Joao Simoes is the co-founder of IDEA Spaces, a Lisbon based coworking operator which started its activities in 2014 within a 400 sqm space. Six years later, IDEA Spaces is soon to open a third location, cumulating a total of 10.000 sqm surface under coworking management.

Main takeaways

The highlights from our conversation with Joao Simoes are summarised below:

• “We are a community, this is our philosophy since day 1“, affirms Joao.
• The strategy initiated in the early 2010’s to make Lisbon a magnet for tech and foreign talents clearly delivered: “Lisbon has changed a lot. The quality of life, the cost of living, the culture, the food, the climate… has transformed Portugal into a great place to gather teams for international scaling up tech companies looking for talents“
• It’s easier for a Finnish startup to open a brand in Portugal to lure qualified foreign developers or marketing experts than to make them move to Helsinki: “From that perspective, coworking spaces like ours are perfect as they bring the team directly into the local community and ecosystem while allowing them to scale up rapidly”; explains Joao Simoes.
• Work on the community and networking are critical for Joao Simoes and his IDEA Spaces.
• Despite the Covid10 situation, Joao seems optimist: “We expect growth from September on after the summer break but we also think there will be a transition period until the end of they year”

Watch the full video conversation with Joao Simoes below.