Hi all,
I decided to make the coliving cocktail more personal. Since starting this newsletter half a year ago, coliving has become more established and news are overly available. I believe that sharing my personal insights are more pertinent than just summarizing coliving news.
So, welcome into my world.
What I’m currently thinking about —
I’ve been having several discussions around what makes people stay in coliving. From a customer point of view, I believe that the decision-making process on whether to stay in a coliving space starts with price (“does it make financially sense for me to stay here?”), followed by product (“do I have the living quality that I could have otherwise?”), and ends with communal experience (“am i getting a feeling of belonging that I would otherwise not have?”). Now here’s the challenge: could the communal experience be so good that it will overrate price and product? I believe it can. I’ve seen first hand how some places do not offer privacy, or do not offer affordable pricing, yet people stay 1+ years because of the people (such as Haven, Podshare, or OpenDoor). Read more about it in my most recent blogpost.
My major takeaways from recent coliving news —
I’ve never seen as many big developers entering the coliving game as of last month. Like this 44-storey tower with 2,000+ coliving units in Manchester or student operator Crosslane announcing the development of three coliving spaces with the acquisition of sites in London. But I’ve also noticed how coliving is becoming more inclusive: check out this 10-story shared living development for low-income families, this communal living project for war veterans, a shared living space dedicated to helping people with disabilities, or this development that offers 15% of rooms to affordable housing. While socially-driven coliving spaces remain the exception, overall growth in funding (such as Bungalow’s recent $47m round) and development will lead to the rise of more diversity within the coliving scene.
My favorite reads —
Don’t miss out those events —
If you’re in Paris, attend this year’s last Co-Liv meetup on December 5th. If you’re in Singapore, join the first Co-Liv meetup on December 10th. If you’re an operator, check out Coliving Hub’s Mastermind on Jan 10-12 in Germany.
Quote I’m pondering on —
“There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.” - Margaret J. Wheatley
And a few updates on what’s been going on in my life —
November has been filled with events, encounters, and the launch of a few projects. Mainly, I hosted in cooperation with Christine from Coliving Hub the coliving panel at the Class of 2020 and the panel at MIPIM Proptech in NYC.
I then organized with Co-Liv a two-day learning expedition in Tel Aviv, visiting coliving spaces such as Communit and Venn, organized a panel with municipality representatives, and visiting several Kibbutz (even urban ones).
I’ve also launched the Coliving Insights Magazine, which will also come out next week as a print version. Now, I’m in Mallorca for the opening of Startup Embassy and for the first week this year, my calendar is empty. I’m finally stopping that positive procrastination and writing my book 😉
Colivingly yours,
Gui
PS: If you have any thoughts on my writing, please share them with me, I’d love to read them. And if you want to let go of my thoughts, you can do so anytime here.
The Coliving Cocktail newsletter fills you twice a month with the latest updates from the coliving industry, major content pieces, upcoming industry events, and personal insights from our founder on how to improve your user experience.
