Hi!
My name is Cecilia.
There are interesting trends about the coworking industry in my country (30-40% annual growth rates in sqft offered) so we’re considering opening a for-profit space.
We already have an investor so fortunately that item is already checked out of our list.
What I’m trying to figure out is about location: right now we are considering two options:
- Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area: around 10 million inhabitants, the capital city of our country, and one of the biggest cities in South America. . Right now it takes account of almost 75% of the coworking space offering. Much of this offer is concentrated in 2 or 3 big players.
- Rosario city: 1.5 inhabitants (the 3rd. biggest city in the country), 4% of the coworking space offering.
Of course, Buenos Aires seems attractive since it’s full of businesses, start-ups, middle and big size companies, etc. but still, the location would be self-limiting to a specific area (it is a really big city!) and, fo course, there are competitors everywhere!
On the other hand, Rosario is a much smaller city (but with a strong entrepreneurial community), where there are already some players already established. Definitely operating costs are going to be a lot cheaper in Rosario than Buenos Aires.
The big question I’m trying to answer is: should I mainly prioritize population/offer ratios (that is, decide to start the business in Buenos Aires, where there is a lot more population) or should I consider establishing the business in a smaller city where there is already some competition in place, but with more chances of being able to differentiate our offer?
Is there an estimation of how “saturated” the market is to make this decision?
Thanks in advance for any advice given.
Regards
Cecilia