The Opportunity
Raleigh Founded was using complicated software that met some of their management needs, but still required additional software and tools to manage the business. Piecing together multiple tools made training new managers arduous and created an atmosphere of disorganization.
The Experience
First opening as HQ raleigh, the now expanded brand of Raleigh Founded has four locations, plus a fifth in nearby Cary, NC. Thirteen years later, Founded Communities are a group of shared workspaces designed to empower, foster, and cultivate companies that produce long-term job growth and positive social impact. Founded addresses two challenges that entrepreneurs face: building a trusted support community and gaining access to flexible, affordable office space.
“Switching to Coworks was a night and day difference for Raleigh Founded management, eliminating the need for ten different tools,” said former Executive Director Jessica Porta, who oversaw the move to the software platform.
Coworks’ dashboard and reporting tools make tracking metrics easy. “Pulling metrics takes one hour on Coworks, before it would take 2-3 days every month going through all the different spreadsheets,” Porta said. Easy access to reports allow community managers to make informed, data-driven decisions to optimize their space.
The Results
Before using Coworks, lead management and billing was a headache. With Coworks, Raleigh Founded was able to convert leads faster with simple lead-management CRM that showed all their leads in one place.
One location can be a challenge to operate. What about four?
Each operation requires unique and custom approaches, but not when it comes to operating software. Coworks scaled along with Raleigh Founded as they expanded operations across 4 locations, and are still growing. Simply adding campuses within the platform allowed the Raleigh Founded team to add campuses.
It’s easier for members, too, as additional locations and resources became available in the same app. The seamless experience helped to make it easier than ever for entrepreneurs and small businesses of the Triangle to leverage the spaces of Raleigh Communities.
