<p>Bengaluru is home to several startups and not all entrepreneurs can afford their own infrastructure.<br /><br /></p>.<p>While this might have given rise to several co-working spaces in the city, those who choose to work from such spaces often enjoy several other benefits.<br /><br />With several startups and even consultants working from such spaces, it becomes easier for newbies to network.<br /><br />“Having a community really helps,” says Arun Krishnan, founder, n! Factorial Analytical Sciences. “You could also talk to several other people about your ideas and come up with something new.”<br /><br />He says this has happened to him several times. “Moreover, we have four people now,” he adds. “Unless you have 10 or more, paying for an office space doesn’t make sense.”<br />Tushar Mehta, marketing head of Get My Uni, a search platform for students to <br />find colleges, echoes these sentiments. “Perhaps, we could manage the rent, but <br />we couldn’t afford the same sort of infrastructure — a foosball table, for example,” he says.<br /><br />He also points out that exchanging favours also helps. “If there’s a technical problem we can’t solve, we can ask someone else,” he says. “And after college, when graduates — our consumers — are looking for a job, we could put them in touch with other startups working with us.”<br /><br />He goes on to say that since there isn’t much books can teach you about running a startup, people with more experience can go a long way in helping you learn.<br /><br />Mate Labs, which works in the sphere of machine learning, was founded four years ago. The firm had its own office till it participated in a programme for startups earlier this year.<br />“And for seven months now, we have been working out of 91springboard, a space in Koramangala,” says Rahul Vishwakarma, a co-founder.<br /><br />To him, the community that you become part of while working from a space like that is more important than the monetary aspect of it.<br /><br />Apart from startups, small companies and freelancers also choose co-working spaces over keeping their own offices or working from home. Vivek Vijayan, a product management consultant, started working out of Jaaga a couple of years ago, when he was working for a company in London.<br /><br />“Even before I started consulting independently, we weren’t many working from Bengaluru so a city office didn’t make sense for us,” he adds.<br /><br />He says he has considered working out of home but would rather not mix the professional and personal. “And when you have a dedicated workspace, it instils discipline,” he adds. <br /><br />“This is particulary difficult to achieve at home if you’re living with family.” So, whether it’s for discipline, its pocket-friendly character or networking, co-working spaces are probably here to stay.<br /></p>
<p>Bengaluru is home to several startups and not all entrepreneurs can afford their own infrastructure.<br /><br /></p>.<p>While this might have given rise to several co-working spaces in the city, those who choose to work from such spaces often enjoy several other benefits.<br /><br />With several startups and even consultants working from such spaces, it becomes easier for newbies to network.<br /><br />“Having a community really helps,” says Arun Krishnan, founder, n! Factorial Analytical Sciences. “You could also talk to several other people about your ideas and come up with something new.”<br /><br />He says this has happened to him several times. “Moreover, we have four people now,” he adds. “Unless you have 10 or more, paying for an office space doesn’t make sense.”<br />Tushar Mehta, marketing head of Get My Uni, a search platform for students to <br />find colleges, echoes these sentiments. “Perhaps, we could manage the rent, but <br />we couldn’t afford the same sort of infrastructure — a foosball table, for example,” he says.<br /><br />He also points out that exchanging favours also helps. “If there’s a technical problem we can’t solve, we can ask someone else,” he says. “And after college, when graduates — our consumers — are looking for a job, we could put them in touch with other startups working with us.”<br /><br />He goes on to say that since there isn’t much books can teach you about running a startup, people with more experience can go a long way in helping you learn.<br /><br />Mate Labs, which works in the sphere of machine learning, was founded four years ago. The firm had its own office till it participated in a programme for startups earlier this year.<br />“And for seven months now, we have been working out of 91springboard, a space in Koramangala,” says Rahul Vishwakarma, a co-founder.<br /><br />To him, the community that you become part of while working from a space like that is more important than the monetary aspect of it.<br /><br />Apart from startups, small companies and freelancers also choose co-working spaces over keeping their own offices or working from home. Vivek Vijayan, a product management consultant, started working out of Jaaga a couple of years ago, when he was working for a company in London.<br /><br />“Even before I started consulting independently, we weren’t many working from Bengaluru so a city office didn’t make sense for us,” he adds.<br /><br />He says he has considered working out of home but would rather not mix the professional and personal. “And when you have a dedicated workspace, it instils discipline,” he adds. <br /><br />“This is particulary difficult to achieve at home if you’re living with family.” So, whether it’s for discipline, its pocket-friendly character or networking, co-working spaces are probably here to stay.<br /></p>
