Odessans opened a communal flat in San Francisco and earned $ 500 thousand

Odessans opened a communal apartment in the US and earned half a million dollars. Photo: AIN

Ukrainian startupers are resourceful guys. They came to San Francisco to do one project, but ended up doing another, which brought them half a million dollars in a year. Odessa residents Kirill and Sergey Sopot opened so-called co-living in one of the most expensive cities in the world - in simple words, a communal apartment for startups. The idea is that, in addition to a bed in Coliving Club, beginning businessmen, techies and geeks simply get connections, information, early adopters, etc., spinning in a very close circle of their own kind.

Odessans opened a communal apartment in the US and earned half a million dollars. Photo: AIN

Photo: AIN

The trend originated in Silicon Valley in 2009, along with the discovery of the Rainbow Mansion in Cupertino. Several NASA enthusiasts decided to rent a house and make a “Hacker House for Their Own” out of it, with hackathons and geek parties. Today coliving or Branded Hostels differ even thematically: for musicians, artists, gays. They all sell more than a bed.

“To come to Los Angeles for a coliving to the musicians, to make a gang together and sign up in the garage is great. To come to San Francisco, to coliving to programmers and startups, to find a new CTO and put together a new project - even cooler. And at times cheaper than the seediest room in San Francisco ", - explained AIN.UA in team Coliving Club.

According to their data, now in the Valley there are about 20 of different coliving in different cities, from San Francisco to San Jose. But the market as such does not exist yet. All players try their techniques and approaches, looking for the perfect model. Nobody has been working in the segment for more than three years. The Ukrainian team also tries their hand at a new niche.

What do u Ukrainians in the Valley

For its guests Coliving Club provides a fairly wide range of services: accommodation, workplace, free tea / coffee, and at the same time useful contacts. “We give a bed, a bedside table, amenities (laundry, toilet, bathroom), a table and chair for work, unlimited Internet, a rest area, a kitchen,” explained one of the club’s partners, Kiev IT entrepreneur Anton Gerasimenko. - We also do intro for interested mentors and investors whom we know. We regularly provide lists of current meetings in San Francisco and sometimes accompany them when there are enough interested people. ”

Club members pay membership fees, which allow them to enjoy all the benefits of coliving without restriction, as well as to freely move around the Coliving Club locations, which currently number six in San Francisco, and live in any of them.

Price varies depending on the season and duration. Standard - $ 900-960 per month. If the resident plans to live less than a month, the rate will be $ 35 per day. At this price, the minimum number of days of stay is seven or more. On the "couple" of the days of the guests do not take.

Photo: AIN

Photo: AIN

The team says that the price is very attractive. “The average price of a room without a toilet in a normal San Francisco area starts at $ 1000-1200, while prices in other coliving and hacker spaces range from $ 45 to $ 70 per day, while they are closer to the down town,” - noted Gerasimenko.

History in brief

The first location opened at the end of April 2015. It was founded by father and son Sergey and Kirill Sopot, who came to San Francisco from Odessa. Prior to that, Sergey worked as a lawyer in Ukraine, and Kirill studied, first in France, then in Canada, after which he went to the Valley to make a startup. And although he didn’t grow together with a startup at Sopot, during his stay in the Valley, where Kirill rented rooms in hostels and hacker-spaces, the idea was born to try himself in the coliving business.

The first "point" Cyril and Sergey opened on Sargent Street, in a quiet area of ​​San Francisco, on the southern hills. They invested about $ 15 000-20 000 own funds into it. And when the first guests went and the idea showed potential, they began to attract partners.

“We started from one house to protest the idea. Then Anton Gerasimenko appeared, wanted to open the next point with us. Then my father hooked up with his friend, an architect, who invested about $ 50 000 in three subsequent locations on Ocean Avenue. And then a programmer from Russia, Stepan Egorov, came, with whom they opened another location next to two large Parks (Merced Lake district), ”said Kirill. In total, over the year, the founders and partners invested about $ 120 000 into the club.

Today, the Coliving Club has six points in San Francisco. In the near future, the team plans to open locations in the Valley and Santa Monica, and then in New York. “We are looking in the direction of Mountain View, Austin, Texas, studying the demand to meet it. For example, in Austin we don’t earn much money on coliving, because there is not such an acute housing problem as in San Francisco. But there is now a very active movement of IT-entrepreneurs on a powerful student base, and there are very few start-up players, we want to be one of the first, ”said Kirill. Having covered the USA, the team plans to continue its expansion in Europe.

In Palo Alto, they don’t rush in due to some concerns. “They are too hard on coliving. We personally know three projects that were closed there by ill-wishers, ”said Kirill. According to Gerasimenko, the reason is that neighbors complained.

Customers and money

According to Kirill, the coliving business began to make a profit already from the first month, but the entire cash flow Sopot reinvested into the second location along with Gerasimenko, who, by the way, was among the very first guests of the Coliving Club. Partners invest 50 on 50 in each location, then income from it is divided accordingly. According to Cyril, the estimated profit for the first year was about half a million dollars.

Layout. Photo: AIN

There are also no problems with guests. Basically, they are developers, startups, marketers and financiers from Europe and the USA, less from Asia. There are few Ukrainians among the guests, as well as representatives of other CIS countries. Often, residents who come to Tech Crunch and Dreamforce conferences stop at the Coliving Club.

“Cool guys from London stopped several times. Make a toy Primo, which teaches children programming. Another team came Slick from France. They have a stabilizer for GoPro. We were the base for them while they were launching their Indiegogo campaign. We collected about $ 250000 in two weeks and moved to Berkeley, ”said Gerasimenko. In early October, a group of Happy Farm from Kazakhstan arrives in one of the locations as part of its acceleration program with a trip to the Valley. The team also negotiates with European and American incubators.

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