How we organize our companies used to be a straightforward affair, pick a place, like a humble garage, have everyone show up at that place and build your widget, and grow from there. Even before the rise of the pandemic, that equation was being disrupted, and the question of do we even need a physical place to build together has been questioned. Our guest today, Eyal Lasker, Co-Founder and CEO of Flexspace is helping companies navigate questions around growth, community, and space. Flexspace is a platform that allows companies to discover, book, and manage on-demand workspaces with no commitment or upfront cost.
About Eyal Lasker:
Eyal Lasker has been a founder and operator for the last decade. He Co-Founded a video compression startup in 2012 before moving to Klarna in 2013 as Lead Product Manager and founding member of Klarna's consumer domain. He then had jobs at Otto and Uber, before landing at WeWork. He has a BS from Tel Aviv University and his masters from Reichman University.
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In this episode we discuss:
02:37 Eyal’s journey to founding Flexspace
04:56 How the IDF helped shape his career
06:49 Making the jump to becoming a founder
08:09 What lessons he took from his first startup
09:16 Why team building is so important to startups
10:05 Lessons from Klarna, Uber, Otto, and WeWork
13:05 What working at hedge funds taught him to be successful at big-league startups
15:02 What made Eyal decide to pull the trigger to start Flexspace
17:26 How Flexspace actually works
18:51 Why Flexspace is different than other predecessors and competitors
20:14 How they coach landlords on how to use their spaces with data
23:09 How employers should think about leasing space and offices moving forward
26:02 Why other coworking spaces need a platform like Flexspace
27:06 How Flexspace is helping solve repurposing retail space
28:37 Data Flexspace is collecting
32:22 Plans for their recent funding round led by M13, with R-Squared Ventures, Magenta Venture Partners, and others
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The Future of Flexible Workspaces with Eyal Lasker, CEO of Flexspace