The story behind GoodWorkLabs: From co-working spaces to mentoring startups

Founded by Vishwas Mudagal and Sonia Sharma in 2013, GoodWorkLabs with its objective of becoming a powerhouse of innovation in both technology and design for clients across the globe has come a long way in its short but highly successful journey. For Sharma and Mudagal, who also happen to be husband-wife, the lack of product building experience in the IT services industry was an ‘opportunity’ that they used to build their company whose clientele today includes names like Flipkart, Hindustan Unilever, CommonFloor, Ekstep, Avaya, Sesame Street and Canvera, among others.

The duo is now ready to their entrepreneurial journey into next phase by becoming Angel Investors joining the league of marquee investors such as Tata Group patriarch Ratan Tata, Infosys Founder Narayana Murthy, Flipkart’s Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, or PayTM’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who are investing in start-ups across the country and helping to raise the maturity of the start-up ecosystem in India.

We spoke to Sonia Sharma, Founder and MD, Goodworklabs & Goodworks Cowork to know more about their venture.

A ‘design first’ approach

With a unique idea, the USP of Goodworklabs is its design thinking approach. “We have a seasoned design team which helps us develop solutions that have an aesthetic value and are easy-to-use. Moreover, we positioned ourselves as the ‘product guys’ in the IT services industry and soon we bagged few eminent clients,” says Sharma adding that that was a ‘validation’ that they were moving in the right direction which soon reflected as 500 percent growth, year on year in terms of revenue.

Sharma says that it is the understanding of hard core technology and product development that are managed using agile software development processes and extreme programming which helps them build the coolest UX and UI for mobile and software products.

GoodWorks Co-Work- A design inspired co-working studio

The core idea behind GoodWorks CoWork, according to Sharma is to help budding entrepreneurs grow their business without the hassle of sweating about operations & support Services. Everything at the studio, from interiors to wall décor, the seating layout, and the lighting has a creative undertone that Sharma says have been designed to suit freelancers, small startup groups or entrepreneurs. “…the coworking space provides an environment where like-minded people can meet and collaborate.”

‘Come and Work and Leave the Rest to Us’ is actually an unofficial tagline of the firm where they have an in-house team of consultants to help with management processes. Sharma says that start-ups can discuss issues related to HR, Finance, Design and Branding and their team will provide tangible solutions. “We will also act as mentors to the startups and support them through every step of their startup journey,” she adds.

Entrepreneur turned Angel Investors

While GoodWorkLabs was ranked as the 5th fastest growing tech company in India by Deloitte in 2016, the couple duo have started a new journey in 2017 as angel investors. They have decided to mentor upcoming start-ups and extend their thought leadership to help businesses grow. Sharma and Mudagal plan to choose three promising start-ups that have a 'real' business/revenue model and growth potential and plan to invest anywhere between USD $50,000 and USD $200,000.

As for their next Plan of action, Sharma reveals that their next co-working studio is opening in Kolkata within the next couple of months and will slowly expand to other metro cities as well.  The company is also in the initial stages of identifying multiple locations for similar spaces across Bangalore.