The future according to Knotel CEO Amol Sarva

By hotmaillogin

Knotel, which runs a network of custom locations with adaptable environments that cater to modern business needs. Run through the headquarters as a service model, Knotel provides on-demand, customized office space to its clients. Knotel is a major competitor to WeWork in the flexible office market.

Amol Sarva founded Knotel in 2016 and has seen the company grow into an organization that owns over 1.5mn sq ft of space across 60+ locations in New York, San Francisco, London and Berlin. Looking forward to 2019, Business Chief presents three of Sarva’s predictions for the coming year.

 

Blockchain

‘Many businesses will wake up to the opportunities presented by blockchain and see beyond the hype. We are all guilty of wanting to implement it ‘just because’ in the past – now, I think it’s the single largest and most practical use-case for sharing credible information.

In the office leasing business, we’re using blockchain to increase transparency, and drive better decisions and frictionless transactions. Real estate is worth $30 trillion in office space —and if you’re burning 2 percent of that a year on informational data and due diligence, relying too much on the word of landlords, that’s hundreds of billions.

So, my ultimate goal is to create real estate’s first automated valuation model and have every office property in every major market globally indexed and searchable, available to lease with one click. That kind of platform is going to be invaluable for brokerages, financial information companies, and some of the biggest tenants in the world, who have expressed interest already in joining in.’

 

Demystifying Unicorns

‘Unicorns are overrated for investors, as recent history has shown. There are plenty of inefficient business models in the market today, and it’s never been more crucial to be capital-efficient. Valuation doesn’t mean an investment is a winner; money raised is not a measure for success necessarily, it is how you use existing capital without ‘burning cash away’. If you’re losing a lot of money, you need to raise lots of money. If you’re willing to take more risk, you can grow much larger and much faster, with much less money than anyone else in the market’.

 

Coworking/flexible office coming of age

‘I believe that in 2019 we’ll see coworking and flexible office coming of age. Businesses will ‘graduate’ from co-working, actively pushing the ‘tech bro’ mentality out. There is an element of ‘frat culture’ created within coworking facilities - it’s hard to avoid taking a shortcut towards company values and absorbing the existing toxic cultures, when you’re surrounded by them - especially when they are fueled by beer pong, loud music, and prosecco parties. I’m truly hoping that businesses will come to realise the significance of preserving their own brand, culture and identity as they grow.’

 

Image courtesy of: www.amolsarva.com

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