Tony Bacigalupo talked to Sam Rosen of DeskPass.  

About DeskPass

DeskPass is a multi-city coworking membership that provides you access to over 175 coworking spaces in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, and Denver.  It provides affordable access to diverse workspaces. DeskPass gives people the opportunity to visit different spaces, learn about them, and get to know the community within without commitment.

Deskpass is mostly for people who work from home and enjoy it but are looking to get out of the house occasionally and explore.  These people do not really go for the physical space. They go to be around people and have some form of comradery.

Making Members Permanent

Sam found that the best spaces do the best job making people feel welcome and following up with them after.  Spaces are more successful at making DeskPass members full time members of their space when they have effective community managers.  Those that take an active role in the community to help people find matches makes all the difference. It is important not to over solicit.  The most vibrant communities are what people tend to be drawn to. People can usually feel whether or not a space has an interactive environment as soon as they walk in.

Future of Coworking

Most people still have no idea that coworking is an option for them.  According to Sam, this makes the future of coworking seem brighter as there are still a lot of people who have yet to be reached.

The coworking landscape has evolved tremendously since it began.  There are many more spaces meaning more competition and a wider range of spaces and prices.  This gives people a lot of options to choose from depending on their preferences. However, the competition between spaces has also made it harder for operators.  The industry is beginning to have more niche driven spaces whereas they were previously more generic. There are spaces focused on social impact, technology, specific industries, etc.