Sam Rosen - Scaling Remote Teams: Building Community & Culture through Coworking

Welcome back to SaaS Fuel, the podcast where we explore the challenges and opportunities in scaling businesses and building thriving company cultures. In today's episode, we're diving into the future of work with our guest, Sam Rosen, cofounder and CEO of DeskPass. Join us as Sam shares his insights on navigating the evolving landscape of workplace flexibility and the rise of coworking spaces. Get ready to rethink traditional office models as we discuss the emergence of flexible leasing, the critical role of culture and transparency in team dynamics, and Sam's vision for a workplace that prioritizes happiness and community. Don't miss this conversation packed with strategies to fuel your SaaS journey!Key Takeaways 00:00 On-demand support, productivity system, data trust insights. 03:15 AI insights reveal data gaps in strategies. 10:52 Confidently adapted and maintained perspective amidst uncertainty. 12:43 Respect, autonomy, transparency, trust, and good culture. 16:20 Aggregate diverse workspaces for seamless booking experience. 21:43 Office space is evolving into intentional ecosystems. 25:42 Evolving focus: Coworking software to filling spaces. 29:37 Selling new cooking methods requires mass education. 31:14 Co-working concept challenging to market widely. 35:53 Landlord partnerships offer flexibility; shared risks, rewards. 38:58 Traditional offices aren't optimized for human needs. 42:58 Workplace flexibility crucial for talent retention. 44:10 DeskFest helps understand employees' workplace preferences. 47:59 Humans crave community; virtual can't replace it.Tweetable Quotes "Thriving Amid Uncertainty": "For us, we had customers that really believed in us, and we had investors that really believed in us. So it was it was going to them and being honest and being kind of clear about the future." — Sam Rosen 00:11:23  "Redefining Workspaces: We aggregate lots of different operators in your given market. And often that means, aside from some of the big guys, you get, local operators, community operators, people that actually, like, are building a space intentionally in the community near you, which I think is at least the type of space that I really enjoy." — Sam Rosen 00:16:43  Inspired by ClassPass: "We went from a membership model, which became more and more challenging to administer because the business matured and economics and spaces changed, to, you know, instead of selling one off, how do we really focus on teams and, like, predominantly mid market teams where we can, you know, like, where we can, sell groups of people opposed to one off?" — Sam Rosen 00:27:30  Viral Topic: The Evolution of Market Awareness: "So part of it is nothing that we did, and it's just that the market had to learn and be educated, and that takes brute force." — Sam Rosen 00:30:43  "Rethinking the Traditional Workspace": "Traditional office has not been a great setup for everybody forever. And, as this paradigm has changed, building and thinking about the end user and how you optimize around them, I think, is what's gonna lead." — Sam Rosen 00:40:08 "Flexible Work Environments": "What I think companies are doing is they're coming into people's houses and they're replacing it with a dimmer and saying, how much work do you like, how much light do you need?" — Sam Rosen 00:44:28 SaaS Leadership Lessons Flexibility and Adaptability: Sam Rosen's journey with DeskPass is a testament to the importance of being flexible and adaptable. Companies initially lost a significant portion of their business during COVID-19 but pivoted from serving individuals to focusing on teams...