Week 18: When 'big coworking' moves in, market data, AI coding risks and GCal as glue

Hector Kolonas hosts Alex Garza of Alliance Virtual Offices to discuss partner testimonials on how Alliance drives additional revenue while handling compliance, payments, and customer support, plus new network-driven meeting room bookings across locations. They review advice on responding when a large coworking brand opens nearby, emphasizing differentiation, market validation, and leveraging increased awareness without copying competitors. The episode highlights new Coworking Cafe data showing US coworking growth (9,136 spaces in the top 50 markets; 163.9M sq ft, about 2.9% of office space) and UK/Ireland surpassing 4,500 spaces, noting competitiveness and continued expansion opportunity. They also cover an AI coding-agent incident where Cursor deleted a production database and backups in seconds, and debate guardrails for AI-enabled development. Finally, Hector argues Google Calendar shouldn’t be the “glue” for system integrations.00:00 Welcome and Agenda01:09 Alliance Partner Wins05:28 Meeting Rooms Network07:50 Big Brand Next Door12:25 Coworking Growth Data16:42 Virtual Office Pricing19:32 AI Deletes Database24:41 Google Calendar Trap28:10 Wrap Up and Thanks