CoworkLife

August 2017 - August 2018

Role

Co-founder and UX Designer responsible for user research, product strategy, motion prototyping, IxD, VxD, user testing, information architecture, and WordPress.

Team

Designer (1), Co-founders (2), Developer (1), Marketing Agency (1)

Objective

Help people find a coworking space that matches their needs with a simple online search.

Challenges

I was the only designer, so I rarely got any feedback or pushback on my design decisions.

The problem

People had a hard time searching for a coworking space that matched their personal and professional needs because there wasn’t enough information online. They had to try between 2 to 4 different offices before finding the perfect match.

Solution

I designed a mobile-first listings website and categorized coworking spaces into profession and lifestyle categories to boost people’s productivity and help them connect to other professionals and projects related to their fields.

Outcome

Our MVP got accepted to Spark Up, a well-known business incubator at one of the most prestigious universities in Mexico. We received funding to define a business plan and launch our product into the market.

After 6 months of sales and marketing efforts, we didn’t see any positive results. We held focus groups with coworking owners and customers and realized that the issue was not getting new customers, but poor management of their business. The business model pivoted to an ERP for coworking admins and was sold to a local software development company.

Background

I was working from a coworking space because I wanted to meet other people and create meaningful relationships. That’s when I met Carlos Sordo, who later became my partner in this project. Our motivations were very similar and we both struggled to find the perfect coworking space after trying out at least 4 of them.

After chatting with other fellow coworkers, we noticed that this was a common issue so we decided to do something about it and started our entrepreneurship called CoworkLife.

Photo of Carlos and me chatting with other coworkers on the issues they had faced.

Research

The market in Mexico was rising, but it was still a new concept and there weren’t many websites with options to choose from.

68%

Of companies that predicted that most of their employees wouldn’t be confined to an office by 2021.

74

Coworking spaces in Mexico, compared to only 20 in 2015.

7,800

Coworking spaces worldwide in 2015.

Source: American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

Competitive analysis

Our biggest competitor had less than 3 months in Mexico with very few registered spaces, so we thought of it as an opportunity.

Coworker's freemium business model.

Coworker's owner registration.

User insights

I visited several coworking spaces in Guadalajara and led around 15 hours of user interviews, workshops, and focus groups. Their speech started to become very similar:

I had to try 3 or 4 different coworking spaces until I found one that I loved.

Insight 1

“I want to find an office that suits my lifestyle.”

Insight 2

“I want to connect with similar professionals and projects.”

Insight 3

“I don´t know where to look for an office space.”

Users

After my initial research, I found 2 types of potential users that had similar pain points and needs.

Young entrepreneurs

21 - 25 years old

Pain points

01 Low budget.

02 Grow their professional circle.

03 Strong mobile user.

User goal

Young entrepreneurs need to find coworking spaces according to their budget in order to connect with other entrepreneurs and grow their professional circle.

Freelance professionals

25 - 35 years old

Pain points

01 Get more work.

02 Be closer to other professionals.

03 Strong mobile user.

User goal

Freelance professionals need to find a coworking space they can relate to in order to boost their productivity and connect with people and projects related to their fields.