#21 "We are working on building the Knotel offering in Europe" - Frank Zorn, CEO Deskeo (Knotel)

Frank Zorn is the co-founder of Deskeo, nowadays one of the biggest coworking operators in France, with 75.000 m2 under management, spread across 50 locations, mainly in the Paris and Lyon areas.
Deskeo is the French arm of the US coworking giant Knotel, that recently invested in the company.
Knotel policy, so far, was to keep building on the local brand. Ahoy!, the Berlin based operator taken over by Knotel in 2019 is operating under the Ahoy! brand as well.
"Knotel had the same positioning as ours. We rapidly figured out there was a good fit between us. We have the same understanding and philosophy of what we want to build. So Knotel and Deskeo joined forces", tells Frank Zorn.
In terms of market positioning, "we see a place between the demand of landlords to convert part of their business towards more flexible models and the companies requiring more flexible commitment for their workplace needs. We see we are well positioned to match the two sides of the demand.", says Frank Zorn.
Deskeo focuses on the middle size and scaling up companies, as well as corporates.
"Once a company grows higher than 10-20 people, they start to look for an environment where they can build their own culture, their own iconography within their location. We co-create an office that looks like their own office, bringing on top of it our service layer and flexibility."
Frank Zorn is involved in the development of France, but not only. He also helps to develop the Knotel European offering elsewhere in Europe, in Amsterdam and Dublin, a.o.
According to the country, the strategy will either be to keep the operations under as existing local brand - such as was the case with Deskeo (which benefits form a strong recognition in France)- or to develop directly and organically a new offering under the Knotel brand.
"For contracts involving locations in different countries, with international customer, for instance, we commit as Knotel (...) We are a global brand, present in 70 cities."
"We focus first on the most attractive and biggest markets, for the moment, but could look go for smaller cities, as a second steps."
Frank Zorn says the company is also aware of the shift in culture that is brewing, in the post-Covid19 time. Employees and companies start to consider to distribute their workforce differently. Silicon Valley and some other places are losing some of their appeal, as people are thinking differently after the Covid-19 impact.
"This is a shift that is going to take place", observes Frank Zorn. However, we expect the changes not to happen overnight. It will take a few years."
Deskeo recently released the outcome of a Survey on how teleworking is accepted and perceived in France.
"Work from home policy will become an asset for companies talent attraction, we see from the results", explains Frank Zorn. "Employees are also ready to give up their dedicated desks, would the workspace policy change and become more flexible, integrating home office. The head down tasks can be made at home. Brainstorming, collective creativity sessions, social stimulation rather take place within a workspace environment."
"Proper Workspace design will become even more important in that new era", adds the CEO of Deskeo.