The Pitch - Working doc
The Pitch - Working doc

Brain Harpoon - 35 words

What if you could have all of the benefits of owning a home — without the burden of a mortgage or maintenance — while enjoying the flexibility of renting? This is the question my cofounders and I were exploring when we, along with twenty of our friends, decided to move to Lake Atitlan, Guatemala during the height of the pandemic to run a coliving experiment. Since then, the number of digital nomads around the world has more than tripled and is expected to reach one billion by 2035.

Hi, my name is Dakotah Apostolou and I’m from Mill Valley, CA. I also live in Guatemala. And Brazil. And Ecuador. And many other locations around the world.

As part of a global community of 35 million digital nomads, I have the ability to live and work anywhere. However, as a member of Cohere, I’m also a shareholder of a continually evolving network of coliving communities around the world, which provides the value of owning a home while still enjoying the freedom to travel.

Problem - 85 words

The pandemic has radically shifted the way we live, work and travel — blurring the lines between these once segregated industries and leaving them ripe for innovation. According to a recent Airbnb study, the most common trends among post-pandemic travelers include: taking more trips, traveling to more places, working while traveling, and staying longer in each location now that many countries have adopted digital nomad visas.

The era of tourism as we knew it is coming to an end, as reflected by the 83% YoY market downturn. Now that digital nomads are staying an average of six months at each location, this emerging market of “slow travel” has led to travelers seeking a deeper connection to people and place and desiring a supportive community and collaborative work environment at these destinations.

Although working from anywhere has its advantages, this transient lifestyle can lead to a perpetual cycle of debt due to the inability to gain equity in a home. With 1 in 4 renters spending more than 50 percent of their income on rent, we feel it’s time to evolve “home” to adapt to the new normal and meet the needs of the modern lifestyle.

The Demo - 130 words

The world wasn’t built for digital nomads, but we intend to change that. Our platform connects high-functioning remote workers that are seeking a higher quality of life, frictionless collaboration, and meaningful connections with coliving communities that align with our values and shared vision to evolve how we live, work and thrive together. Like Classpass for coliving, Cohere makes it easy for members to gain access to a curated network of coliving spaces around the world while gaining equity that goes with them, wherever their journey takes them.

Community is at the core of Cohere, which is why we make it easy for members to find their tribe. As a Cohere member, you belong to a vetted community of changemakers, cultural creatives and impact entrepreneurs who are creating meaningful change in the world. Through our distributed ownership model, you are also a stakeholder in the success of the company which creates longterm patronage while generating network effects that stimulate organic growth.

Our global network of coliving communities are designed to accommodate high-functioning remote workers and meet the needs of the modern lifestyle while creating the conditions to support enhanced wellbeing, personal growth and peak performance. Now that work and travel are an extension of our lives, it’s essential that our spaces and amenities reflect this new way of living.

The Money - 85 words

The pay-to-stay model is outdated, so we're giving it an upgrade. As a Cohere member, you pay a recurring membership due, which is actually an investment into Cohere. This means, as the valuation of the company grows, the wealth of our members grow. Cohere generates additional revenue from booking fees through our platform, affiliate fees from in-network products and services, and platform fees paid by community owners.

We currently have 150 invested members with a pipeline of another 1000 potential new members. Our goal is to reach 3000 invested members by the end of Q2 of 2023 generating $33k MRR. We will do this by hosting month-long coliving experiences at our first few locations. This will serve as a marketing funnel, a community-building experience, a culture generator, and an attractor for new community locations.

The Team - 33 words

As Cohere members ourselves, we’ve been living this lifestyle for years and have a deep understanding of the needs of the digital nomad and how to leverage our decades of combined experience to disrupt the hospitality industry.

As a Frank Lloyd Wright trained architect, I intrinsically understand how to use the built environment to restore the health of ecosystems and communities and align incentives toward regeneration.

As a serial entrepreneur and creative director, Devin, our CXO, brings over two decades of strategic, operational and creative experience, specializing in UX design and brand strategy.

As a systems engineer with vast experience in the aerospace industry, hospitality, construction, broadcast media, and finance, our CSO, Josh, is focused on developing abundance through sustainable, balanced and highly scalable solutions.

The Wrap - 30 words

Now that we have the ability to live and work anywhere, we believe that homeownership and location independence shouldn't be mutually exclusive. We’re obsessed with how to lower the barrier to equity for those that otherwise don't have access to the value of owning a home, while unburdening those that do.

Our shared ownership model provides equity in a diversified portfolio of real estate assets around the world, not only sheltering our members from the next economic crisis but providing resilient communities to shelter from these uncertain times. These communities will continue to expand over time — both in scope and scale — creating a global network of villages dedicated to intentional living.

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NOTES:

What is the target income of the average person? How does this make more financial sense than owning a home?

Stress more on the fact that members are asset owners

Redefine how the money and fees work with the members

Use the demo to explain how a member pays and has a consistent experience

Explicitly say the cost to a members

Explain the basic of an ownership model - be specific about who pays who for what and also define the product experience

KL Note: I find the phrase “the flexibility of renting” confusing. It makes sense through the lens of an AirBnB traveling digital nomad, who travels and rents short-term. But I am a renter, and I don’t find that that gives me much more flexibility. I still have to pay rent and tend to my home and animals. So there might need to be a more refined phrase you use like

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