"The best part about life partners being business partners, you share the same passion and dedication, which is the real fuel of any business", says Akshita Gupta, Co-founder and CMO, ABL Workspaces

How did you get the idea to start a company in a co-work space? What were the challenging areas for you when you decided to start ABL?

We started ABL workspaces in the year Dec 17, we (Ankur and I) were quite inspired by the shared economy concept and wanted to pursue something in the shared economy. This is when we did a bit of a research and it struck us, why not start with optimum utilization of our space in green park. One of the major challenges that we faced was how to use the space so that it doesn’t look or feel cramped. Also, since it’s a service industry, operations were a bit of a challenge.

You have been a serial entrepreneur. How has been your journey so far and what are the key learnings from your past start-ups that you have implemented in your current start-up?

Journey has been great so far!!

Failures teach you a lot, I am glad that my previous ventures didn’t do so well because that was my learning experience. My biggest learning from that experience was that you have to have your system and process in place from the very first day of your business, one should never wait for the business to grow at a certain level and then work on systems and processes.

How is your start-up different from other companies in this space? Where do you see your company after 5 years?

What sets us apart from other co-working spaces is our strife to deliver the best to our clients without compromising on anything. And to achieve that, we design for their comfort and provide for their convenience. The premium interiors, our services, location, are things which we are most proud of. Other than this we have a friendly environment. Our clients have the option of choosing from private spaces to conference rooms as well as co-working spaces to engage with other clients for their business to grow.

On our growth plan, like any other venture, we also hope to achieve milestones in our journey. Our goal is to expand the reach of our co-working space to more people so that they can get benefit from our services. Our vision is to become a local giant in office space providers. Currently, we provide 2500 seats. By this year-end, we are aiming to reach 5000 seats and by next year we are targeting to make it 15000 seats.

Are you planning to expand in different cities or step out from Delhi-NCR. Which city would you be targeting first as your next step and why?

Yes. We are in talks of expanding to different cities. We have already identified some properties in Bangalore and these lands are of our existing partners. We have seen the properties to get an idea of the location, as we do not compromise or make these spaces in colonies.

However, we first wish to achieve our targets here in Delhi/NCR and have identified properties here to expand our presence, however the issue is that we don’t usually get large spaces in Delhi. We are also in talks with big builders in Noida which is again a very huge property. Once we will achieve our targets here, we will plan and expand soon.

Not just in India, it may sound a bit farfetched, but we have also identified some properties in Singapore and Toronto as well.

ABL is a self-funded company, are you planning to raise funds soon. If no, how are you planning to sustain the day to day expenses and unforeseen expenditure?

We are so far self-funded with the help of our friends and family. We haven’t raised funding from any outside source or any angel investor, neither are we focusing in that dimension yet. But eventually, we will reach out for that someday, maybe till next year in March. The money raised from funding will help us in our target of achieving 5000 seats in Delhi – NCR.

People kept on connecting with us and when we work. We don’t look at the hours and this quality of ours was admired by many. Therefore, we never worried about not having partners/investors or any support with us in our work.

Tell us something about your clientele and what is segregation like. We also heard that you have several women entrepreneurs who are using your platform. Tell us about your experience and how has been learning with other women entrepreneurs who are using your platform to shine on.

Coming to our clientele, Lodha group, Zomato, Petrofac, toppr, etsy etc. Etsy which has started their India operation at our office. We also have clients like BulBul TV, Tribeca, Housr and Bira to name a few.

What sets us apart from other co-working spaces is our strife to deliver the best to our clients without compromising on anything. And to achieve that, we design for their comfort and provide for their convenience. The premium interiors, our services, location, are things which we are most proud of. Other than this we have a friendly environment. Our clients have the option of choosing from private spaces to conference rooms as well as co-working spaces to engage with other clients for their business to grow.

On our growth plan, like any other venture, we also hope to achieve milestones in our journey. Our goal is to expand the reach of our co-working space to more people so that they can get benefit from our services. Our vision is to become a local giant in office space providers. Currently, we provide 2500 seats. By this year-end, we are aiming to reach 5000 seats and by next year we are targeting to make it 15000 seats.

What are the services that ABL workspaces offer and how do you plan to add on new elements on your platform?

Currently, we are offering free internet and printer services. We have a housekeeping team and free refreshments such as Tea and Coffee across our centres. For our work spaces in Gurugram, we have a tie up and have set up vending machine with chips, poha etc. and these are all paid items. The presence of housekeeping services depends upon square ft. of the location. For Example, In Noida we have 25,000 Square ft. that has a sitting for 500 people, there, so a minimum of four housekeeping services are required. However, we provide 6 house-keeping staff because of the abundance of the footfall. We also give valet services at select places.

You started this company along with your husband two years back. How easy or challenging it is for both of you to work as business partners and life partners in your real life.

Initially it was quite easy when we had one centre.

But as and when the company grew we had difference of opinion for a very short period but soon we realise it’s good to have difference of opinion because then, we can evaluate situations from different perspective.

The best part about life partners being business partners is that you have unconditional trust and support, you share the same passion and dedication, which is the real fuel of any business.

We would like to inform all the new-age stage start-ups and corporates that ABL is a luxury office-space that is affordable. We would also like to communicate the fact that we offer the best services at value for money among other co-working space providers. To offer best co-work space, we design our interiors for their comfort and convenience. The premium interiors, our services, location, are things which we are most proud of.