Article written and published by Pau Guinart, 7th January 2023 in his LinkedIn profile.
Read original publication here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cicleshouse-pau-guinart
This is my personal story with Circles:
I met Enric and Natalia, the two main founders, almost ten years ago in Silicon Valley. I was living there, pursuing a PhD at Stanford, and they moved in as young parents full of dreams and projects. I was living on Sand Hill Road, they settled on California Avenue.
Enric and I kicked it off immediately as expats with similar backgrounds, and worked on a couple of projects together, but above all, we hung out. I knew we were destined to join forces in the future, but I didn’t know how that would happen.
I remember once I told Enric that the California Gold Rush of 1949 generated more money to the people who created the infrastructures (communications, lodging, food) than the actual gold that was found. Enric kept that in mind.
Years went by, their kids grew older, and my dissertation got written. Natalia and Enric decided to move back to Barcelona and when I finished my PhD, I also decided to move back home. We met again, in our motherland, and they offered me to be a co-founder of Circles. The way Enric farmed it was by picking on what I had told him years before: the ones who will benefit the most from this gold-rush of digital-nomading will be those who pave the way for it to take place.
I, of course, didn’t buy into it immediately. I pondered, and pondered, and thought about my interactions with Enric over the years. I remembered him as a committed father, responsible, and also fun to hang out with. We had some memorable outings and nights in San Francisco... Once he lent me his car for a week because I was moving, and never asked for anything in return. Him and Natalia were always ready to help, even though they were extra-busy… We even planned on driving coast to coast together!
You never really know people, and things can go wrong in many ways, but I know one thing: we are always making decisions from incomplete information, and this is ok. We cannot predict the future, but Circles has so many ingredients for success and such potential that I can only see it as a great investment. Natalia, Enric, and the rest of the team are awesome people to work with: experienced, passionate, and extremely committed. I have visited the Circles house in Collserola many times, and I have enjoyed the parties at the rooftop with some of the best views in Barcelona, at the basement, with an awesome bar and events room, and worked at the coworking space very productively.
As a co-founder of Circles I am not trying to sell anything, I am just enjoying the ride and opening it to others so that they can be part of this fascinating project. If you want to know more about it, you can check this out: circles.house/pitch
If you want a quick summary of why this seed round with crowdcube.com/circles could be one of your best investments ever, here they are:
The market is booming, there are around 50 million Digital Nomads today and this number is expected to grow up to 1000 million by 2040. There will probably be more colivings than hotels, and business is going to grow for all of us, but those who focus on specific niches with a stronger personality, and with higher profitability, are going to do much better. We are aiming to be the future Soho House for entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs traveling to many countries for long times may feel lonely in hotels or apartments with no community and no plans. This is where we come in.
In Silicon Valley the companies are doing everything they can so that people focus on work/leisure but not on administrative stuff and other time-consuming things, hence the existence of hacker houses, and now, colivings.
We don't have the technology risk that other startups have. If the site/tech is down or if someone catches up with us it is not so fatal as in other cases.
We still have the returns of many tech startups, as the business has the potential of those returns without the risks... Our competitors' valuations vary from 40-500 million € with only a few years' advantage, but without a profile as defined as ours - which in the medium term will help a lot.
The business model is proven and very profitable: we are just starting, and we were turning profit on the building from the 2nd month.
I hope we can join forces in this amazing project!
Pau Guinart
Learn more about the story behind Circles.house
Become a Co-Owner of the project by investing in our Crowdfunding Campaign.