As your startup business begins to grow, there will necessarily be a lot of changes to the way you run things. Growth means more staff, and that means that you can’t keep running the business out of your home forever. Office space is not cheap, especially here in the Bay Area. More and more businesses are choosing to house their staff in co-working space, with Forbes reporting earlier this year that the number of co-working spaces has grown to about 7,800 worldwide. Let’s look at some of the reasons why this is an increasingly appealing option for startups.

Co-working spaces promote networking.

Let’s be perfectly honest. As exciting as it is to get your startup running, it can be pretty lonely at times. Chances are that you’ve already spent a fair amount of time on this project on your own, perhaps working out of your own personal space. That is, understandably, the nature of the game at this stage of the process, but it doesn’t exactly encourage networking, which is critically important as you strive to build up your startup and establish yourself in your field. In a co-working space, every individual who comes through the front door is another professional. There’s always an opportunity to forge valuable relationships and exchange with the others using the same space.

Co-working spaces are cost-efficient.

I’m sure that I don’t need to remind you of how important it is for a startup to find ways to save costs, while remaining productive (or ideally, while increasing productivity). While commercial real estate in the Bay Area has become almost prohibitively expensive, co-working space remains a much more affordable option, in comparison. Many of these spaces won’t even insist on locking you into a long-term contract or lease, and are available on a month-to-month or even day-to-day basis. The lack of an extended commitment is ideal for startups, who don’t necessarily know what to expect in terms of workload and resources needs. A co-working space will generally provide additional amenities, including internet connectivity, printers, fax machines, to add additional value to the proposition.

Tons of talent, right at your fingertips.

Working out of your home office, or a small private traditional office can be somewhat isolating. While that may help you stay focused, it doesn’t help matters when you need to find additional talent. Contrast that with a co-working space, which can be thought of as almost a smorgasbord of professional talents. Need some help with graphics? There’s probably a designer within a few desks of you. Does your website need a quick update? They may be a few web developers literally within shouting distance from you as well. The same goes for any number of other skills or needs that you may have. If an issue arises for your startup, there’s a good chance that the person at the desk next to you may have the solution.