Coworking spaces have long been hailed as ideal launchpads for startup entrepreneurs and innovators. With the work-focused facilities and amenities, coupled with reasonable rates, coworking is definitely a better, more affordable choice than renting a physical office.

Interestingly, some of the world’s biggest companies started out as coworking clients. In this article, we’ll tell you about 5 instantly-recognizable tech brands that had their humble beginnings in coworking spaces.

Hootsuite

Ryan Holmes of Vancouver, Canada used to run an agency back in 2008. At the time, he found it extremely frustrating that he needed to log into multiple social media accounts to do his marketing campaigns. Eventually, he came up with a solution to the dilemma by creating his own social media management platform.

Initially introduced as BrightKit, the service was later renamed Hootsuite after a suggestion made by Twitter netizen Matt Nathan. The company started to take flight while using a San Francisco coworking space.

Now Hootsuite is “used in almost every country and territory in the world – 200 and counting” with over “200,000 paying customers” who use the service to “tell their stories, engage with their audiences, and build businesses.”

Indiegogo

Known today as the world’s largest crowdfunding website, Indiegogo was founded in 2008 by Danae Ringelmann, Eric Schell and Slava Rubin.

During its early years, the company used a coworking space in San Francisco. The idea behind the platform struck the three founders when they couldn’t find funding for their individual projects. Danae wanted to produce a play, Eric had a struggling theater company, while Slava wanted to discover a cure for an illness that claimed his father’s life. They later turned to the internet in a mission to connect creative innovators and entrepreneurs with willing backers.

“The Indiegogo community has helped bring more than 800,000 innovative ideas to life since 2008,” according to their official website. “Today, our group of backers is more than 9 million strong, representing 235 countries and territories.”

Instagram

The social media giant was initially launched on Apple’s iOS by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in October 2010. Back then, it was a mobile check-in app called Burbn. The two founders later realized that the service was too similar to Foursquare and so they gave it a tweak – they decided to focus on pictures and improve their photo filter features further.

The app was later renamed as Instagram and the rest, as they say, is history.

Instagram quickly became the social networking service of choice for food and travel enthusiasts. In April 2012, Facebook purchased the company for US$1 billion in cash and stock.

Definitely not a bad achievement for an app developed within eight weeks by two guys during their stay at Dogpatch Labs, a coworking space in San Francisco.

Spotify

Another notable Rocket Space alumni, audio streaming platform Spotify has revolutionized the way people listen to and create music across the world.

The streaming service was created by founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon in Stockholm, Sweden and then later made it big in the United States.

Apparently, the two created the company as a response to widespread piracy after file-sharing sites LimeWire, Napster, and Pirate Bay made downloading music easy. Artists and recording companies protested against the illegal practice because it diverted potential earnings from their pockets.

“I realized that you can never legislate away from piracy,” Daniel later said in a Telegraph interview. “The only way to solve the problem was to create a service that was better than piracy and at the same time compensates the music industry.”

Today, Spotify has become “the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service” with 180 million premium subscribers and a total of 406 million monthly active users.

Uber

The idea behind Uber first came to Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick in December 2008. The two were in Paris during a cold, snowy evening and weren’t having any luck getting a taxi. So they thought of a modern solution for the age-old problem: what if it was possible to find rides using a mobile device?

In March 2009, the partners launched Uber as a smartphone app enabling members of the public to easily find available transportation in their localities. At the time, the company operated from The Yard, a shared workspace in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Years later, they moved to San Francisco-based coworking provider Rocket Space.

Fast forward to the present, the American ride-sharing company has now become a massive brand, reaching numerous countries and territories across the world. Plus they have expanded beyond connecting riders and drivers by introducing Uber Eats, Uber Freight, and other services.

“We’ve gone from rides on 4 wheels to rides on 2 wheels to 18-wheel freight deliveries,” the official Uber website tells us. “From takeout meals to daily essentials to prescription drugs to just about anything you need at any time.”

Conclusion
Ready to take your startup to a whole new level? Working at our coworking spaces will give you the focus and inspiration you need to potentially become the next big name in your industry.