Coworking began as a response to lonely, rigid office life and the isolation of freelancing, evolving from early hacker communities in the 1990s to the first “official” coworking space launched in San Francisco in 2005. Since then, it has grown into a global movement built around three big ideas: shared workspace, flexible membership, and a strong sense of community.
Before coworking had a name
Long before the word “coworking” became popular, people were already experimenting with shared, collaborative work environments. Architects like Frank Lloyd Wright designed early open‑plan offices in the early 1900s to bring people together in shared space instead of private cabins. In the 1980s and 1990s, business centers and serviced offices began offering shared desks and reception services, but they focused more on real estate than community.
In 1995, a group of 17 computer enthusiasts in Berlin created c‑base, a non‑profit “hackerspace” where programmers could meet, share tools and knowledge, and work on coding projects together. Similar hacker communities soon appeared in places like San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Brooklyn, and their mix of shared infrastructure and social events laid cultural foundations for today’s coworking spaces.
“Coworking wasn’t created for desks — it was created for people who wanted freedom without losing community.”
The word “coworking” appears
In the same year, 1995, American game designer Bernard DeKoven used the term “coworking” to describe people from different backgrounds working together in a shared environment, focusing on collaboration rather than hierarchy. At that time it was more a philosophy than a physical office concept, but it captured the shift away from strict corporate structures towards more horizontal, network‑based working.
By the late 1990s, spaces like “42 West 24” in New York offered flexible desks to teams and individuals, operating much closer to modern coworking but without explicitly building a shared community culture. These places showed there was demand for flexible workspace, but the “soul” of coworking—community, events, collaboration—was still emerging.
Brad Neuberg and the first official coworking space
The modern coworking story usually starts with software developer Brad Neuberg in San Francisco. Around 2005, Neuberg felt stuck: working at a startup gave him structure but limited freedom, while freelancing offered freedom but left him isolated. With help from a life coach, he imagined a new kind of place that would combine independence, community, and affordability—essentially, an office “by the people, for the people.”
On 9 August 2005, he launched San Francisco Coworking Space inside Spiral Muse, a feminist collective in the city’s Mission District. The model was simple: shared desks, Wi‑Fi, a welcoming environment, and a “9‑to‑5” schedule for freelancers and creators who wanted both freedom and a routine. For the first month, nobody came, and Neuberg still had to pay about 300 USD a month in rent, but he kept promoting the idea.
Eventually, a startup developer and athlete named Ray Baxter joined, becoming what many consider the world’s first official coworker and proving that the concept could work. Although that first San Francisco Coworking Space closed after about a year, it planted the seed for a global movement based on community‑driven shared work.
The Hat Factory and early coworking community
After the initial experiment, Neuberg and a small group of collaborators—including Tara Hunt and Chris Messina—took coworking to the next level. In 2006 they opened The Hat Factory, one of the world’s first full‑time coworking spaces, running out of a live‑work loft in San Francisco. Unlike the part‑time Spiral Muse setup, The Hat Factory was designed as a permanent shared workplace for technologists and creatives.
Around the same time, Hunt and Messina helped launch Citizen Space in San Francisco and built an online community through a coworking wiki and mailing list. These early spaces didn’t just rent desks; they hosted meetups, shared knowledge, and evangelized coworking at events like BarCamp, making “coworking” a recognizable global idea.
Europe and global spread
Parallel developments were happening in Europe and beyond. In 2005, St. Oberholz in Berlin became an early café that openly welcomed laptop workers with free Wi‑Fi, helping normalize remote work from public spaces. In 2006, Business Class Net opened in Berlin in a former art exhibition studio and is remembered as one of Germany’s first coworking‑style spaces.
By 2006 there were already around 30 coworking or flexible office spaces worldwide, and for several years their number and membership roughly doubled annually—a period often described as the “coworking revolution.” Spaces like Indy Hall in Philadelphia used community funding (members paying in advance) to bootstrap their offices, reinforcing the idea that coworking was a member‑driven, not landlord‑driven, model.
The coworking boom and big brands
Between 2010 and 2020, coworking grew from a niche experiment into a mainstream way of working. The rise of freelancing, startups, and digital nomads, combined with better internet connectivity, made shared workspaces an attractive alternative to traditional long‑term leases. At the same time, global brands like WeWork, Impact Hub, and others popularized coworking in major cities by offering stylish interiors, community managers, and a full calendar of events.
Industry reports describe this decade as one of exponential expansion, with thousands of spaces across continents and coworking becoming a standard option for individuals, SMEs, and even large enterprises looking for flexible office portfolios. The core principles, however, stayed close to the original vision: openness, collaboration, flexible use, and a focus on people, not just square footage.
How the story shapes a coworking brand
Today, coworking is no longer just about desks and Wi‑Fi; it represents a cultural shift in how people think about work, place, and community. The journey from 1990s hackerspaces and experimental shared studios to Neuberg’s first official coworking space and then to global networks shows a consistent theme: people want autonomy but do not want to work alone.
For a modern coworking space, telling this story helps position the brand as part of a larger movement that’s re‑imagining work—offering flexibility, human connection, and an ecosystem where freelancers, entrepreneurs, remote employees, and small teams can thrive together. Connecting the global history to the local story of your own workspace can show members that they are not just renting a chair; they are joining a living, evolving community with deep roots and a clear future.