Whilst writing “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” Douglas Adams famously said:

“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”

Coincidentally, that kind of describes how we were feeling while renovating our third area in a perfect way. After the second deadline flew by we started telling ourselves (at times even chanting it) another quote from Adams – “Don’t Panic.”

‍

‍

And what do you know – several months later + a couple of thousand beers, a few sleepless nights (okay, more than a few), and a lot of stupidly ridiculous moments and we finally did it. We’re happy (and just relieved) to announce that the third area of Puzl CowOrKing, neatly named The Extension, is now open and already hosting 9 amazing companies from the Bulgarian startup ecosystem.

‍

‍

(Note: If you don’t know why a towel is about the most massively useful thing you can have, stop reading this post and get yourself a copy of the Hitchhiker’s Guide, like right now. I’m dead serious.)

‍

Okay, back on topic.

The Extension is loaded with ten beautiful dedicated offices, designed to answer the needs of the companies inhabiting them and match their unique personality. To accomplish that we spent time with each of the companies to figure out the best design solution for them. We presented them with different options for the interior (Ranging from Industrial to Contemporary and Eclectic), and together we selected the one that would match them the best while being consistent with the rest of the coworking space. Besides the offices, we also hooked up the area with 2 meeting rooms, 2 meeting booths, 4 phone booths and a large comfy relaxation area with a mind-blowing view, to which everyone has access.

‍

‍

Building The Extension was perhaps the most challenging thing we have done so far. It was super fun, but also a bit crazy. I mean, we designed 8 completely custom and totally different metal staircases from the ground up. By ourselves. And then we asked the metal guys to build them. That’s about the time they started telling us “Вие не сте добре, бе...“. Here’s some fun stuff we learned during our adventure this past couple of months:

  • Floors plans are never really finalized and you can change them at any time until your space is actually open.
  • To make sure that every work desk is equipped with a secure and high-speed internet connection you need about 20,000 meters of LAN cables – roughly the distance from Puzl CowOrKing to Sofia Airport and back.
  • It takes 600 m2 glass to provide a feeling of privacy while keeping the ‘open community’ atmosphere, which is about 8 times the size of an average apartment in Sofia.
  • You need a mothafrakin' construction crane and a lot of “STRONG BULGARIAN MEN” to get 70 m2 of wooden Team Desk tabletops lifted to your floor. Which also happens to be the very last floor of the building. Coincidence? I think not!
  • Want fresh air? Cool. That’ll be 370 m2 of ventilation tubes to provide a debit of 47 m3 of fresh air per person. Non-stop.
  • What else? Ah, yeah the chair assembly formula. 20 coworkers + 5 hours of assembly + substantial amount of beer = 120 office chairs.
  • A team will join your space in one of the smallest offices you have and will grow and scale up to one of your biggest offices, during your renovation process.

‍

Conclusion: Renovating a new coworking floor is an adventure that requires a crazy motivated team and an awesome (and patient :* ) supporting community.

‍

‍

In the end, though, the most important thing about The Extension is not the funny stats and quirky moments, but the companies that are joining it. So big shout out for:

  • LAUNCHub Ventures - Seed fund supporting promising digital startups. After spending a few months in the Factory, the LAUNCHub partners will have their own dedicated office and much more space to support the startup ecosystem.
  • Metrilo - eCommerce customer intelligence and marketing. Their team was one of the first to join our community and it’s growing so fast that we had to double the size of their office and create a special bar for them.
  • GoToAdmins - DevOps & Infrastructure Management Services. They are the team that reserved one of the smallest offices and grew to use one of the biggest ones before the renovation was even completed. Fast-growing team or not-so-fast renovation – you choose!
  • EHS Consulting – Delivers large and complex IT-enabled change programmes. After a few months in a temporary space, the team is more motivated than ever to join the community.
  • Payreto - Access to payment gateways, merchant onboarding & others. The FinTech startup already explored the different areas of the Factory while growing enough to require coworking with a door.
  • Onvey - Building UX tools to make the web better every day. Their own office is the only thing they are waiting to grow and attract new team members.
  • 7 Sec Group - Comprehensive information security governance services. They were super skeptical about the shared space when they joined us. Now they love it. No idea how we’ll kick them out now in their own private office.
  • B+Red - Digital & advertising agency. After expanding to the full capacity of a team desk, they are now growing their team and expanding in a private office.
  • Sigma News Ventures - The brand new joiners and they'll be working on their new product - Newsful! For equity analysts, investors and traders: Newsful makes you smarter by showing the link between business events and stock price changes. For corporate executives and communication professionals: Newsful provides awareness of what business events and communications are most closely associated with stock price changes.

‍

‍

And that’s not the end of the story. As some of the teams are moving into their new home, others are joining and taking their desks in The Space and The Factory to feel the craziness of the coworking world. We have a few available ones, so if you’re eager to join us, just stop by for a cup of coffee (we have some really good Kilimanjaro beans, freshly roasted just for us) and say 'Hi'.