Success leaves clues. Berhard Mehl, founder of CoworkingResources, shares his thoughts on the past, present, and future of the company, as well as the insight he gained from running the business. Q: Who are you and what’s your background? My name is Bernhard Mehl and I am originally from Munich, Germany - now living in Brooklyn, New York. I’ve started my career as a product designer, after having studied both in my hometown of Munich and in the US at Columbia University. Q: Who has been your biggest influence, and why did they have such a significant effect on you? I think it’s worth being inspired by someone who has a strong set of values you believe in. In my opinion the more approachable that person for you is, the better you can understand those, so for me the coffee shop owner next door, the personal trainer in the gym or the local music band I follow are all big influences in my life in the context of shaping my sensitivity and making me see things I didn’t notice before. I guess you could say that I’m inspired by people who built something from scratch and found a way to match this with a need in the market. Q: Knowing what you know now, what would you have told yourself when you were in your twenties? Starting a business always feels exciting and you feel like you know exactly what you need to do to get going. In most cases, that is wrong - typically understanding what you’re not doing, evaluating if those topics could be relevant for your business, and quickly becoming an expert in those areas is crucial for the growth of your business. So, to sum up, I would tell myself to be eager to learn more about the market I was working with. Q: What is CoworkingResources? CoworkingResources is a publication that aims to provide the most comprehensive, unbiased guides for coworking space owners to run a more efficient space. We deliver resources that help members find coworking spaces around the world, the latest news in the industry and expert insights from coworking space owners themselves. Q: What makes your company different from its competitors? In the real estate industry most people are writing about new leases or new buildings. What is more important for CoworkingResources is the people inside those spaces and how they feel. This is why as a publication we exclusively focus on shared workspaces and the people who operate them. Q: What led you to start CoworkingResources? When working in real estate technology we’ve noticed how the need of tenants is going towards flexible on-demand spaces. We’ve also noticed that large landlords mostly aren’t aware of this need yet or are “outsourcing” those offerings to smaller shared workspace providers. Over time it became clear that on-demand real estate is one of the biggest shifts in commercial real estate and we are seeing more real estate products being structured that way from the landlord directly. Q: What has the experience of building the business taught you? Building a business is to always advance as a company. This means you need to find a healthy way to challenge what you’ve built so far to be able to get to that next level of growth you are planning for. What is usually a first-time trap is to build a perfect product first and then go look who wants it - while I’d always advise to keep these two things in parallel. Q: Where do you see things headed for you in the next 5 years? Real estate companies and related vendors leverage our website to launch new businesses, find best practices or connect with the best in the industry of shared workspaces. We have a list of never ending ideas when it comes to where to go next with CoworkingResources - from partnering closer with landlords to showrooms or even it’s own certified community. For more information, see CoworkingResources.Introduction
Who is Bernhard Mehl?
Business
True Tamplin is a published author, public speaker, CEO of UpDigital, and founder of Finance Strategists.
True is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance (CEPF®), author of The Handy Financial Ratios Guide, a member of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, contributes to his financial education site, Finance Strategists, and has spoken to various financial communities such as the CFA Institute, as well as university students like his Alma mater, Biola University, where he received a bachelor of science in business and data analytics.
To learn more about True, visit his personal website or view his author profiles on Amazon, Nasdaq and Forbes.
