A li Halabi , the CEO of Volt and Tayga Baltacioglu , the CEO of ‘ Mutlubiev ’, meaning ‘ A Happy House ’ in Turkish , met at Kolektif House , a coworking space in Turkey . They and their team have been there since 2016 .
On one busy but normal day at the Kolektif House , Ali approached Tayga to discuss about the possibility of a partnership - Ali was looking for a sponsor for the Volt ’ s Miles & Rewards program . His program rewards Volt ’ s drivers with miles for every KM driven even if no passenger is found ; the miles could then be swapped for free goods or discounts from sponsoring brands . Tayga thought this was a great idea to expand his own customer base . Within minutes an agreement had been reached and Mutlubiev started the campaign . 30 minutes later the campaign was live and the next day it was all over social media . Their collaboration was fast , effective , and born in a coworking world .
Cowork7x24 caught up with them to ask them more about what happened :
Tell us a bit more about your startups . When were they founded ? How big are your respective teams and where do they work from ? Tayga : Mutlubiev is an online platform which connects customers with house cleaners . The company is based in Istanbul , Turkey and I founded it in 2014 . We currently have a team of 15 people working from our Kolektif House office , but the Mutlubiev family consists of over 200 people when we include our cleaning professionals .
Ali : Volt is a peer-to-peer on-demand ride-sharing startup that connects drivers with passengers who are going in the same direction . I founded Volt in 2014 and today it employs 14 people , 12 of whom work from Kolektif House - the rest works remotely from Amsterdam and New York .
How long does it take for a traditional partnership to be closed / created based on your experience ? How did the coworking space help you as far as the new process ? Ali : Traditional partnerships take 2-6 months - they have to make sure the right stakeholders are aligned and that the business model works out . A large part of the time frame is spent managing scheduling and time slots . A coworking space removes the physical barrier between two key stakeholders , allowing them to sit and talk business . In terms of results , our partnership performs as well as a traditional partnership but without all the fuss . The coworking space facilitated an environment that helps to skip many of the hassles of scheduling as well as helping to prevent over-planning .
Tayga : Most of the time it takes 6 months to create a regular partnership and to work out the right business model . Mutlubiev was lucky enough to run into the right people . Utilizing a coworking space makes things so much easier ; it enables