app will help to make it more visible and also increase value for members.
Let’s be all more successful together. This will generally be a focus for the space next year: Let’s attract more members that are interested in growing together — and fewer people that are not.
Sebastien developed this cool app for us — yeah!
Let’s get a Mountain Cabin to have our own sanctuary on the mountain next year.
I really enjoyed having picnics and private parties up in the mountains this year. It will be even better when we have a small cabin where we can store supplies, have a BBQ, can stay/camp overnight, have a base camp for a hike, and have our own little place in the mountains. It could even be a private romantic spot that can be reserved for exclusive use for a few days per year by some members.
I have been looking for a suitable spot for a while already and might have a lead on a small plot that is in 30–45 minutes walking distance up the mountain.
I assume this will be available next year.
Revisit how we do apartment recommendations
Experience has shown that members have the best experience and deepest community engagement when they are close to the coworking space. Then it’s easy for them to participate in many scheduled and unscheduled events to make connections with other members.
Our current Google Docs approach to finding apartments is not really scalable. While we have some apartments are close by, members sometimes also end up in rather inconvenient locations because whoever they contacted might offer them apartments at the other end of town if the preferred choice is taken already. And then there is a lack of transparency about pricing as sometimes charged rents are different from what we have on our list etc.
Every second question either on the group or in the messages to us seems to be about: How to find an apartment and the answer has an impact on our ability to build a strong community with every member.
So I want an Airbnb type of solution of curated apartments where it is possible to see exactly which apartments are available at the time, what they look like and what they cost. Contact to landlords will be only through the platform to book specific apartments and we will charge a 10% commission on all rentals.
This will be much cheaper than using Airbnb and more convenient than our current contact list — so a win for both members and landlords. And we will be in control about the apartments in which members end up in based on proximity to the space and experience with the landlords — so a win for building strong ties with members.
One of our members is helping with customizing a Airbnb style script.
Bansko Nomad Fest to further promote the Bansko as nomad destination
Next year nomads will take over the village for a week. This allows us to promote Bansko as a nomad destination similar to how we used weekend events in the past to give people a taste of Bansko. The first 28 speakers have been confirmed, early bird tickets have been sold, some soft commitments from sponsors and many volunteers signed up. So with 6 months to go, I feel we are in great shape for an epic event next year.
Expansion to be able to accommodate more members
Our planned 150+ m2 expansion didn’t happen as planned and the whole experience with Four Leaf Clover left a bit of a sour aftertaste, so they are no longer recommended on the accommodation list and they will do their own thing in the future.
However, I am not super unhappy that the deal fell apart before we are tied to that location with a lot of investment committed.
Together with Cvetelina, I am scouting other options around town and there are some suitable locations that we are considering.
We have 50 comfy seats at the moment and based on the experience we can “overbook” by a factor of two as not everyone works all the time. So while I think we be over this level during the winter season (especially in February/March), I am not too concerned to find a short term overflow option for a month or two if it gets too crowded. Worst case we will have to turn some people away that didn’t signup before coming to Bansko. But long-term I rather pick the perfect spot for our next level of growth than something that is either too small, too expensive or comes with too many (hidden) issues.
We will try to install a Skype booth in the gondola location as well as soundproof the standing desk area in the social space to provide more options for calls when it gets busier.
A crowdfunded Coliving Space
Most members prefer to have their own apartment, but with the growing community there are also more that are interested in living together, sharing a kitchen and living room etc.
Let’s buy an old guesthouse together and turn it into a coliving space that will be operated and promoted by Coworking Bansko. We are currently looking at different crowdinvesting platforms to see how this could best work and expect to launch a campaign early 2020.
Continue to invest in the coworking space
Most members believe we are one of the best coworking spaces in the world. And our glowing reviews back up this assessment.
But there is always something that can be improved further, like better coffee machines, smart locks, phone booths, goodies, furniture, bigger BBQ, firepit, new marketing ideas, further improve the garden, hire more staff, etc.
Most of these improvements cost money and we also have some founder loans that need to be returned at some point….
But I think we should continue to improve the space and invest.
Building the Bansko Business Park to attract companies with a few hundred high paying jobs as the next level of ecosystem development and encourage them to move staff/teams here.
I was a little bit distracted by a lot of other things in the last few months, but a suitable site has been identified and I plan to hire a sales manager after Christmas to see if we can pull off this project.
Things I am not yet sure about:
How will next year’s mandatory VAT registration affect us?
There is some talk about new legislation that would force us to add 20% VAT to all our memberships. We might also get some VAT back from stuff that we buy, but the overall effect for members that do not have a VAT registered company in Bulgaria would be a price increase. Not great for us and it would affect a lot of businesses in Bulgaria too. So I expect some resistance and/or maybe some workarounds. Let’s see how this develops.
Should we hire a community manager?
The proportion of members that are putting up events and activities for others is going down compared to last year, even though the total amount of activities is way higher than in a “normal” coworking space.
I have the feeling that this slow disengagement is a function of the size of the community as (some) members still organize private activities but no longer invite everyone to everything. Some members are also getting fed up that they contribute a lot while others only consume. And maybe some activities also just don’t work with larger groups.
For new members, that don’t know everyone, this is not great and it also splits the community into subgroups.
I really like(d) our open self-organized community as it creates a really cool atmosphere but I wonder if this model is going to be sustainable in the future as it relies heavily on members. Especially when we grow further.
Seems like every other coworking space I talk to has a community manager — but most seem to have less tight communities… Maybe this will become the focus of our nomad in residence program in the future.
What is the role of the Elders?
After the co-op idea died, I didn’t want to let go of the idea of having input from members into community governance. So The Elders were created of everyone who joined the co-op and all members that stay at least 6 months per year in Bansko.
But are they really happy with this role that was bestowed on them?
It feels like most of them prefer that any issues are handled without their involvement (#nodrama), for most future planning they don’t really hold a stake in the business so they have either their own interests or short term-interests (#nostake), are too busy with their own business (#lotsofwork) or have diverging positions (#toomanyvoices).
I really love the idea of co-creating Bansko, but I haven’t really figured out how to get this co-creation on the business level, so far it feels I do most of the heavy lifting. Maybe we will be in a position in a year or two where we can hire enough staff so that I don't need to be involved in the business anymore — and then open it up (again) to members to become a shareholder.
Feels like the “doing” requirement was a hindrance to becoming a coop while the “investing/paying” is easier.
