As we have just celebrated our fifth birthday, we thought it would be nice to take a short walk down memory lane, and see how far we have come, both as a business and as a community. So grab a seat, a quick cuppa and read on!

Year 1 - Republic of Work is born

We started with not only the idea of a coworking space, not just a desk and a chair, but a community of different industries, individuals and SMEs. The location of Republic of Work, based in the heart of the city on South Mall, played a defining part of the planning process, with Republic of Work amongst many of the new businesses breathing new life into Cork’s business and financial district in 2017… Then came the furniture, the DIY and the painting! Startup life isn’t glamorous, but building a comfortable, collaborative hub for our future members was our priority! 

Year 2 - Getting off the ground 

Once the doors opened we ran consistent networking events with our coffee partner, Nespresso, where working relationships began, most of which are still there today, we might add. We also ran hackathons, the first of which kicked off a mere 10 minutes after our WiFi connection went live (a moment we won’t forget!), and we ran our first Startup Weekend with our friends at UCC. As we found our customer base and listened to their needs, we evolved and added membership packages to suit everyone. 

Year 3 - A Year nobody could predict

Around this time we were busy kicking off a number of ecosystem programmes, such as the Irish Tech Hub Network, NDRC, and Teamwork Catalyst.

The ITHN connects best-in-class hubs across Ireland that have significant potential to catalyse innovation in their regions. By facilitating the sharing of knowledge and resources across the network and by enhancing global connectivity, we can help to make Ireland a true island of innovation. 

The NDRC’s mission is to help startups succeed at every point of their journey through coaching and mentoring, with a founder-first approach delivered by international experts. NDRC offers practical, hands-on mentorship and support from seasoned founders to help globally ambitious entrepreneurs build and grow their businesses.

Teamwork Catalyst is a program that was created by the founders, Peter Coppinger and Dan Mackey. It is a SaaS incubator for early-stage startups. The incubator is housed here in Republic of Work and benefits from everything the ROW community has to offer.

Then came the now infamous pandemic. Covid hit everyone hard, no doubt about that. Having to stay apart and the concept of coworking obviously don’t go well together. As an industry, we had to pivot quickly into a more online-focused business model. 

Delivering value to our members over Zoom was new territory, but we handled it well with online resources and our daily coffee mornings provided a much needed platform for those working alone in their home office. Shoutout to everyone who stayed the course!

Year 4 - ROW Returns

Bouncing back from a really tough time during the pandemic was difficult, but we lived to tell the tale! We used the downtime during Covid to our advantage and we totally renovated our space. Gone were the old blue and yellow colour palette, and came in a sleek new look. Our new space was a huge talking point in Cork and we were so excited to get people back into the building. 

In true Republic of Work fashion, we went full steam ahead and hired two new team members to our marketing department, to aid in our growth going forward. Alongside this, we started our events back up again and, sure enough, our members started streaming back into the building. 

Year 5 - Future Plans

We can now look back with a sense of pride and achievement at how many start-ups, businesses and individuals we have helped to expand and succeed. Some have grown so much that they have moved on but remain an active part of our community, while some look forward to their continued journey.

2022 started out as a big year for us and we hope to continue in that fashion. We have incubators, founder weekends, pre-accelerators, and more, all planned to provide extra support for the ecosystem and network in Cork. Stay tuned to keep up with all the fun!