The world of work has changed fundamentally since the pandemic. Suddenly it was necessary to do office work and other tasks from home. This accelerated the restructuring process and forced many companies to rethink their working models, modernise and digitalise. Since then, hybrid and remote company structures and work concepts have become indispensable. They have changed the world of work, the missions and visions of entire companies, the way we work together, the way we communicate and, above all, the place where we work.
Many companies see this trend as an opportunity to use digitalisation to drive globalisation and growth, rethink employee satisfaction and health and compensate for the shortage of skilled workers with modern concepts. Because of these changes, I decided to set up my own company in 2022. Since then, many names went through my head until I finally founded “Lemona” at the beginning of 2023. A lot has happened since then and I am proud of what Lemona already achieved.
Lemonas inception – The birth of a vision
My basic idea was simple: to create a platform for companies to easily find, book and pay for all the necessary workplaces such as flexible offices, meeting rooms, desks, company retreats and more. My vision was that due to external trends and changes, companies need to develop increased dynamism and flexibility to meet the demands of the market, the competition and their employees, regardless of their location in the world. It was important to me that employees and companies have the opportunity to choose the perfect space depending on the occasion.
In my previous position as project manager for the interior fit-out of around 40,000 m², including numerous office spaces, I realised how diverse people’s working styles are. While some appreciate the office environment and enjoy spending time in the office to exchange ideas, others prefer to use retreats or meeting rooms to work undisturbed and focussed.
The complex world of workspaces preferences
After extensive discussions with various employees, it became even clearer to me that people in different industries always have different preferences and needs. It’s about more than room size, location and cost. Various aspects play a crucial role in well being and productivity, including distance from home, break options, design, atmosphere, colour choice, volume, desk and room size and internet speed. I had never seen a platform where you can filter by design and other ‘soft’ criteria before. Another perspective came from the providers. While there are now many different coworking providers and other venues, some have worked hard on the architectural quality and atmosphere, while others have placed less emphasis on this. There are also few standardised software solutions and digital infrastructures that allow providers and others to manage organisation and administration simply, quickly and easily. Of course, there are already larger players where the software and infrastructure is simplified, but smaller spaces in particular are struggling with administration, outreach, marketing and many other challenges.
As previously mentioned, companies are currently in the process of reorganising their working environments and concepts. The quality standards can vary depending on the industry, corporate image and individual requirements. Furthermore, flexible workplaces such as co-working spaces often have the reputation of being designed primarily for alternative working models, freelancers and communities. The broad spectrum of the “New Work” mega trend is still unexplored territory for many companies.
What we do?
Lemona has positioned itself in a diverse field that is not only about providing a more suitable digital infrastructure and platform, but also about support and clarification with regard to new worlds of work. This includes building and implementing new strategies for organisations and integrating different disciplines such as design, health, software and more. Our mission is to support companies in their transformation into modern, innovative working environments. We offer consulting and planning from various industries to accompany companies from the idea to the full realisation of their working environments and new structures. On our platform, we present carefully selected spaces that we personally choose or are recommended by our community according to various criteria such as design, architecture, location and other special features.
Our focus is not only on individual offices, but we also provide all the workplaces required by modern companies.The spectrum ranges from flexible desks to temporary and flexible offices, meeting and workshop rooms, company retreats, coliving spaces and event rooms throughout Europe. With Lemona, companies will be able to easily search for, find, book and pay for their desired space. Providers can better emphasise the value of their spaces and use Lemona for increased visibility. In addition, we have developed a magazine that regularly highlights exceptional places to work throughout Europe and publishes informative articles on topics such as design, interior design, health and more.
We are still at the beginning of our journey and are overjoyed to finally be able to share Lemona with companies and providers. It fills us with pride to be able to act as a facilitator and guide on the road to improved working environments for all. Our plans for the future include the introduction of a business account, which will make booking and administration even easier and more transparent.
Meet the founder – Darja
Now let me introduce myself as the founder: My name is Darja and I am a studied architect from the north of Germany. After successfully completing my studies in Braunschweig in 2018, I worked in research and was involved in large to very large construction projects as a construction and project manager. As an architect, I have always taken a holistic perspective and love designing concepts, processes and infrastructures that fulfil individual requirements. Teamwork is particularly important to me and I favour solution-oriented thinking to see challenges as opportunities rather than problems. I believe that it’s okay if things don’t work as planned, as long as we understand why they don’t work in order to develop and optimise solutions. I would describe myself as extremely creative and am always open to new ideas. I enjoy turning any vision into something impressive, just as I am doing with Lemona.
For me, Lemona is more than just a business model. I believe that working environments and concepts will continue to develop in favour of people and our environment and I look forward to driving this forward together with you.