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Sustainably Scaling Coliving: Interview with Coloc Housing's Co-Founder Christophe Vercarre — Transcript

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0:00he Kristoff thanks for being with us
0:02today it's great to see you
0:04again yes thanks Shir for inviting me
0:08absolutely absolutely um so we met last
0:10time I think it was a few months back we
0:13were demoing Ryan to and happily you're
0:16you're using it since yes y so I'd love
0:19to introduce for everyone listening um
0:22introduce yourself introduce kuk housing
0:24which is a co- living company and you're
0:26the CEO so please maybe you can say a
0:29few words about it
0:31so uh we are a CO living company based
0:34in Belgium Brussels uh we are present in
0:38now in five Belgium cities uh I think we
0:41have now uh approximately 43 buildings
0:46So coing Co living communities that we
0:49manage and we have uh I think by summer
0:53next year we have 74 Co living
0:56communities so up I think something uh
1:00650 rooms will will be managing by uh by
1:05then wow yeah yeah and you've started C
1:09housing about five years ago is that
1:11correct yeah uh started five years ago
1:15uh but the ID actually stems from seven
1:18years ago when I actually um rented with
1:22friends a very big building in the
1:24center of Brussels and it was an amazing
1:28experience uh at back at the time I was
1:31Al I was
1:32consultant um and I was
1:35managing the co living and I liked it so
1:39much that uh I wanted to to make my job
1:42out of it and before I knew it I was
1:44managing two houses and three houses and
1:47four houses I think uh by the fifth
1:50house uh I said okay let's uh let's turn
1:53this into a company and five years later
1:57um we are where we are
2:00and by the way I also met my wife uh by
2:03ring a room to her I think it was the
2:06sixth house I had in my care I went to
2:10her and I think three four months later
2:13we were together and then she decided to
2:15join a company and and uh and then we
2:19did it uh with the two just the two of
2:21us uh until two years ago and then other
2:25investors actually that then and also my
2:28current partner
2:30uh business partner Carl who's also the
2:33C CFO of G housing so now we are a team
2:37with six seven people without counting
2:41all the Freelancers and also all the
2:44entrepreneurs and Constructors we're
2:47we're working with wow okay so a lot to
2:50unpack there first I want to say that
2:52it's really um a nice story that you met
2:54you your wife like that and I noticed on
2:56your website that uh one of your like
2:58ctas is come live with us uh you know
3:02value and experience togetherness um
3:04have fun work uh and maybe also find
3:06love so I understand now you wrote that
3:10that's it's true uh and I think it
3:12already happened many times that people
3:15found love in our projects um for us
3:19what is most important is that people
3:20feel at home so uh uh we decorate and we
3:25also design our spaces in a way that
3:28people stay
3:30as long as possible because they feel
3:32comfortable um and they really have a
3:35sense that okay this is uh in French we
3:39say m okay like it feels like home and
3:44this is what we're creating like a very
3:46home environment where people can meet
3:49each other um make longl lasting
3:52memories this is our Aim so it's not
3:56we're not the uh many people think we
3:59are booking
4:00or hotel this is not the case we really
4:03just want to design houses where people
4:07uh feel at home that's that's a really
4:09nice um a nice um motivation to have and
4:12I think that also you're pretty I'd say
4:15pioneering in the co- living uh regime
4:17right I mean we've seen now a lot of co-
4:19living companies um you know rising and
4:21coming up but you've already have this
4:24five seven years of experience which you
4:26know um took you a long way and I think
4:29that it's interesting that you've
4:30managed to stay such a lean team with
4:33you know such a vast portfolio of
4:35locations and rooms um what kind of
4:38personas do you have on your team who
4:40are the different members um and then
4:42maybe who of your members are using Ryan
4:45or how did
4:46you understand with the team that you
4:48need a software for floor
4:50plans well uh yeah that's a lot to back
4:53as well uh well early on I knew that
4:58when I started a company that software
5:00would play play a major role um in the
5:04future of our company so um that's also
5:07how it started out a little bit from the
5:09moment I had two threee houses in
5:12management I also moved to Berlin which
5:14is actually a little bit the Cradle of
5:16kiving and it was back at the at the
5:18time so you had the biggest co living
5:21companies at the time were Brin Bas that
5:23actually still is habit is one of the
5:26the biggest now but back in the days you
5:29at quarters which has been uh also taken
5:32over by a habit then and so I went to
5:36Berlin for three reasons I love the city
5:40honestly the vibe it's like it gives you
5:43so much energy second of all I knew it
5:47was the creator of Co living so I wanted
5:49to go there to get inspired also to meet
5:52those co- living operators back in in in
5:55the time I visited a lot of projects I
5:58also uh met met many of the CEOs back
6:01then and then three I also did the
6:04coding boot camp of Lon so uh one of the
6:09best coding boot camps you have now and
6:11in nine weeks you you kind of like learn
6:15the basics you learn how to build an MVP
6:17and the thing is I'm not a software
6:19developer not at all um for me uh coding
6:23is like um body building if you don't
6:25hit the gym every day obviously you
6:28cannot you cannot call your myself a
6:30bodybuilder so I can call myself a coder
6:33but the thing is that I kind of know the
6:36ins and outs of it a little bit so I can
6:39I can follow up with the team um I speak
6:42a little bit the same language when I
6:43want to translate IDs for the website
6:47into uh into obviously the correct
6:50wording for developers to to understand
6:53so that was essential uh for us to
6:56actually build a team of uh uh coders uh
7:01to to Cod so now we have four uh
7:04full-time um coders uh on our that build
7:09functionalities all the time my wife
7:12always says yeah when when will the
7:14website be ready I to tell him tell her
7:17uh it's Never Gonna Be Ready never never
7:21because it's an ongoing thing and once
7:24something seems uh ready it could be
7:28that we uh encounter
7:30someone who does a far better job than
7:32us and then we'll have to adapt and
7:34maybe the legislation will will also
7:36adapt so we adapt with it so um C
7:40housing is an ongoing project uh and
7:43it's ongoing when it comes to softare um
7:46to make sure that our houses are most uh
7:51self-sufficient as possible so that's
7:54one of the reasons that we can keep our
7:57team so lean and mean is that uh we we
8:01we want our houses to be
8:03self-organizing yeah so um po housing
8:06will only have realized its full
8:10potential from the moment that people
8:13are not aware that it they're living in
8:15a coll
8:17housing so uh we just want to be behind
8:20the curtains offering them a platform
8:24yeah and services they can choose
8:26from uh they have to their own
8:29experiences within the house but we are
8:32there to guide them in that process to
8:34facilitate the cool living for them this
8:39yeah so that's really important yeah so
8:43that comes across also for um operations
8:46and also for Community uh the people
8:49that are living in the C housing are
8:52kind of like um they're giving from
8:55themselves uh contributing from
8:57themselves to the community
9:00yes okay yes and obviously we're also
9:02there to connect
9:05them um I'm not uh said we're not are
9:08good enough to say yeah we're the best
9:11Co living or uh everything we do is Oh
9:14is amazing we have so much still to
9:17learn and to develop and make sure that
9:19people um
9:22uh can develop themselves personally
9:24within our houses so when it comes to
9:27community I have to tell you that since
9:29Corona we still have uh we still have to
9:32catch up a little bit with community so
9:34we're still trying to connect uh people
9:36but before Corona we would organize
9:39Galas and we would organize sport events
9:42and it's something that will pick up
9:44gradually um but now with the grow of
9:47col housing we're growing so fast that
9:50sometimes we forget okay yeah we we need
9:53to make sure that we also keep um make
9:56sure that the community stay vibrant all
9:59obviously within the houses it's the
10:01case huh because people form a family
10:04they choose each other that's one of the
10:06USP of our website is that they vote for
10:09the candidates they want to live with so
10:11candidates get on our website they they
10:14apply for the room they want uh they
10:17arrive in a chat room with their future
10:19roomies and the future roomies get in
10:21touch with the candidates and they
10:22choose the candidate with whom they want
10:25to live so this is already in place but
10:28um and inter housee and Inter City
10:31Community it's still something we have a
10:33lot to learn and there's still a long
10:36way to go to make sure that also uh that
10:41um uh communities can also interact with
10:43each other across cities um but uh to
10:47answer also your question um regarding
10:50our operations obviously we have a team
10:53that is very busy with the with the
10:55operations daily operations Property
10:57Management with the Community Management
10:59M we also we have a team that is busy
11:03with the development of those houses um
11:06so meaning uh selecting uh the houses a
11:09projects uh also making the plans
11:12following up on Renovations and then
11:15obviously decorating and then launching
11:17the houses and
11:20um and that's where actually is also uh
11:23coming in into play uh at least the last
11:26three four months we've seen a big
11:29change when it comes to that is that um
11:32yeah how did we do it
11:35before it was just like sending over PDF
11:39like plans in PDF with and then we would
11:42Mark our um um how you say remarks on
11:45the plans with in preview make put
11:48little arrows on the plans and then and
11:51then Circle it and like okay this door
11:53needs to be there and this needs to be
11:56there which what is great now uh um of
12:00working with rayon is that we can really
12:03collaborate together with two three
12:05people like hey uh let's let's tag some
12:08comments um in the pl and then we pick
12:11up from there and we can very fast um
12:15come to the ideal layout the ideal
12:17situation of how we envision the house
12:20to be so for me um R was actually the
12:24combination of floor planner obviously
12:27you cannot compare at all floor planner
12:29withon I have to tell you honestly but
12:31it for me it was a combination and the
12:33easiness of floor planner pigma we
12:35already using it for web design and I
12:37was very happy to see that lot of
12:39features that or you could also come I
12:43don't know if he he he got inspired by
12:45figar he took some things over but you
12:48can see the similarities and it's really
12:50nice and um you could say that uh
12:55because of the ease of use of r we come
13:00much faster we deliver much faster on
13:04our plans which is for us a great
13:07Advantage
13:10yeah
13:12I'm um when it comes to software um I'm
13:18very high demanding I have to tell
13:20you uh if there's one thing that I could
13:24say for here STS as something that they
13:28could impr improve on and help people
13:31for example is that it's not always um
13:35easy for people that didn't study
13:39architecture imagine the height of
13:42certain spaces I see for example in EIC
13:47rooms uh sometimes um I would have idea
13:51let's put this there or let's put that
13:53there but you don't always see that it's
13:56not possible because you have obviously
13:57the the roof which is in solell roof and
14:00you don't have the right Heights so you
14:02would put a shower actually um at the
14:05end of the room and then you would say
14:06okay no this is not possible and then
14:09you would say okay if you could work
14:10with the height uh height lines like you
14:14say okay the height um in this room at
14:17this certain point is two meters and the
14:19height a little bit further is 1er 40 so
14:22it would go down that um very easily uh
14:26the the sof could recognize okay this
14:29object that you're placing in this
14:31quarter is not possible yeah if I have
14:35just one advice maybe for the future for
14:37the future road map of um of Ron it's
14:41that but other than that honestly it's a
14:45great R it's really great I like it a
14:49lot because it really helps me to
14:51communicate with architectures and to
14:54speak speak the same language and to be
14:56at the same uh Baseline which was not
15:00always possible for me there was always
15:03some kind of a black box going on like
15:05they would tell me this is not possible
15:07and I would would not always be able to
15:11understand them and sometimes I had the
15:12feeling that it was possible but I
15:14didn't didn't want to do it and now
15:16we're at the same U Level Playing Field
15:20yeah for me it's really nice yeah uh to
15:24be on the same uh level as architect
15:27although I don't architectural
15:29background but I kind of can speak the
15:31same language and I can also uh better
15:35pinpoint also how I view the situation
15:38yes yes that's definitely one of our um
15:41objectives to democratize space design
15:43to make it more accessible for people
15:45that that's the word accessible and
15:48democratized yeah yes yes yes yes it's
15:51really glad to hear that you find that
15:52valuable um and you really managed uh to
15:56to kind of Point different um Milestones
15:59of the process um if it's okay I want to
16:01go back for a bit and kind of
16:03like uh clarify different things so
16:06you're saying that uh in the team you
16:09have do you work with um outsourced
16:11Architects or do you have Architects by
16:13your team yeah we have interior
16:15architects in our team we don't have uh
16:17in-house Architects we work with uh um
16:21outsourced Architects because actually
16:24which
16:25I and uh yeah the they they use what is
16:30it AutoCat and uh archit cat and uh also
16:36SketchUp and things like
16:38that uh what is great is now is that I
16:42can uh they send me the plans I can
16:45easily upload it in R design and I can
16:49share with them and immediately we are
16:52we are actually collaborating which is
16:55actually uh for Improvement of how
16:59things were before yeah and you're using
17:02it so for the preliminary stage where
17:05you've started to make feasibility
17:07studies and for the more uh Advanced
17:10phase when you're actually communicating
17:12with archit both phases both faces
17:15because obviously rentability of the
17:18project comes down to Rooms right
17:22bedrooms so we need to check okay uh how
17:26many
17:26bedrooms uh how big is the house um how
17:31big are the common areas um and then we
17:34can put prices on it and if once we can
17:37put prices on it we can calculate
17:40rentability this is what we do obviously
17:43uh what you do first we also work with
17:45met board I don't know if you know met
17:47board so we do a quick scan of the house
17:50then we export it uh like the PDF and
17:54then we we put this in um real design
17:57and from there we pick up obviously it's
17:59not that accurate so we always need to
18:01do detailed measurement once we we we
18:04decided to purchase the house we do
18:07detailed me measurement and then we work
18:09in detail in the plans but uh um to
18:12answer your question yes we use it for
18:14feasibility and we also use it for final
18:18plans yeah nice nice and do you have
18:20incl housing so you mentioned you have
18:22like these spaces that you have that are
18:25repetitive so the room unit the common
18:27space unit at the kitchen um do you use
18:30the ran block Library have you created a
18:33kook housing block library or do you use
18:35every time different we're not there yet
18:38but we at some point we'll have to we'll
18:42have to yeah maybe we started to create
18:44a small library but it's not that
18:47elaborate yet but I know that in the
18:49future we'll we'll elaborate on that
18:52yeah that's for sure yeah like you said
18:54in a total uh scope of things and also
18:57in the smallest uh configuration like
18:59work in CL housing is working progress
19:01so it comes into I know I think uh
19:04that's a company yeah you cannot say
19:06okay now it's done it's a done deal it's
19:09a it's it's a living
19:12organism a company that's how I see it
19:15absolutely and it's really important to
19:17be ad right to always um relate to
19:20what's happening on site or to the
19:21different needs that come up um so I
19:24think with uh when we talking about
19:25blogs um we do have this blog CL Li that
19:28are supposed to provide as many
19:30accessible drag and drop elements for
19:33you to use but yeah making custom blocks
19:35and custom libraries are also definitely
19:37a part for us to try to help people U as
19:40you said work faster so um yeah but
19:44we'll learn I have to tell you as well I
19:46know that the possibilities are also
19:48endless at some point because uh there
19:50are some uh we have some suppliers now
19:54as well for
19:56decoration um thing is that would be
19:58cool for example to be able to scan them
20:01uh because we always use the same beds
20:03so we scan the beds and then we are have
20:06actually the the right dimensions for
20:09the beds in real design I don't know if
20:12you're familiar with a Belgian brand
20:13called Liv
20:15light no no so they are also um ran
20:19users their whole thesis is doing
20:20circular Furniture so they rench
20:23Furniture then they refurbish it um they
20:25have exactly what you're describing they
20:27have custom library with all their
20:29Furniture pieces to a te so to the exact
20:32dimensions um and that's how they
20:33communicate with their clients they do
20:35test fits and that's how they make sure
20:37everything you know is super precise
20:39just to say that um that yeah that we
20:41see that use case for Ryan libraries um
20:44yeah I think generally speaking we
20:45talked a lot about you know how you
20:47would use Ryan who on the team would use
20:49Ryan so Architects Viv um one question
20:51for you uh do you feel like Ryan can be
20:54helpful when it comes to sales or
20:57operation internally when you're working
21:00with you know
21:02um your the software that you're using
21:04to manage C housing to know which
21:07apartments or rooms are booked and not
21:09so are you using floor plans for that or
21:12not not either it's more like um list no
21:16for us it's uh so we did our own
21:19software we have a like
21:22PMS yeah so um thing is that people come
21:26on our website they see that house they
21:28like uh the address uh and then they see
21:32the the bedroom that is available in
21:34that house and they apply nice so they
21:37actually write a small introduction
21:38letter they say hey I'm Shir from Israel
21:43uh I did already Co living before I love
21:46to join you these are my hobbies uh
21:49could we get in touch they need to
21:51create a community I have to tell you
21:52the best cohesion you have by uh um
21:57letting those community
21:58live by their own principles but
22:01providing them the tools and services
22:03that help them create that Community
22:06facilitate that community and this is
22:08what we provide it's like a platform for
22:11them to be able to organize themselves
22:14and this is what we are but the
22:15experience is there how impersonal is it
22:18for people to to actually book a room
22:23like I just book a room yeah and then so
22:27uh to let's say tomorrow a new person
22:30comes in yeah you haven't selected this
22:34person to live with yeah and then this
22:36person is just dropped into into your
22:38house into your home it doesn't work for
22:42me it doesn't work you know you want to
22:45have like a place where you have
22:46likeminded people when they have
22:48something in common to help kick off
22:50their their
22:52relationship maybe superficial
22:55relationship or a very deep one but they
22:57need this initial starting it need it
23:00needs to be a spark and that's that's
23:03how we separate ourselves from other
23:06cing agencies is that with other cing
23:09agencies you just book you book the room
23:12or you have a phone call and then they
23:14place you in a house where there's a
23:16vacancy but this is not how it how it
23:19works for us uh this is not what you
23:22want you want really to PE for people
23:24like I already told you our job is
23:28simple in in in in sense that we're just
23:32there to facilitate and we want to
23:35create um houses decorate houses as you
23:39would decorate your own house to feel at
23:41home that's put because it's trendy for
23:45example uh slats with just a small
23:48cushion on top of it because it looks
23:49good on the picture no we want a decent
23:52couch where you can have really uh long
23:55uh marathons Harry Potter marathon with
23:58with your with your house this is what
24:01we want perfect and this is how we yeah
24:04this is how we operate yeah yeah that's
24:07great I really love to hear you know
24:09that you go so in depth with your
24:11thought thought process from you know
24:12the overall management of almost 75
24:15buildings hundreds of rooms to the
24:18actual person that's going to sit on a
24:19couch and watch a Harry Potter movie so
24:23yeah so that's amazing so I want to
24:26thank you so much for your time it's
24:27been really a pleasure talking to you
24:28and learning more about gr housing um
24:31and hearing your take of R thanks for
24:33sharing thanks a lot Shir and good luck
24:35to you you're doing good job with design
24:39I think the future is bright thank you
24:41we appreciate it yeah bye byebye byebye

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