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Brave Ideas Season 18, Episode 6 “The GCUC Series” Season Finale Tap here to visit GCUC Why disciplined growth, private office economics, and customer focus still matter in a market chasing more complex deal structures. Coworking has always had a strong missionary streak. Community, entrepreneurship, access, belonging, and impact are part of what make the industry powerful. But mission does not pay the rent on its own. Without strong unit economics, disciplined underwriting, operational control, and a clear understanding of the customer, even the best-intentioned operators can build something fragile. In this episode, Brave Corp CEO, Caleb Parker sits down with Chiko Abengowe, Founder and CEO of Perfect Offices, to unpack why simplicity can still be a competitive advantage. While much of the industry has moved toward management agreements, hybrid leases, and increasingly complex partnership structures, Chiko has continued scaling through disciplined lease deals, private offices, and a deep understanding of the entrepreneur customer. This conversation gets into the tension between being a missionary and a mercenary, why private offices remain such a powerful product, how Chiko evaluates landlords and locations, and why the strongest coworking businesses need both purpose and profit if they want to survive. The Commercial Shift * Why mission without margin can create a fragile coworking business. * How private office economics can support more durable cash flow and operational resilience. * Why disciplined lease deals can still work when the operator understands the customer, the landlord, and the market. * How knowing exactly who you serve can create focus, pricing discipline, and stronger growth decisions. Watch or listen wherever you get Brave Ideas. Behind the Scenes Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Brave Ideas Season 18, Episode 5 “The GCUC Series” Tap here to visit GCUC Why occupier demand, hospitality, and landlord-operator partnerships are changing how companies choose office buildings. Enterprise occupiers are not evaluating flex the way they used to. It is no longer just a short-term fix at the end of the real estate process. It is becoming part of how companies think about portfolio strategy, building selection, team gatherings, services, and optionality. That changes the role of the flex operator. In the right building, flex can support conferencing, events, hospitality, front-of-house experience, overflow capacity, and even broader facilities management. For landlords, that means the operator is no longer just filling space, they may be helping the building compete. In this episode, Brave Corp CEO, Caleb Parker sits down with Shay Bolton (Corporate Managing Director) and Kirill Azovtsev (Vice Chairman) from Savills to unpack what enterprise occupiers are really buying when they choose flex. They discuss how companies evaluate flexible workplaces, what they value in a building, why hospitality and customer experience matter, and how landlords are responding to changing demand. This conversation gets into enterprise demand, flight to quality, building amenities, landlord partnerships, deal structure risk, construction costs, security deposits, and why the strongest flex strategies need to work for the occupier, the operator, and the landlord. The Commercial Shift * Why enterprise occupiers are using flex as part of broader portfolio strategy, not just short-term overflow. * How flex can help landlords and operators respond to what enterprise customers actually value. * Why hospitality, conferencing, amenities, and customer service are becoming part of how occupiers compare buildings. * How deal risks such as security deposits, entity strength, and construction costs can still derail strong operator-landlord partnerships. Watch or listen wherever you get Brave Ideas. Behind the Scenes Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Brave Ideas Season 18, Episode 4 “The GCUC Series” Tap here to visit GCUC Why team autonomy, shared infrastructure, and flexible workplace networks could reshape how companies use office space. The traditional office was built for a more predictable world. Modern work is becoming more fluid, more team-led, and harder to contain inside one fixed workplace model. Work is increasingly organised around teams, projects, skills, and changing priorities. But much of the office market still assumes stable headcount, fixed space requirements, and long-term occupancy patterns that no longer reflect how many businesses actually operate. In this episode, Brave Corp CEO, Caleb Parker sits down with returning Brave Ideas guest Phil Kirschner, Founder of PK Consulting LLC, to unpack why traditional offices remain misaligned with modern work. They discuss full-stack flex, enterprise demand, team autonomy, workplace infrastructure, shared space, employee choice, and why buildings need to support movement, not just occupancy. This conversation is about whether office real estate can keep up with organisations that are becoming more decentralised, more dynamic, and less willing to accept generic space that tries to serve everyone, everywhere, all at once. The Commercial Shift * Why traditional office products may struggle when companies need more variable, team-led space. * How full-stack flex can support movement, optionality, and better use of workplace assets. * Why shared infrastructure could become more important as occupiers rethink headquarters, satellite space, and third places. * How landlords and operators can create buildings that support changing work patterns instead of forcing customers into fixed assumptions. Watch or listen wherever you get Brave Ideas. Behind the Scenes Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Brave Ideas Season 18, Episode 3 “The GCUC Series” Tap here to visit GCUC Why brand, design, customer focus, and private office economics matter in a market where too many spaces still feel interchangeable. Generic coworking is easy to copy. Premium positioning is much harder to replicate. For years, much of the serviced office and executive suite market competed on convenience and price. Coworking then added energy, community, and brand. But as the market becomes more crowded, customers need a stronger reason to choose one space over another. In this episode, Brave Corp CEO, Caleb Parker sits down Flip Howard, CEO of Lucid Private Offices, to unpack how Lucid evolved from a traditional executive suite operator into a more intentional, premium private office brand. They discuss brand positioning, design consistency, customer experience, community, private office economics, and why Lucid chose to sit between the old executive suite model and the more casual coworking model. This conversation is about why premium positioning starts with knowing exactly who you serve, and why the future of flex may not belong to the loudest brands, but to the operators who understand their customer, protect the margin, and create places people genuinely want to work. The Commercial Shift * Why premium positioning can help operators move beyond commodity office space. * How design can attract the right customer before the sales pitch even begins. * Why private offices remain one of the strongest revenue drivers in coworking and flex. * How knowing your niche can create pricing power, stronger retention, and a more durable brand. Watch or listen wherever you get Brave Ideas. Behind the Scenes Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Brave Ideas Season 18, Episode 2 “The GCUC Series” Tap here to visit GCUC Why flex operators need to prove their business model, not just sell their brand, to win the next generation of landlord partnerships. Winning landlords used to be easier. Pay the highest rent, show proof of funds, sign the lease, and deal done. That world has changed. As flex moves from lease arbitrage to hybrid leases, management agreements, and revenue share structures, landlords are no longer just evaluating the rent. They are evaluating the operator, the strategy, the capital stack, the customer demand, and the probability that the business will actually perform. In this episode, Brave Corp CEO, Caleb Parker sits down with Christine Wyckoff (Head of Americas Flexible Office Solutions ) and Justin Halpern (Managing Director) from Cushman & Wakefield to unpack what landlords are really looking for from flex operators today. They discuss enterprise demand, speed to market, hybrid leases, management agreements, revenue share, landlord selection, and why operators increasingly need to walk into landlord meetings with the discipline of a company raising capital. This conversation is about how flex operators win landlord confidence, and why the best deals now require more than a good location, a known brand, or a strong rent offer. The Commercial Shift * Why landlords are evaluating flex operators as strategic partners, not just tenants. * How hybrid leases, management agreements, and revenue share structures are changing the operator pitch. * Why operators need to understand the landlord’s ownership structure, capital stack, and investment priorities before pitching a deal. * How enterprise demand is making flex a building-level advantage, not just an operator-level product. Watch or listen wherever you get Brave Ideas. Behind the Scenes Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Brave Ideas Season 18, Episode 1 “The GCUC Series” Tap here to visit GCUC Why tenant-level intelligence, customer behaviour, and retention may define the next office cycle. A rent roll tells you who occupies the building. It does not tell you whether they are engaged, using the space, or likely to stay. Office landlords used to manage leases. In a more predictable market, that was often enough. But when occupiers are reassessing how much space they need, how their teams use it, and whether the building still supports their business, the rent roll only tells part of the story. In this episode, Brave Corp CEO, Caleb Parker sits down with Brandon Medeiros, CEO of Rekalibrate, to unpack why office real estate is becoming a customer intelligence business. They discuss tenant-level data, retention versus renewal, occupancy signals, amenity performance, AI, and why landlords need to understand what is happening behind the lease long before the lease event arrives. This conversation is about how landlords move from rent rolls to relationships, and why tenant-level intelligence may become critical to protecting income, reducing value leakage, and making better decisions in a less predictable office market. The Commercial Shift * Why rent rolls can create false comfort when customer behaviour is changing. * How tenant-level intelligence can help landlords identify retention risk before it becomes vacancy. * Why understanding the people using the building now matters as much as understanding the company on the lease. * How amenities, technology, and engagement need to prove their value through measurable customer outcomes. Watch or listen wherever you get Brave Ideas. Behind the Scenes Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Your early sneak peek. Full Season drops on July 1 Visit BraveIdeas.media to watch this trailer and see our distinguished guests. Office real estate is being rewritten. That’s no longer a grand statement by industry commentators. It’s literally being rewritten. In the financial models being underwritten. In the deals being negotiated. In the buildings being repositioned. In the way office customers are using space. And in the operators proving that flex is no longer an afterthought. What happens when coworking stops being a niche, and starts becoming part of the core strategy for office real estate? This is Brave Ideas Season 18 “The GCUC Series” Over six conversations, we sat down with operators, brokers, consultants, and workplace strategists to ask a bigger question… What happens when coworking grows up from an industry category into a real estate strategy? Because GCUC’s 50th edition was about more than coworking, and this Brave Ideas season brings a taste of that conversation straight to you. This season is about office real estate. It is about value. What creates value when long leases are harder to rely on, vacancy is still a risk, and customers have more choice than ever? It is about demand. What do enterprise occupiers actually want from flex today, and how is that changing the way landlords think about their buildings? It is about hospitality. Not as a buzzword, but as an operating layer that can improve experience, engagement, and retention. It is about brand. Who are you for, what do you stand for, and why should a customer choose your building over the one across the street? And it is about underwriting. Because no matter how good the story sounds, the math still has to work. This season explores the tension sitting at the heart of the market. The tension between the missionaries and the mercenaries. The missionaries who believe deeply in community, belonging, entrepreneurship, and creating places people actually want to be. And the mercenaries who know that without disciplined underwriting, strong margins, rent coverage, and operational control, the business does not survive. This season asks whether the future belongs to one side or the other. Or whether the real winners will be the operators, landlords, and investors who understand both. Because mission without margin is fragile. But margin without mission is just real estate with better furniture. Some operators are moving toward management agreements, landlord partnerships, open plan communities, and highly activated spaces. Others are winning by going back to the foundational basics of the industry, private offices, disciplined leases, clear customer focus, and simple economics. Neither side gets a free pass. Because the real question is not which model sounds most innovative. The real question is: Which model works, for that customer, in that building, with that landlord, in that market? Visit BraveIdeas.media to watch this trailer and see our distinguished guests. Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Brave Ideas Season 17, Episode 10 Presented by Flexspace AI Learn how Flexspace AI is transforming coworking with their ecommerce revenue platform, featuring SmartPricing Agent, an AI-powered dynamic pricing engine. Tap here De-Risking Flex Starts Before the Doors Open Opening a new flex location is hard enough. Opening your first location around 85% occupied before the doors officially open is something different. In this episode of Brave Ideas, Caleb Parker is joined by Mark Gregson, CoFounder at Juntos, to unpack how the new coworking and flex office brand de-risked its first deal, took over a former WeWork location in Holborn, and launched with strong demand already validated. Mark teamed up with his CoFounder, James Hennessy to launch Juntos House. Juntos House is a 28,892 SqFt building on a 12-year lease with no breaks. Rather than starting from shell and core, Juntos inherited high-quality existing infrastructure, reduced its upfront CapEx requirement, and created a faster path to market. That deal structure helped make the investment case more attractive, shortened the expected payback period, and gave the business early cash flow to support future growth. Mark explains why Juntos is not following a standard copy-and-paste expansion model. The team is already looking at opportunities in London, Amsterdam, and New York, while also exploring coffee shops, play cafes, and family-friendly work concepts that respond to changing customer demand. This conversation goes deep into what makes a flex deal work commercially, from CapEx efficiency and investor alignment to lease structure, revenue quality, customer covenant, retention, and community. Mark also shares a strong view on what community should actually mean in a coworking environment. For him, it is about understanding the people in and around the building, designing around their non-negotiables, and creating a place where members feel happy, productive, and connected. Listen to the full episode to hear how Juntos is thinking about the next generation of flex, the opportunity in former operator spaces, and why de-risking a deal starts long before the first member walks through the door. Visit www.BraveIdeas.media to watch this episode and join the newsletter. Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Brave Ideas Season 17, Episode 9 Presented by Flexspace AI Learn how Flexspace AI is transforming coworking with their ecommerce revenue platform, featuring SmartPricing Agent, an AI-powered dynamic pricing engine. Tap here AI Is Reshaping Office Search In this episode of Brave Ideas, Caleb Parker is joined by Zoe Ellis-Moore, CEO of Space to Places, and co-host Eyal Lasker, CEO of Flexspace AI, to explore how AI is beginning to influence office search, and why better data, greater transparency, and clearer market information will become more important as companies use new tools to discover and compare office options. Don’t worry if you’re not a techie…This is a conversation about the information layer the office market needs if AI-enabled discovery is going to work properly. Zoe explains why the flex office market is still difficult for customers to navigate. With coworking, serviced offices, managed offices, enterprise suites, landlord-led flex, and hybrid models all competing for attention, the terminology is often confusing and the data is inconsistent. That becomes even more important as companies begin using LLMs and AI tools to search for office space. If customers are asking, “where is the best office for my team?” or “which workplace fits our culture, budget, and location?”, the industry needs cleaner, more trusted, and more structured data. Zoe shares her vision for Office Tier List, an independent information layer designed to help end users compare workplace options with greater confidence, based on verified information rather than marketing claims or opaque incentives. The conversation also covers brand differentiation, managed office growth, service quality, workplace culture, and why the next phase of flex will depend on better information as much as better product. Visit www.BraveIdeas.media to watch this episode & join the newsletter. Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Brave Ideas Season 17, Episode 8 Presented by Flexspace AI Learn how Flexspace AI is transforming coworking with their ecommerce revenue platform, featuring SmartPricing Agent, an AI-powered dynamic pricing engine. Tap here The Frontline Knows Before the Dashboard In this episode of Brave Ideas, Caleb Parker is joined by Sophie Turnbull, Chief Revenue Officer at Orega, along with Cohost, Eyal Lasker, CEO of Flexspace AI. Sophie has been in the flexible office industry for nearly two decades, and you can hear it in the way she talks about the business. She started at The Instant Group back in 2008, when this industry was still a much smaller world, and has since worked across several different operator brands, including Work.Life, Huckletree, and now Orega. That gives her a pretty unique perspective. She has seen the broker side, the operator side, the community-led brands, the design-led brands, and the more traditional serviced office side. So when Sophie talks about what actually makes a flex business work, it is not theory. It is based on years of being close to the customer, close to the sales team, and close to the operational detail. One of the points that really stood out in this conversation is how much valuable customer intelligence sits with the frontline team. The people at reception. The people walking the floors.The people speaking with customers every day. The people who hear the passing comments in the kitchen, the corridor, or the lift. Often, they know when a customer is happy, frustrated, growing, shrinking, or quietly thinking about leaving long before that shows up in a renewal report. And that is where this conversation gets really interesting. Because if operators are serious about reducing churn, improving retention, and making better commercial decisions, they need to find better ways to capture that insight and bring it into the business. We also talk about customer fit, pipeline discipline, broker relationships, sales training, product knowledge, and why operators need to stop treating customers as just a number in an office. This episode is a practical look at how frontline insight, commercial discipline, and better account management can help operators build stronger, more resilient flexible workspace businesses. Visit www.BraveIdeas.media to watch the full episode and join the newsletter Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Brave Ideas Season 17, Episode 7 Presented by Flexspace AI Learn how Flexspace AI is transforming coworking with their ecommerce revenue platform, featuring SmartPricing Agent, an AI-powered dynamic pricing engine. Tap here For decades, office real estate was built around a simple idea, sign the lease, collect the rent, manage the building. But that model is under pressure. Customers want more flexibility. SMEs need room to grow and contract. Teams want better service. Landlords need more resilient income. And in a market where occupiers have more choice, the operators who understand people may be better positioned than landlords who only understand space. In this episode of Brave Ideas, Caleb Parker is joined by Rebekah Lloyd-Beere, Head of Flex at MediaCity, where she leads a 100,000 SqFt flex operation in Manchester, England. Rebekah’s career did not start in traditional property. She came from hospitality, joined MediaCity as a receptionist ten years ago, and built her career by identifying what customers needed before the organisation had roles designed to serve them. Today, she oversees the P&L, customer experience, and growth of MediaCity’s flex business. Joining as co-host is Eyal Lasker, CEO of Flexspace AI. This conversation is a direct challenge to how many office landlords still think about value. Rebekah explains why flex is not just about shorter contracts or higher desk rates. It is about retention, trust, customer lifetime value, and knowing when the best commercial decision is not to squeeze the highest rent today, but to keep the right customer for the long term. We get into the practical decisions behind that mindset, from helping a customer downsize rather than lose them, to using virtual offices, meeting rooms, podcast studios, and day bookings as entry points into long-term membership. Rebekah also explains why small hospitality details, remembering names, understanding businesses, checking in when people are struggling, can directly influence retention. For office landlords and investors, the message is clear, the future of office value will not be created by rent roll alone. It will be created by operating models that understand the people inside them. Listen to the full episode to hear how MediaCity is turning flex into a customer retention strategy, and why the next generation of office landlords may need to think less like rent collectors, and more like operators. Watch the full episode and join the newsletter at wwwBraveIdeas.media Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Brave Ideas Season 17, Episode 6 Presented by Flexspace AI Learn how Flexspace AI is transforming coworking with their ecommerce revenue platform, featuring SmartPricing Agent, an AI-powered dynamic pricing engine. Tap here Customer First, Spreadsheet Second Roy explains why Tradestars reversed the traditional real estate process, starting with what founders and business owners actually need, then working back to the spreadsheet, instead of beginning with NIA, GIA, and rent maximisation. In this episode of Brave Ideas, Caleb Parker and cohost Eyal Lasker , CEO at Flexspace AI, are joined by Roy Shaby, Founder and CEO of Tradestars, for a conversation on how social commerce is creating a new category of workspace demand. Roy has one of the most entrepreneurial stories of the season. He started with a sushi delivery business run out of a rented kebab shop kitchen, turned that into one of London’s early dark kitchen businesses, then went on to cofound FoodStars, which was later acquired by Travis Kalanick’s (former Uber Founder/CEO) CloudKitchens business. Today, he is applying that same entrepreneurial lens to real estate through Tradestars. Tradestars provides offline space for online businesses, from TikTok sellers and social commerce brands to barbers, tattoo artists, beauty entrepreneurs, production companies, and digital first operators. These are not traditional office occupiers, but they are not traditional retailers either. They no longer rely on retail footfall, but still need functional, social media ready, brandable space shaped around content, community, logistics, production, client experience, and online customer acquisition. Caleb, Roy, and Eyal unpack how Tradestars turns distressed and underused buildings into operational hubs for the TikTok economy. Instead of starting with a spreadsheet and forcing customers into the asset, Roy explains how Tradestars starts with the end user, then reverse engineers the real estate model around how those businesses actually operate. They also discuss development costs, occupancy, churn, retention, customer acquisition, community, data, and why the rise of social commerce could become a meaningful force in the future of workspace. Listen to the full episode to hear how Tradestars built workspace for the TikTok economy, and what landlords, investors, and operators can learn from a model that sits somewhere between coworking, light industrial, retail, production, and hospitality. 🎧 To listen as a podcast FOR FREE switch to audio above,or follow Brave Ideas on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. What You’ll Learn in This Episode * How Roy went from running a sushi delivery business out of a kebab shop kitchen to building one of London’s early dark kitchen businesses * Why FoodStars became an early dark kitchen platform before “dark kitchens” were even a widely used term * How the FoodStars journey led to an acquisition by Travis Kalanick’s CloudKitchens * Why Tradestars was created for online entrepreneurs who still need high-quality offline operational space * How TikTok sellers, barbers, tattoo artists, beauty entrepreneurs, and production companies are changing the demand profile for real estate * Why social commerce businesses need workspace that supports content, logistics, client experience, and brand presentation * How Tradestars starts with the end user first, then reverse engineers the real estate model around that customer * How distressed and underused buildings can be repositioned into high-energy operational hubs * Why product quality matters, and how Tradestars claims to reduce development cost without compromising the customer experience * How Tradestars thinks about occupancy, churn, retention, and customer growth * Why community is not just a soft benefit, but a driver of stickiness and collaboration * How data science, CRM analysis, and marketing performance shape customer acquisition * Why the TikTok economy could become a serious demand driver for new workspace formats Key Takeaways for Operators * The TikTok economy still needs physical space.Digital first businesses may acquire customers online, but many still need studios, production space, treatment rooms, logistics support, meeting rooms, and professional environments where they can serve clients and create content. * Start with the customer, not the spreadsheet.Roy makes a direct point that Tradestars reversed the traditional real estate process. Instead of starting with net internal area, gross area, and rent maximisation, the model began with what the entrepreneur actually needs, then worked back to the underwriting. * Different entrepreneurs need different workspace products.Tradestars is not traditional coworking, but many of the same Space as a Service principles apply. Members get private studios, shared amenities, hospitality, meeting rooms, podcast facilities, logistics support, and a professional front-of-house experience. * Product quality is part of the commercial model.Tradestars has not treated design, lighting, toilets, common areas, and studio infrastructure as cosmetic extras. These details help members bring their own clients into the building, build their own brands, and justify staying. * Retention is built through flexibility.Roy discusses how Tradestars works with members when they need to grow, shrink, or adjust. That flexibility helps maintain relationships, even when member circumstances change. * Community becomes real when members trade with each other.The strongest signal is not just people attending events, it is when tattoo artists, TikTok sellers, barbers, production companies, and beauty entrepreneurs begin collaborating because they are in the same ecosystem. * Churn needs to be interrogated, not accepted.Roy personally conducts exit interviews with many departing members to understand whether they are leaving because of financial pressure, growth, service issues, or a better alternative. That is operational discipline. Key Takeaways for Real Estate Investors and Landlords * Social commerce is creating new real estate demand.TikTok sellers, creator-led brands, beauty operators, and digital first product businesses may not need high street retail in the traditional sense, but they still need physical infrastructure. That demand does not always fit neatly into office, retail, or industrial categories. * Distressed buildings need demand-led repositioning.Tradestars has taken buildings that were struggling, underused, or dilapidated, then repositioned them around a specific customer segment with clear operational needs. * The future of workspace may not look like traditional office demand.The customers using Tradestars are not simply looking for desks. They need operational space that supports selling, filming, treating clients, storing products, receiving visitors, and presenting their brands. * Diversified income can reduce concentration risk.By dividing buildings into many studios rather than relying on a small number of large occupiers, Tradestars creates a more diversified member base. That can reduce the impact of any single member leaving. * CapEx discipline can create pricing advantage.Roy explains that Tradestars goes directly to overseas manufacturers and suppliers to reduce development costs. The claim is that this allows the business to maintain product quality while building below typical market cost. * Operational real estate value is created through income, not just asset appreciation.The model is about increasing the income a building can generate by changing the use case, customer base, product design, and operating model. * Brand and experience can support valuation.Tradestars is not just renting space. It is building a recognisable platform for modern entrepreneurs. If that brand creates pricing power, retention, and repeatable demand, it becomes part of the investment logic. Behind The Scenes This episode was recorded at Tradestars on Caledonian Road, where Caleb and Eyal toured the building before sitting down with Roy. Season 17 of Brave Ideas explores one of the most important questions in office real estate today, how to build a more profitable flex business. Across the season, Caleb Parker speaks with industry leaders about the real commercial drivers behind Space-as-a-Service. Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Brave Ideas Season 17, Episode 5 Presented by Flexspace AI Learn how Flexspace AI is transforming coworking with their ecommerce revenue platform, featuring SmartPricing Agent, an AI-powered dynamic pricing engine. Tap here Beyond Occupancy and Big Deals In this episode of Brave Ideas, Caleb Parker and cohost Eyal Lasker, CEO at Flexspace AI, are joined by Jo Mapp, Commercial Director at Wizu, for a conversation on the commercial realities of building resilient flex office revenue. Jo brings a deeply commercial perspective to this conversation. She has spent years inside the flex office sector, including more than a decade at NewFlex, and today she is helping lead the next phase of growth at Wizu and Flexico as the business expands across the UK. This episode gets into the practical realities of building a more resilient flex office business. Caleb, Eyal, and Jo discuss why retention is one of the strongest drivers of long-term profitability, why large office requirements can create hidden concentration risk, and why smaller, more diversified private office suites can often produce a stronger, more stable revenue base. They also explore building layout, managed office competition, customer engagement, community, website conversion, meeting room utilisation, lead flow, viewing conversion, churn, and breakeven occupancy. Listen to the full episode to hear what operators, landlords, and investors need to understand about flex revenue quality, and why the healthiest flex businesses are built on more than headline occupancy. Visit www.BraveIdeas.media to watch the full episode and join the newsletter What You’ll Learn in This Episode * Why Wizu created Flexico as a separate brand to serve different landlord opportunities and asset profiles. * How Jo thinks about the difference between sales focus and commercial focus. * Why retention is one of the most important drivers of long-term profitability in flex. * Why bigger customers are not always better customers. * How smaller, more diversified private office suites can reduce risk and improve resilience. * Why Wizu is increasingly focused on offices for teams of around 4 to 20 people. * How managed offices are changing the competitive landscape, especially for larger requirements. * Why building layout matters, and why some buildings simply are not right for flex. * How Wizu monitors churn risk through customer feedback, quarterly meetings, engagement levels, and space usage. * Why community matters, but may not be enough on its own to keep every customer. * How meeting rooms, day passes, coworking, and virtual offices contribute to the wider P&L. * Why website experience, live chat, call-to-action design, and online booking all influence lead conversion. * Why Jo tracks leads, viewings, deals, conversion rates, cost per lead, and cost per sale on a daily basis. Visit www.BraveIdeas.media to watch the full episode and join the newsletter Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Brave Ideas Season 17, Episode 4 Presented by Flexspace AI Learn how Flexspace AI is transforming coworking with their ecommerce revenue platform, featuring SmartPricing Agent, an AI-powered dynamic pricing engine. Tap here Landlords have been asking whether flexible workspace belongs in their buildings for years. But is that even the right question? In this episode of Brave Ideas, Caleb Parker speaks with Wybo Wijnbergen, Co-Founder and CEO of infinitSpace, the company behind Beyond, a flexible workplace platform built in partnership with landlords. Wybo brings a rare perspective to this conversation. He was previously Managing Director for WeWork in Europe, where he helped open 50 locations in four years. Today, he is building infinitSpace around a different model, helping landlords operate flexible workplace through partnership structures designed to improve occupier experience and strengthen asset performance. The conversation starts with the origin story of infinitSpace, including how the business launched during COVID, raised its first million euros, and won its first management agreement before the company itself had a track record. Then the episode quickly moves into a bigger question, are landlords still evaluating flex through the wrong lens? Wybo explains why occupancy alone is not enough, why higher rent is not always the better decision, why performance clauses need to protect both landlord and operator, and why the quality and diversification of occupiers inside a flex space may matter more than the industry currently recognises. This is not a conversation about whether landlords should “do flex.”It is a conversation about what landlords should be measuring, how they should be underwriting, and whether asking better questions could unlock better outcomes for the asset. Listen to the full episode to hear how infinitSpace is helping landlords rethink flexible workplace, from data and yield management to brand, retention, underwriting, and valuation. 🎧 To listen as a podcast FOR FREE switch to audio above,or follow Brave Ideas on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. What You’ll Learn in This Episode How infinitSpace went from a COVID-era startup idea to a growing flexible workplace platform across London, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Why winning the first landlord partnership was less about company track record and more about trust, timing, urgency, and personal credibility. How Wybo’s experience opening 50 WeWork locations in Europe helped create confidence with the first landlord partner. Why management agreements need clear performance clauses on both sides. Why operators also need protection when landlords fail to maintain the quality of the asset or invest properly in the space. Why brand is not just design, furniture, or materials, but the full perception of experience from first touchpoint to final interaction. How infinitSpace thinks about integrating the Beyond brand into the wider asset rather than creating a disconnected flex product inside the building. Why yield management is still underdeveloped across parts of the flexible workspace industry. How operators should evaluate retention, churn, pricing, void periods, customer acquisition cost, and historical demand before deciding whether to keep or replace an occupier. Why good operators need the discipline to walk away from buildings where the underwriting does not work. How infinitSpace is using AI, local market data, and internal systems to speed up underwriting and help landlords evaluate potential flex opportunities. Why Wybo believes flexible workspace should be judged not only by occupancy and NOI, but also by the quality and diversification of occupiers using the space. Visit www.BraveIdeas.media to watch this episode and join our newsletter. Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe

Brave Ideas Season 17, Episode 3 Presented by Flexspace AI Learn how Flexspace AI is transforming coworking with their ecommerce revenue platform, featuring SmartPricing Agent, an AI-powered dynamic pricing engine. Tap here Scaling Without Losing the Soul of the Brand In this episode of Brave Ideas, Caleb Parker and co-host Eyal Lasker sit down with Alex Young, Managing Director at Projects, the Brighton-born coworking brand now expanding into new cities across the UK. Alex brings a rare mix of operational discipline, brand instinct, and genuine community-led leadership. She started her journey with Projects on the front desk, went on to build experience across other leading workspace brands, and has now returned to lead the next phase of growth as Projects expands beyond Brighton into places like Tunbridge Wells, London, Bristol, and Cambridge. This conversation gets into what it really takes to scale a coworking brand without losing the culture, community, and hospitality-led experience that made it work in the first place. Alex shares why retention matters more than cramming in density, why transparent pricing builds trust, and why the best workspace brands know exactly what they stand for before they start scaling. Listen to the full episode to hear how Projects thinks about product mix, revenue quality, member experience, spatial planning, AI, and the commercial trade-offs behind building a profitable coworking brand. Further Reading In the episode, Caleb references an interview with Alana, Projects’ Brand Manager, and Lucy McInally on brand and brand activation. It is a useful companion piece to this conversation, especially if you want to go deeper on how Projects thinks about brand as a driver of community, culture, and member experience. 🎧 To listen as a podcast FOR FREE switch to audio above,or follow Brave Ideas on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. What You’ll Learn in This Episode * How Alex went from working on the front desk at Projects to becoming Managing Director. * Why every Projects team member has worked on the front desk, and why that experience shapes the company’s approach to service, community, and operations. * How Projects grew from one Brighton building into a platform now expanding into new UK cities. * Why Projects would rather sacrifice density than compromise the member experience. * How transparent pricing can support retention, trust, and long-term revenue growth. * Why brand values matter commercially, not just creatively. * How Projects thinks about balancing coworking, private offices, enterprise suites, meeting rooms, event spaces, gyms, and lifestyle amenities. * Why not every amenity needs to generate direct revenue to create business value. * What Projects learned from replacing an underused podcast suite with a specialist podcast production partner. * How Alex thinks about designing flexible, multifunctional spaces that can adapt without frustrating members. * Why AI should help teams become more human, not less. * How digital discovery, ecommerce, chatbots, and booking journeys are changing the way customers interact with flex operators. Key Takeaways for Operators * Retention is not a soft metric, it is a commercial strategy.Alex is clear that Projects prioritises member experience, trust, and long-term relationships over squeezing every possible desk into the floor plan. That means designing spaces where people feel they can move, work, meet, and connect without feeling overcrowded. * Density can damage the product if it erodes the member experience.Projects deliberately avoids overpacking coworking areas because the brand promise is built around feeling at home at work. If members cannot find space to work, take calls, meet people, or relax, the product breaks. * Transparent pricing builds trust.Projects publishes clear pricing and approaches rate increases with honesty. The goal is not to surprise members with hidden costs or inconsistent deals, but to build enough trust that members understand the value they are paying for. * Community teams are the backbone of the business.Alex makes the point directly, the front desk and community team make or break a coworking space. They are the first impression, the daily relationship, and often the reason members stay. * Amenities should be judged by their strategic value, not just direct revenue.The gym at Projects does not directly make money, but it reinforces the lifestyle-led brand promise. The event space could generate more income as an office, but it plays an important role in community, brand, and local market activation. * Do not chase trends without a long-term plan.Alex uses the example of reformer pilates to explain the risk of building around what is fashionable today. Projects is thinking about multifunctional spaces that can serve yoga, pilates, physiotherapy, and other uses over time, rather than locking into a trend that may fade. * AI should remove admin friction, not replace human judgement.For Projects, AI is useful where it reduces manual work, improves reporting, helps teams spot patterns, and frees people up to spend more time with members. Key Takeaways for Real Estate Investors and Landlords * A strong coworking brand can improve revenue quality by attracting aligned customers.Projects is not just filling space, it is curating a member mix around shared values, culture, and lifestyle. That matters because customer alignment can reduce friction, improve retention, and support pricing power. * Occupancy alone is not enough.Projects looks at occupancy, average desk rate, churn, monthly revenue, and member retention. The more important question is whether the revenue is sustainable, diversified, and aligned with the product. * Enterprise demand can be valuable, but only if it does not overwhelm the community.Projects accommodates larger suites, including around 100 seats, but avoids letting enterprise customers dominate the building. The aim is to preserve the broader community dynamic while still serving larger companies. * Flexible design protects long-term asset performance.Alex is honest about the risk of giving members something, then taking it away. For landlords and investors, the lesson is simple, design choices need to account for long-term adaptability, not just launch appeal. * Lifestyle amenities can support pricing and retention, even when they do not directly monetise.A gym, event space, rooftop bar, café, or wellness room may not always produce direct revenue, but they can strengthen the value proposition and help justify premium positioning. * Local market knowledge matters.Projects is not copy-pasting Brighton into every city. The team looks at the local community, local businesses, local partnerships, and the specific demand profile of each market before shaping the product. * Operators need real operational expertise.This conversation is a reminder that coworking is not just real estate with desks. It requires brand, hospitality, community, sales discipline, pricing strategy, technology, and constant operational judgement. Behind The Scenes We want to give a special shoutout to Nat and the team at Work.Life, where this episode was recorded, for their brilliant podcast studio and hospitality throughout the season. Tap here to book their podcast studio yourself! Visit www.braveideas.media for behind the scenes photos. Season 17 of Brave Ideas explores one of the most important questions in office real estate today, how to build a more profitable flex business. Across the season, Caleb Parker speaks with industry leaders about the real commercial drivers behind Space-as-a-Service. Get full access to Brave Ideas at www.braveideas.media/subscribe