7 Online Coworking Platform Success Stories [2024]
An online coworking platform is a website or app that connects remote workers, freelancers, and entrepreneurs, allowing them to work together in a virtual shared workspace.
It provides tools for collaboration, communication, and access to resources like virtual meeting rooms or project management tools.
To start this business on a budget, you can begin by creating a user-friendly website or app using affordable website-building platforms or hiring freelancers for development.
Focus on building a strong community by offering free trials or low-cost memberships initially to attract users.
As the platform grows, you can explore monetization options like paid memberships, premium features, or partnerships with businesses for additional revenue streams.
In this list, you'll find real-world online coworking platform success stories and very profitable examples of starting a online coworking platform that makes money.
1. Nomad List ($3M/year)
Levels' businesses revolve around facilitating the digital nomad lifestyle. Here's a short list of all the businesses he's started:
PhotoAI: $70K/m
InteriorAI: $49K/m
RemoteOK $41K/m
NomadList $30K/m readMAKE (book): $21k/m
These platforms are unified by their focus on automation, user-generated content, and community-building, catering to a growing demographic that seeks flexibility, freedom, and opportunity in work and life.
Personal Need and Frustration:
- The idea for Nomad List sparked from Levels' personal desire to escape the 9-5 grind and work from anywhere in the world.
- Many of his other projects originated from personal needs or frustrations. For instance, he created Remote OK because he saw a gap in the job market for remote positions, aiming to make it easier for individuals to find remote work opportunities globally.
12 Startups in 12 Months Challenge:
- In 2014, Levels set himself the challenge of launching 12 startups in 12 months.
- This experiment wasn't just about building businesses but about learning rapidly, understanding the market, and identifying what works and what doesn't.
- This challenge led to the creation of several projects, including Nomad List.
Desire for Autonomy and Freedom:
- Levels has always been motivated by a desire for autonomy, freedom, and the ability to work from anywhere.
- This personal philosophy has driven him to create platforms that empower others to do the same, by providing tools, resources, and communities that support a location-independent lifestyle.
Solving Problems for Digital Nomads:
- He recognized the unique challenges faced by digital nomads, such as finding the best places to live and work remotely.
- Levels sought to address these issues through his platforms, creating a suite of tools and resources that cater specifically to the needs of this community.
Automation and Minimalism:
- He is a proponent of automation and running lean operations.
- This philosophy has not only influenced how he builds and manages his businesses but also what kinds of projects he decides to pursue.
- He focuses on creating efficient, automated systems that require minimal ongoing maintenance, allowing him to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
How much money it makes: $3M/year
How much did it cost to start: $150
Pieter Levels builds a multimillion-dollar empire catering to digital nomads, with businesses like Nomad List generating $30K/month in revenue, focusing on automation, user-generated content, and community-building to support the location-independent lifestyle.
2. The Office Pass (TOP) ($2.7M/year)
Aditya Verma, the Founder & CEO of The Office Pass, came up with the idea for his coworking business after realizing the significant amount of time, effort, and money wasted by people commuting to work in India. He re-hashed the conventional coworking model to create Neighborhood Coworking, offering high-quality office spaces close to people's residences or businesses. The Office Pass is now the only company in India offering this unique concept, with plans to expand to 55-60 offices and cater to over 1,000 companies.
How much money it makes: $2.7M/year
How much did it cost to start: $100K
How many people on the team: 15
The Office Pass, a neighbourhood coworking and managed office company in India, is growing at a rate of over 180% YoY, aims to reach USD 7.3 million over the next 24 months, and offers workspace options suitable for the Indian scenario.
3. Bcombinator ($1.2M/year)
Bcombinator was co-founded by an entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience and a successful track record of creating and scaling startups. The idea for Bcombinator came from the founder's experience teaching entrepreneurship and their desire to create a comprehensive startup incubation program that combines mentoring, networking, investment, and other support services. Since its launch in 2017, Bcombinator has worked with over 100 entrepreneurs and launched approximately 25 startups.
How much money it makes: $1.2M/year
How much did it cost to start: $3K
How many people on the team: 10
Learn how Bcombinator, a startup incubator co-founded by a serial entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience, has launched around 25 startups and worked with over 100 entrepreneurs with their incubation, acceleration, mentoring, training, networking, and investment fund programs.
4. Room2work ($180K/year)
Alan Crowe, founder of coworking space Room2work, came up with the idea after realizing that small contractors needed more than just storage space. Combining the coworking model with the self-storage model, Crowe created a shared office space that catered to local businesses in need of professional amenities, office space, and storage. Despite launching right before the pandemic, Room2work has managed to attract and retain customers, with a focus on optimizing services and providing value to members.
How much money it makes: $180K/year
How much did it cost to start: $200K
How many people on the team: 1
Founder Alan Crowe launched Room2work, a niche coworking space for small businesses in 2020, generating $14K a month with plans to reach $100K in gross profit, by combining the coworking model with the self-storage model to offer a flexible office space optimized for local SEO, virtual offices, and meeting rooms designed for virtual teams.
5. Ramen Club ($48K/year)
Charlie stumbled upon Product Hunt and attended indie hacker meetups. Eventually, he saw how encouraging meet ups are, leading him to start with the idea validation process.
How much money it makes: $48K/year
How much did it cost to start: $250
How many people on the team: 0
Ramen Club is a founder community that aims to help solopreneurs succeed, enjoy their journey, and feel less lonely; it currently has over 100 members and $3,800 MRR with 35% MoM revenue growth between April and May 2022.
6. SinOficina ($36K/year)
Chris's eight year old suggested him the idea of "food named states". A photo series based on this idea went viral on Instagram, and a couple years later, Chris started developing a Shopify store for t-shirts based on the same concept.
How much money it makes: $36K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
How many people on the team: 0
SinOficina is an online coworking space for Spanish-speaking freelancers and entrepreneurs that generates $3,000 per month in revenue, which founder Bosco Soler built by sharing his journey with his audience, delegating tasks, collaborating with formidable people and using WordPress, Slack, Mailchimp, Airtable, Crowdcast, Zapier and Notion.
7. Indie Worldwide ($24K/year)
Anthony came up with the idea for Indie Worldwide after experiencing setbacks in his career and freelancing. He leveraged his experience in running events and his desire to be like other successful founders in the indie hacking community to create a virtual meetup for indie hackers. Through organic growth and strategic launches on platforms like Product Hunt, the community has grown to over 2,000 members and has multiple revenue streams, including a successful Founders' Club with $5.5k in ARR and sponsorships.
How much money it makes: $24K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1.2K
How many people on the team: 1
Indie Worldwide has scaled to 2,000 members with revenue streams generating $5.5k ARR and $3k in sponsorships, offering aspiring founders a blueprint for creating profitable virtual communities.
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
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