Workspaces
Two ways to take space in Bangalore.
The right one usually comes down to a single question: how confident are you in your headcount eighteen months from now?
Coworking or managed office?
The same floor can be sold either way. What differs is who carries the risk, who owns the layout, and what happens when the headcount changes.
| Dimension | Coworking | Managed office |
|---|---|---|
| Commitment | Month to month, or a short lock-in | Typically two to five years |
| Usual size | One desk to about forty | Fifty seats and upward |
| What you are buying | A seat in somebody else's operation | A floor run to your brief |
| Fit-out | Already there — you bring laptops | Built for you, paid for by the operator |
| Capital outlay | None | None — it sits in the monthly rate |
| Scaling up | A seat at a time, subject to availability | Negotiated, usually at renewal |
| Branding and layout | The operator's | Yours |
| Cost per seat | Higher per seat, lower total at small headcount | Lower per seat once the floor is full |
| Suits | Teams whose headcount in a year is a guess | Teams whose headcount in a year is a plan |
Which one fits
When does coworking make more sense?
When the headcount in a year is a guess rather than a plan, when you need to be in a building next month rather than next quarter, and when under about forty people. You pay more per seat and you buy the right to change your mind, which at that size is usually worth more than the difference.
When is a managed office cheaper?
Once the floor is reasonably full. Past roughly fifty seats the per-seat rate on a managed floor typically falls below the coworking equivalent, and the gap widens with every desk you add — because you stop paying a margin on space you are not using.
Do either of them need capital up front?
No. A coworking seat is a monthly rate with nothing to build. A managed office is fitted out by the operator against your brief and recovered through the monthly rate, so the fit-out never reaches your balance sheet as capex.
Can a team start in one and move to the other?
Frequently, and it is worth planning for. The common path is coworking while the team is forming, then a managed floor once hiring is predictable — sometimes in the same building, which makes the move a corridor rather than a relocation.
What does the monthly rate actually include?
On both: furniture, internet, power and its backup, housekeeping, security, meeting-room access and the operator's staff. What varies is parking, after-hours air conditioning and the meeting-room allowance. We quote the fully loaded cost per seat so the comparison is like for like.
Still deciding
We will tell you which one fits.
Five minutes on a call is usually enough to narrow it to one, sometimes two.