Raising $6M to Build 5,000 Suburban Coworking Spaces — Enclave’s Robert Kellman
What if you could launch a profitable coworking space for $65,000, with no staff, and scale that model to thousands of locations?
That’s exactly what Robert Kellman is doing with Enclave, a suburban coworking company he founded just before the pandemic. Today, Enclave operates 20+ profitable locations across the U.S. and has raised $6 million in venture funding to fuel a bold plan: build 5,000 no-staff coworking spaces where people actually live.
In this episode of Opening Soon, Robert shares his journey from working in politics and Uber to identifying an overlooked market opportunity hiding in plain sight, affluent suburbs full of remote workers with nowhere to go but a noisy Starbucks. We dive into how he tested the idea, built the first location, survived COVID, and ultimately raised capital to scale a surprisingly lean operation.
We cover:
- How Enclave runs 20+ coworking locations with zero on-site staff
- Why suburban coworking is still massively underbuilt
- The tech and automation powering Enclave’s no-staff model
- Lessons from scaling Uber and running political campaigns
- Raising a $2.2M pre-seed led by Newstack and expanding nationally
- Mistakes made (and what Robert would do differently next time)
- What it takes to open 150+ locations by 2027
Whether you’re building a brick-and-mortar business or thinking about how to scale operationally without breaking the bank, this episode is packed with tactical insights, hard-won lessons, and one very compelling vision of the future of work.
Resources & Links
Enclave: https://enclavecoworking.com
Follow Robert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-kellman-280a18a/
Opening Soon Links & Resources
→ Signs and furniture for retail stores: https://signsandmirrors.com
→ NYC and Houston’s first self-portrait studio: https://fotolab.studio
→ Follow us on Instagram: @openingsoonpodcast
→ More episodes and guest info: https://www.openingsoonpodcast.com