Remote work is here to stay. That’s what Codi’s founder, Christelle Rohaut (Forbes 30 Under 30), has to say. Long before hundreds of millions of people were told to stay and work from home due to COVID-19, Christelle launched her startup while a graduate student at UC Berkeley (‘18) whilst pursuing a Masters of City and Urban Planning. She wanted to unlock access to working spaces in local neighborhoods since she noticed remote workers were feeling isolated and distracted working from home. If you asked her back in 2018 if she saw the huge uptick in remote work coming, she would have laughed. Fast forward to now, tech giants are expanding their remote work policy to longer-term post the pandemic, and Codi’s business is booming as partnerships with companies such as Google and Facebook allow more employees to work from offices and hubs that are conveniently located.
Codi creates private workspaces in beautiful homes. Do you have an empty office or living room in your home? You can sign up to be a host and rent out space to professionals who just need a change of scenery from their home office, are in need of a space for a team meeting, or need a conveniently located office. Codi promotes work-life balance, improves commute times, and allows hosts to make extra money on the side. “An Airbnb for workspaces” in simpler terms.
How has COVID-19 affected the business? For the better part of 2020, operations were shut down to ensure safety. With people wary of entering other’s homes during the peak of Covid, Christelle enforced safety protocols and received certifications from OSHA, and opened up the services. While that slowed down the business for a while, the market size for remote work boomed. According to BusinessWire, more than a quarter of American’s workforce will continue to be remote most of 2021, and the number of remote workers in the next five years is expected to be nearly double what it was before COVID-19. The pandemic shifted Codi’s business from a B2C to a B2B model. While before they reached customers directly, Codi has now been talking to businesses such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google directly to provide access to hubs in their neighborhoods.
Christelle credits the success of their business to tools taught from the Lean Startup Method. Starting from UC Launch Accelerator (‘18), she has never stopped interviewing customers. In pursuit of the perfect product-market-fit and to truly understand her customers’(hosts and remote workers) needs and pain points, Christelle regularly uses her product, Codi, to try different workspaces that are showcased on her site and interact with other remote workers and hosts. By immersing herself in the product, she too becomes a customer in the continuous entrepreneurial science experiment called the Lean Method.
Codi continues to strive to provide better work environments for remote workers. Check them out at codi.com.