Diversein's story with Huckletree started almost 2 years ago as we started hosting many events in the historical building of Huckletree in the heart of Dublin. Recently, as Diversein, we have also moved it's Dublin head office to Huckletree and decided to introduce this amazing co-working space with you.
[Furkan Karayel] Could you tell us about Huckletree in numbers...
[Aislinn Mahon] Huckletree is building hubs across the UK and Ireland for businesses of all sizes to come together, scale, be brave, and lead industry change. We build physical workspaces for teams, run educational and accelerator programmes, and connect fast growth companies to valuable investor and talent networks. Since opening our first workspace in Clerkenwell back in 2014, we’ve opened three more spaces in London, launched the business in Ireland and expanded our UK offering by bringing Huckletree to Manchester. In Ireland alone, we have grown to a community of 120+ fast growth tech companies including Kontainers, Starling Bank, Channelsight, Scale Ireland, Certified Proud and of course Diversein!
[FK] Aislinn, How long have you been working in Huckletree? What do you like most about working here?
[AM] I have been working with Huckletree for over three years now since we launched the business in Ireland in late 2019. The reason I joined the company was because I loved the culture and I saw a significant gap in the market for a shared workspace for innovators in Dublin. I’ve always been attracted to work for companies with visionary founders. Our co-founders Gaby and Andrew are great examples of effective leaders. They are authentic and direct, and they truly empower the people they work with. It’s an incredibly inspiring work environment, risk-taking is encouraged and we really believe in giving people autonomy and freedom.
[FK] I know there is so much work behind making Huckletree more inclusive and accessible, could you tell us about your special facilities ? I absolutely love your pop-up meeting rooms and the prayer room.
[AM] I am so happy you asked this question as inclusivity is core to our business and how we operate. We want our members to feel at home when they are in Huckletree, and for them to know that they belong to a community that champions diversity and belonging. On a practical note, we provide facilities and amenities that make people’s lives a little bit easier. In Dublin, this includes our prayer room and nursing room and even our yoga studio and zen garden - spaces that allow people to blend their personal and professional lives. Each of our spaces has something unique added to it with the member community in mind, for example our Huckletree West hub has a Kids Studio for parents who wish to bring their children with them to the workspace. Our commitment to inclusivity goes far beyond our physical spaces. Through our content, programming and initiatives we are campaigning for change in our ecosystem, with a strong focus on Fairer Funding in the start up and scale up industry. In 2017, we launched the Alpha Programme, our pro bono accelerator programme to support early stage underrepresented founders. We aim to help to close the funding gap and address investor bias towards female and minority founders by nurturing and exposing them to 12 weeks of workshops, pitch practise, tailored introductions and 121 support from our Growth Team. Our next Programme will run from April - June this year so look out for more details coming very soon!
[FK] How many membership types do you have and what are the differences between them?
[AM] Our memberships are incredibly flexible and designed around how people work. For example, companies with larger teams tend to opt for our private studio membership, which means they have a base for people to gather together and collaborate on projects. Smaller teams work from our shared workspaces and can opt for our light membership, which gives them 10 days of access a month, or our floating access which allows them to come in as often as they like.
[FK] How can we find out more about Huckletree or reach out to you?
[AM] You can take a look at our company website at www.huckletree.com, or drop me a line aislinn@huckletree.com - I’d love to hear from you!