CLBC’s flagship location, on Section 4 of Taipei City’s Bade Road, officially opened this year, offering all the services and facilities you could want of a coworking space.
Lining the periphery of the space are ten rooms: seven offices, one conference room, and two larger rooms equipped with tables and chairs for the use of any CLBC member wanting a place to work. In the middle is a “friendship space,” provided for members to get together and socialize or to rent out for events. With enough room for 200–300 people, the friendship space’s events attract more people to CLBC, giving members more chances to interact with people from different fields.
Target: Young entrepreneurs
Founded two years ago, CLBC’s first location near the Da’an Metro station occupies an old residential building that has been renovated into a comfortable, fashionable coworking space. The real big deal, rather than the decor, is CLBC’s 100 Mbps fiber-optic Internet access, provided by special agreement with Chunghwa Telecom; it was this high-speed access that earned CLBC its reputation and its place as Taiwan’s first coworking space focused on the tech sector.
So what exactly inspired the CLBC team to become pioneers in the coworking field?
The story goes that two years ago Lin Ching-long, chairman of the Ching Long Business Club, wanted to open a business center, but general manager Tyler Lin was of the belief that Taipei already had enough of those, and a better idea would be to open a coworking space focused on young entrepreneurs.
Having been involved in a computer game startup himself, Tyler Lin knew first-hand that starting a business can be a difficult and complex process for a young person, and the fees business centers charge can be an almost unbearable burden for a startup for which success is still far from certain.
Lin insisted that the market needed to provide a space properly suited to young entrepreneurs, somewhere with high-speed Internet access, comfortable seating, and so on. Thus the idea for CLBC was born.
A space for digital entrepreneurs
According to Lin, a space at a business center in Taipei can easily go for NT$12,000 or more a month, while offices start at NT$80,000 a month. CLBC, in contrast, charges much, much less.
Their first location, in Da’an, charges NT$6,000 a month for a reserved spot. Demand quickly outstripped the space available, and so the space was expanded from its original 100-plus square meters to over 350 square meters. Their newly opened flagship space on Bade Road charges NT$8,000 a month, while the seven offices—each large enough for eight to ten people—go for NT$40–50,000 a month, although they are all already accounted for at the time of writing.
Lin explains that initially CLBC’s pricing was more in line with similar spaces abroad, upwards of NT$10,000 a month, but at those prices all they attracted was expats. After a little more market research, they decided to lower the price to NT$6,000, a level the local market would be more open to.
Dreams do come true
CLBC’s fees are the highest among Taiwan’s coworking spaces, but Lin is insistent on demanding quality prices for quality services.
“A lot of young people today want to start businesses, but feel like society owes them that opportunity and expect everything to be provided for free. That just completely ignores the reality of expenses. If you don’t have your expenses properly accounted for, then you just end up putting yourself and your partners under tremendous pressure. Who wants to start a business like that?” says Lin.
Their prices aren’t the only thing that distinguishes CLBC from ordinary coworking spaces.
“The biggest difference is that while other coworking spaces are more for young people who haven’t started a business yet, CLBC is focused on active startups,” explains Lin, going on to further elaborate that CLBC doesn’t just sell spaces, but a full suite of services.
“One of the biggest benefits for new startups setting up shop here is that they don’t have to pay to get their space renovated.” CLBC provides for everything from one-man operations to ten-person teams, so they can provide for growing businesses, adjusting as the business builds toward finally being able to stand on its own, “generally after one or two years.”
There are some surprises though, such as a Hong Kong scooter courier company which went from two people to over 20 in just three months, blowing past CLBC’s office capacity and having to move out.
Sharing your dream
“So far we haven’t had a single potential client over 40 want to stay after seeing CLBC,” says Lin, explaining that the startup crowd is overwhelmingly young and almost 90% male, and most over-40s are put off by the noise. That “noise,” though, comes from people sharing information and ideas, something that is a defining feature of coworking spaces.
Yang Ya-hui, community manager of the Coworking Taiwan Association, notes, “The people that set up shop in CLBC are basically like a community, and with new things going on regularly, opportunities for exchange skyrocket compared to going solo.”
Sharing and exchange go on at CLBC frequently. Their website shares a classic example: One client, an Italian man by the name of Max, was working on developing a game. An expert in 3D graphics, he was desperate to find someone who could code. When CLBC found out, they set him up with another client, Abyss, the developer of iOS app “Burn the Corn.” The two hit it off immediately, and spent the next 48 hours working feverishly at CLBC until they had a game all finished and ready to hit the market.
Offering bespoke solutions
Another business currently renting an office from CLBC, W&K Automation, made the move with their eyes on the opportunities for exchange and exposure CLBC offers.
W&K is a team of four 30-somethings offering R&D for customization. “No matter what it is the client wants to get done, it’s our job to find a way for them to get it into production,” says founder Kenny Lee. Already the team has worked on R&D for smartwatches, activity trackers, and robotic arms.
For a year and a half after starting W&K, Lee was renting a tiny office on Chang’an East Road for meetings or contract negotiations. As soon as CLBC’s flagship space opened, Lin wasted no time in booking an office and moving in all W&K’s 3D printers and engravers, as well as bringing the team with him.
Eddy Kuo, another member of the W&K team, explains that when some overseas-based Taiwanese businesspeople make the move back to Taiwan, they have plenty of ideas, but no desire to set up their own R&D operations, which is where companies like W&K come in. “As we work on more and more projects for clients, we’re also slowly starting to get ideas for products of our own too,” he says.
“We set out various things we’ve worked on in the space’s display window to attract more people with ideas,” says Kuo. At one event at CLBC, a visitor saw a robotic arm W&K had worked on displayed in the window and couldn’t resist popping his head in to ask about what they do. Another time, an expat came in to use W&K’s 3D printers, sharing his ideas while he was there.
Profit and profitability
For aspiring young entrepreneurs, CLBC provides a fertile ground for making their dreams come true. CLBC, meanwhile, has no real plans for further expansion.
“Running a coworking space is no way to get rich,” says Lin, especially given Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je’s recent announcement of the city government’s plan to open ten coworking spaces of its own. On top of that, Taipei and New Taipei Cities are already home to several such spaces.
“Rather than try and compete with those others and the government, we’re looking at new business models,” says Lin, who explains that CLBC is already sounding out ways to help their startup clients become more profitable. However they may go on to help their clients enjoy greater profits while they carve out a more defined niche for themselves, CLBC is sure to remain one to watch.
CLBC general manager Tyler Lin helps boost the space’s revenues and give clients exposure through renting part of CLBC out for events.
CLBC general manager Tyler Lin (top) helps boost the space’s revenues and give clients exposure through renting part of CLBC out for events.
In the “friendship space” in the middle of CLBC’s flagship location members can chat, hold activities, share ideas, and more..
CLBC’s comfortable environment and fast Internet connection can help startups save money on setting up their own premises.
At CLBC’s door are business cards and flyers of their clients, free for any visitor to pick up and check out.
