Roam — The first global co-living subscription

When I first heard about Caravanserai (the previous incarnation of Bruno's efforts), I was excited. Having helped get coworking started back in 2007 with Citizen Space, this seemed like the next logical progression, especially considering that coworking had been the logical extension of BarCamp (a hyper-local gathering for people of the internet). This is like a global approach to satisfy that same desire to be part of a community of kindred spirits, but with the added benefit of (thanks to the internetification of work) being able to go anywhere in the world to do it. I became an advisor to Roam after talking to Bruno about his plans and realizing that he was talking about a future world that I wanted to someday live in. I have traveled the world and struggled to find suitable places to work. When I book AirBnbs, I'm commonly scouting them out for their suitability for work, or looking within their general vicinity for the same purpose. Furthermore, finding and meshing with a good sized local crew when traveling can prove challenging. This kind of co-living/coworking arrangement addresses those issue. Roam comes in at a very interesting and transitional moment. While humans have never been more connected through technology, we still lack opportunities to truly live with each other and deepen the serendipitous connections that we've made. Bruno and his team have been very thoughtful and considerate about the architecture and interior design of the space, in order to maximize the opportunities for connection and collaboration. He's thought carefully about the shape and duration of membership: what it entails, what it doesn't, and how long the right length of time for a "rotation" should be (long enough to melt into the local environment without staying so long that become permanent). He's also very tuned in creating the right balance of personalities and interests because this isn't a hotel where you're not meant to meet your neighbors. Indeed, it's quite the opposite, and that requires a good deal of social engineering and planning (for a good cause!). Y'know, to draw a comparison, Periscope's tagline is, "Explore the world through someone else's eyes." But Roam answers the question differently. Roam isn't about seeing the world through someone else's eyes, it's about living in someone else's world, and to brush shoulders with others in a way that virtuality — so far — simply can't replace. I hope that I someday get to live with Roam, but in the meantime am thrilled that this kind of opportunity will exist for other intrepid spirits out there. -- Decided to republish this on Medium!

I've been considering moving location recently as Cardiff, UK is not the right place for me. Tech scene here is probably the best part of 20 years behind. I was chatting with Chris about what he thought I should do, and he mentioned about living it up Digital Nomad style. I've not given it too much thought before, but recently I have. I'm considering a month or two in different places around the world then maybe a couple of months in NYC or something. Then he showed me this. You can check out the story behind it here. It looks like the type of thing I should throw myself into... but I'm not in a position too just yet. Can't wait to see stories of the experiences who people get themselves on board straight away! @brunohaid @kimmaicutler and @sushimako tell us a bit more. What sets this apart?

This looks great. Sweet domain too 👌 I plan to be nomadic for a bit within the next couple years, so will definitely check this out then. Great work @brunohaid @kimmaicutler @sushimako 🙌

You know in India, in every city one can find a PG (Paying Guest) which is essentially a co-living space with shared bedrooms and a common area. People from all walks of life, students and professionals alike, opt in for this model if they can't afford a private studio or apartment. A PG typically has 2-3 beds in each room, and due to quick rotation, you often greet a new roommate, who of course is a complete stranger probably from a different city, comes from a different background and speaks a different language. You not only get to meet new people very often, but also learn to co-live with someone in the same room and use the same bathroom. With co-living spaces, the same concept is getting glamorised, which is awesome. If one can afford to live in such a setting, it sure is a lot of fun. These are great things for developed nations. But honestly, if you look at 'developing' nations and their needs, it's often a pain to live in a setting like that of a PG or a co-living space. Anyone who can afford a private room/studio/apartment, would never want to live in a PG. I mean, home is where you want privacy and do your own thing. Hell, don't think that I'm criticising the whole idea behind shared spaces or the sharing economy. I am myself setting up shared spaces in India. Our mission is to provide work and study spaces at affordable hourly rates, with absolutely no entry barrier. In India, and other developing nations, there is no concept of a public library. There are so many people that it is not pragmatic to provide free spaces for anyone. Can you imagine your high school and college days without a clean, quiet library to study or just to finish an assignment? It really is hard. We are trying to solve that problem while also setting up co-working spaces on the same model. Hope to find support in this awesome community!

Is there only one place right now? In that case, I think it's a bit difficult to advertise it as a "global co-living subscription", but whenever you have multiple places I think the concept will rock.

Is there a long term plan to have this as a semi-open platform a la AirBnB? Wouldn't imagine this including individual homes but dedicated spaces.

After meeting with the Bruno in Bali, I had the pleasure of working with the Roam team on a few landing pages. Kudos on the launch @brunohaid and Roam team - this is definitely the future. :-)

Congrats on all the progress, @brunohaid @kimmaicutler @sushimako! For those interested in early thinking behind Roam, here's Bruno discussing the "CaravanSerai" (as it then was called) project on @TeleportInc podcast: https://soundcloud.com/teleporti...

Site isn't loading correctly for me, anyone else? Doesn't seem to be loading the JS/CSS anymore. Keen to check this out!

Loving the site. I look forward to seeing what other locations you put up. @brunohaid are you looking for assistance to expand to setting up in locations around Europe?

Day before yesterday I was in ubud :( If I could have got info would have surely visited it! Better luck next time :( as I am now departing. And yeah from pics this place looks simply amorous! If you guys plan to open a branch in India and searching for managing partner please ping me anytime would love to help out or join the team.

@sushimako @brunohaid @kimmaicutler I am super interested in the topic. Looking at the pictures from the Ubud destination, I wonder if that's The Shift hotel behind the former Alchemy cafe in Penestanan area? If so, I remember it being recently built. Was it specifically built and dedicated to this project?

Amazing idea! Would love to see here in Rio de Janeiro soon. Do you have any plans for group, team or family subscriptions?

Very cool to see this evolution of the co-working concept and super excited to see there are plans for a Miami location. Miami is an incredibly entrepreneurial community in general. The economics, talent and opportunities here are beginning to attract many startups. @brunohaid what were some of the most important aspects of a location that you considered when selecting your initial locations? And more importantly, how do I get on the waiting list for a spot in the Miami roam?!!

I think it's a nice service but for me it feels like a well organised, scaled, long term airbnb. I would like to know more about the people who are there and figure out if coming to live with them would be beneficial for me and the business. People are more important to me than place.

Absolutely love this solution. So many trends converging here. (Well-covered in the Bruno's origin post.) - Pairing the nomadic lifestyle with a sense of both local and global community, bringing balance to a traveling lifestyle. - The intersection of craftsmanship and stellar design with shared goods and shared space, making fine living more accessible. - Distributed information work meets a distributed living network. - Subscriptions and rentals supplanting individual ownership not only in transportation but also in the workplace (coworking) and the home. Looking forward to seeing this model expand, and to the unique permutations that @brunohaid @kimmaicutler @sushimako and team explore with "belonging, location independence and technology." Curious if @brunohaid or Airbnb's marketing team arrived at "belonging" first 😀

This is definitely (probably) the future of business travel as the world becomes more globalized and digital. That said, kinda pricey if you don't travel more than an average amount of time. Will keep an eye out for it.

As community and experience is so important for Roam to work, have you thought on measure users trough ratings on their behavior? It would be a shame a very awful and hard-to-live person ruins others' experience. Maybe the sense of community will get strong if people feel that they can ban someone when they is really a problem. I feel I would be a hard user of this if i weren't leading a startup, thinking it can become almost a retirement plant, I'm sure at that moment Roam will be something 100x awesome!

I'd love to be able to Roam. Not by myself, but with my SO. There are plenty of cities I'd like to live in, and this would be an awesome idea.

I absolutely would pay for this. I can see how it makes sense too as long as people don't all want to be in the same couple of locations. Break even/lose money in some cities but make a lot more to even it out in cheaper locations.