In 2012, coworking was an unfamiliar concept to most Indians. Offices were either corporate or chaotic, and freelancers or startup founders often found themselves working in isolation. It was during this landscape that Varun Chawla and his team launched 91springboard, a brand that would soon become one of India’s most recognized coworking communities.
In this candid interview, Varun shares the journey behind 91springboard — from the early spark of the idea to navigating the challenges of a pandemic — and offers advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and operators in the coworking space.
Q: What inspired you to start 91springboard? How did the idea evolve from vision to reality?
Varun: Back then, I had just exited my previous startup — my guesthouse venture had been acquired by MakeMyTrip. I was the secondary founder, and while the primary founder was excited to take it forward, I found myself losing interest day by day. Eventually, I told him, ‘You carry on, I’m going to explore a different path.’
At that time, I was reading a lot — YourStory, TechCrunch, VCCircle — and immersing myself in everything about the startup ecosystem. I was fascinated by funding, incubation, and the energy around early-stage companies. The idea that really excited me was to build something like Y Combinator or 500 Startups here in India — an accelerator that could fund and support promising founders.
We started 91springboard with exactly that ambition. The plan was to create a coworking space where startups could work side by side, meet other founders, connect with investors, and find mentors — and alongside that, we’d raise funds to invest in them. Out of those two goals, the coworking side really took off, while the investment arm didn’t materialize as we’d imagined.
But the value proposition remained the same: create a space where magic happens. A supercharged office where serendipitous meetings turn into collaborations, where entrepreneurs can learn from each other, and where the cost is no more than a regular office. It started slow, but steadily, 70% of what we envisioned came to life — we achieved our operational model of helping startups grow, even if the business model shifted from fundraising to coworking
Q: Back in 2012, coworking was a new concept in India. How did you convince people to adopt it?
Varun: In the early days, it was a challenge — people didn’t really know what coworking was, and honestly, we were still figuring it out ourselves. But one thing worked in our favor — my co-founder Pranay Gupta, who’s from IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad, had a strong network in the startup scene. He started talking to people in that network, and they began showing up at our space.
We also decided to make events our growth engine. Our first location, in Mohan Cooperative, had a dedicated event area, so we started hosting startup-focused meetups, talks, and community gatherings. We also opened the doors for others to host their events there. The idea was simple — get people through the door, let them experience the vibe, and curiosity would do the rest.
A typical event would have 50 people attending. Four or five would ask for a tour, and one or two would come back ready to sign up. Within 7–8 months, that 165-seat space had 150 people working out of it. It was entirely organic — no big marketing spend, just leveraging networks, building community, and creating a space where people genuinely wanted to stick around.
Q: People say you can work from anywhere — home, café, or even a beach. So, what makes a coworking space like 91springboard stand out?
Varun: For us, it was always about startups. Whether it was a two-person team or a 20-person company, they were our first customers. And my co-founder, Pranay Gupta, played a huge role in that. He came from the IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad network — both of which were at the forefront of the startup scene — and before joining 91springboard, he was actually the CEO of the IIMA incubator. So, his network was full of founders, investors, and people building companies.
When he started talking about 91springboard, the word spread quickly. Many of our first members came through those connections. We also made it extremely easy to try us out — there were no annual commitments. It was simple: pay month-to-month, try it for 30 days, and if it works for you, great. If not, no problem.
And when people did try it, they stayed — because the internet worked well, they could focus, they met great people, and often, their business grew just by being in the room. It wasn’t about convincing anyone with a sales pitch; it was about creating an environment where the value was obvious. The moment they experienced that, they didn’t want to leave.
Q: COVID disrupted everything. How did 91springboard adapt during and after the pandemic?
Varun: 2020 was supposed to be our big year. In 2019, we had 14 spaces and opened 8 more — about 80% growth in one year. Normally, it takes us 9–10 months to fill a new space, so 2020 was all about ramping those up. But in March, COVID hit. Overnight, the 14 existing spaces started emptying out, and the 8 new ones… well, they didn’t fill in 9 months — it took 24 to 30 months.
It was a storm from every direction. Landlords still wanted rent when nothing was happening. Customers said, ‘We can’t work from your spaces, so we won’t be paying you.’ Investors told us they weren’t sure our business would even survive, so they wouldn’t support us. It was emotionally, mentally, and physically draining.
We took it one day at a time. We spoke to employees about temporary pay cuts, to landlords about rent waivers or equity swaps, to investors about adjusting valuations, even to potential acquirers about buying us. We had hundreds of these conversations. Slowly, things started improving — maybe 6 months later in some cities, 12 months in others. But even after legal restrictions eased, people were still hesitant. It took 18–20 months to get back to normal business and around 30 months to fully recover.
We did raise some money during that time, though at tough terms. But as one of my co-founders says, ‘Never waste a good crisis.’ Difficult times are where the maximum learning happens — and we learnt a lot.
Q: In the post-COVID world, many say hybrid work is here to stay. Do you agree, and how is 91springboard adapting its spaces and community to thrive in this new reality?
Varun:Post-COVID, a lot changed for us. Before, our primary customers were startups — forward-thinking teams willing to try coworking. But many of them went fully remote after the pandemic and didn’t come back. The shift, however, came from SMEs and corporates.
Pre-COVID, coworking was about 5% of commercial real estate. Post-COVID, it’s around 15% — three times bigger. Large companies started saying, “We don’t want so much exposure to real estate.” Instead of owning and maintaining big offices, they began keeping a main head office but opening satellite spaces across cities like Mumbai and Delhi so employees only had to travel 5–10 km instead of 20–30 km.
In India, working from home isn’t always ideal — space is limited, families are around, there are power cuts, and internet outages happen. Coworking solves that. It gives peace of mind, a quiet workspace, reliable power, and good internet.
That’s how we started becoming part of SMEs’ and corporates’ real estate strategies. The market size grew, and so did we. We also made a few changes: month-to-month plans became harder to sustain, so we moved to 12-month commitments. And when companies grew beyond 20–30 people, they would usually leave for their own office. To keep them with us, we launched our Managed Office product — fully customized spaces built to their specs, with 3–5 year leases.
Now, we not only keep customers longer, but we serve them through both coworking and managed offices — giving them flexibility at every stage of growth.
Q: What sectors do you believe will define the next wave of startups
Varun: I think for the last 10–20 years, many of us as founders have been a little selfish — building for our own wealth or fame without thinking enough about people, the planet, or the community. But climate change is real, inequality is real, and I don’t think we can afford to be that kind of founder anymore.
The real satisfaction comes when people around you say, “Thank you — because of you, the world is better.” That’s when you feel whole. Entrepreneurship is like nuclear power — it can be used to destroy, or it can power entire cities. The choice is ours.
I believe the future is in building startups with both purpose and profit. You can make money, but also make the world better. That’s the version of entrepreneurship I stand behind, and what we’re trying to nurture with Build3 — an ecosystem and a nudge for founders to use their superpower for good.
Q: For aspiring entrepreneurs, what’s your biggest piece of advice?
Varun: Start with why. Don’t just chase a fad — build a startup that solves a problem you deeply care about, ideally one you face yourself. When you’re close to the problem, you’ll be passionate about solving it, and your solution will be sharper because you’ll know when it’s truly fixed.
If it’s not your problem, chances are you’ll lose interest in 2–3 years. But if it’s personal and meaningful, your energy won’t fade even after 5 or 10 years. And that’s important, because startups aren’t built in 2–3 years — they’re built over 8–10 years of persistence, learning, and showing up every day.
From navigating the early skepticism around coworking to steering 91springboard through one of the toughest business climates in history, Varun Chawla’s journey is a reminder that adaptability, community, and purpose are the real anchors of long-term success.
His story also signals a broader shift in entrepreneurship — one where building for profit alone is no longer enough, and where solving meaningful problems, serving communities, and thinking long-term are what define truly resilient businesses.
In a world where work is no longer bound by geography and founders face choices that can either harm or heal, Varun’s message is clear: stay close to your why, build with both purpose and profit in mind, and remember that the real magic happens when people — not just plans — are at the center of what you do.
Last Updated on: Tuesday, August 19, 2025 8:41 pm by kruthik Sai Gundu | Published by: kruthik Sai Gundu on Tuesday, August 12, 2025 1:06 pm | News Categories: Interview
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