In 2022, terms such as 'lockdown', 'covid', and 'home working policy' were still fresh in our memories. These terms also had an impact on StartDock, mainly on the activities that make StartDock locations feel less like an 'office'. But in 2022 we were able to get back to normal! We were able to have lunch together at our locations again, events were allowed, and the Wednesday, Thursday, and/or Friday afternoon drinks returned! In this blog, we'll be looking back at the year 2022 in retrospect.

In April 2022, our co-founder Stephan left StartDock due to health issues, after six great years together. We are grateful to Stephan for his boundless enthusiasm and dedication, and we still miss him every day.

Why we do what we do

You can go far on your own, but together you can grow the most.. The entrepreneurial heroes in our four communities strengthen each other by sharing knowledge, skills, and network with each other. The StartDock team is happy about their growth, and that is why we get out of bed every day. We believe that a community is needed to help your business grow, and you'll find that community at StartDock.

In 2022, we grew to a total of 1239 members, working at 685 companies. The 1239 Dockers represent 12.39% of our Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) internally at StartDock: to rent out the AFAS live in 2028 to celebrate the fact that the StartDock community consists of 10,000 Dockers.

Our Dockers work in a huge diversity of sectors: from online marketing to accounting, from selling boats to selling watches, and from circular food to inflatable baths. Some highlights from 2022 from our Dockers & colleagues:

• Sandra de Haan was named Docker of the Year 2021.
• Onramper raised €6 million in growth capital.
• THX Network was selected for the prestigious Techstars Future of Finance accelerator.
• Colleague Kim Neitzke was StartDock's first Community Associate of the Year.
• Rise Calendar raised €3 million in growth capital.
• Our team was strengthened this year with Max Koningen (Sales), Steven Boere (Head of Marketing), Clariet Bos (Community Manager Keizersgracht) & Johan de Boer (CFO).

B Corp

We began 2022 with a goal that was far outside our comfort zone. We believe that as a company, we should be good for the economy, people, and environment, and we wanted to be able to see this quantitatively. For this reason, we decided that we want to work towards providing CO2-neutral workstations, offices, and meeting rooms. And so, if you say A, you have to say B (Corp).

To work towards a CO2-neutral status, we decided to go through the certification process with B Lab to become a B Corp (wondering what B Corp is all about? Read our blog in which we explain this in more detail). 

In 2022, the certification process has been a top priority for us, with the following preliminary results:

• Created a CO2 Dashboard to track consumption and emissions per location
• Created a platform for Dockers to view their individual consumption of gas, water & electricity in real-time
• Amended articles of association to legally specify that social and environmental performance is part of decision-making processes
• Created policies on whistle-blowing, supplier code of conduct, procurement, health & safety, diversity, breastfeeding, waste separation, code of ethics and charities
• Started focusing on employee well-being by working with Quan Well-being every quarter
• Started talks with landlords to improve CO2 emissions at locations
• Started waste separation, with Seenons collecting coffee grounds at all locations and increasing separation of cardboard, glass, GFT and residual waste
• Installed rainwater tanks at each location and fitted water-saving fittings on all toilet taps
• Started making more sustainable choices for procurement, including collaboration with Oma's Soep, ordering Christmas packages via Kerstpakketmeteengoedverhaal and producing new StartDock Sweaters from sustainable material

Location growth

At the end of 2021, StartDock opened its fourth location: StartDock Prins Hendrikkade. In 2022, this location filled up with new Dockers and we can now say that Prins Hendrikkade is the location with the most Dockers! We have been looking for location #5 all year, but were not successful in opening it in 2022. However, we do have a very hot prospect, so we can say that we expect to see white smoke in early 2023. We will keep you posted!

What else happened?

• We received significant rent increases and increases in service costs from our landlords. We have communicated this as openly and transparently as possible and are grateful for the attitude of the Dockers who shared the hardship with us.
• We organized 4 editions of Pitch4Capital this year.
• On King's Day and Pride, our Amsterdam locations have been a popular spot for 7 years. We are proud of this and are happy to share. However, this year during Pride the atmosphere got a bit out of hand, but we quickly found solutions with all the involved Dockers.
• Team members and Dockers ran the Rotterdam Marathon for https://www.kwf.nl/ and raised a total of €5606!

What are we going to do in 2023?

In December, we had our "Yearly" with the full-time and part-time team, where we worked out our plans for 2023. Since 2022, StartDock has been working internally with KPI's & OKR's (Objectives & Key Results). From the "Yearly", the following 5 Objectives emerged:

• B Corp.
• Healthy growth.
• Being an attractive employer so that we are the best in 5 years.
• Turning customers into ambassadors.
• Making the work of colleagues more fun and easier by having and keeping the "StartDock Handbook" in order.

Some notable Key Results for 2023 from these Objectives are: "Winning an award for good employment", "X% of the Dockers are aware of our Brand Promise: We have no profit motive in Coworking" and "Opening at least 2 locations of a maximum of 2500m2 per location".

To a mighty beautiful 2023!