Co-working spaces in Bangkok, Thailand

In San Francisco where I lived for the past two years, saying you “co-work” is like saying you take Uber or Lyft or know a startup founder. It’s in the DNA.

In Bangkok, co-working is a relatively new concept. The first space, HUBBA Thailand, opened in 2011.

As a business designer, I’m intrigued by co-working spaces because they require both deliberate design of space and financial viability. It’s also a growth indicator that I assess as Regional Manager of Seedstars World because it signals a sufficient mass of entrepreneurs and an increasingly collaborative ecosystem. So off I went on a mototaxi-empowered tour of co-working spaces in Bangkok.

Each of the three spaces I visited had its own unique character, in terms of location, origin, members, and design principles:

HUBBA Thailand

• Location: Ekamai (hip, urban, up and coming)
• Origin: 2011, co-founded by startup ecosystem leader Amarit Charoenphan
• Members: Entrepreneurs, creatives, freelancers
• Design principle: This is your home and family.

Photo credit: art4d.com

The Hive Bangkok

• Location: Thong lor (the expat zone)
• Origin: 2013 in Hong Kong by entrepreneur Constant Tedder, arrived in Bangkok in May 2014
• Members: Creatives and freelancers
• Design principle: Minimalistic comfort

Launchpad

• Location: Silom (financial district)
• Origin: 2012 by local entpreneurs and VCs (Vincent Sethiwan, Sam Tiyavutiroj, and Siravut Tummavaranukup)
• Members: Startups, entrepreneurs, professionals
• Design principle: Spacious productivity.

But there was one thing in common: The people in the co-working spaces were almost all foreigners.
I was curious why there wasn’t a more even mix of local Thais and foreigners. So I tried to understand: what are the barriers a local Thai faces in accessing a co-working space?

(1) Affordability: It’s not yet an affordable option for many locals. For example, membership at The Hive Bangkok starts at 500 baht(45 USD) per month for 5 days a month, which includes a hotseat, mailbox, meeting room access, and printing. For full-time, 24 /7 membership, it’s 1600 baht (140 USD) per month. If you’re a bootstrapping entrepreneur or a locally paid creative, that’s a hefty investment to make.

Build it and they still won’t come.