Looking for an alternative business workspace with a feel-at-home vibe then Matthew Beatty’s Spacehop website is the go-to place.

Matthew and his co-founder, Luke Eastwood, launched Spacehop early this year as an online platform allowing home-owners to offer their residential space to be used by guests for work purposes.

The 28 year old from London, who previously worked as a doctor, discovered his idea while speaking to a group of freelancers who were paying extortion amounts to rent a co-working space.

“I love the problem solving element of running a business”

“I have always enjoyed running small ventures as a side line to my job as a doctor because I love the problem solving element of managing a business.

I studied at both Leeds University and Queens University Belfast, and graduated with a degree in Medicine in 2011.

I’ve worked in almost every type of work environment – Libraries, coffee shops, corporate offices and co-working spaces. Experiencing them all has helped me to better understand what is on offer and see the positives and negatives of each.

In the early stage of the business, I worked as a Doctor alongside running the business for the most part of 2015 while also educating myself about the workspace market.

This was a balancing act at times – It was difficult committing time to developing the business and having enough money to get by.

For the past 6 months, I’ve been working from my friend’s house and it is a liberating experience. It is a quiet and relaxing atmosphere.

I find that I’m more productive than I’ve ever been.

Spacehop is a platform that allows home-owners to offer their property to be used as a workspace by freelancers, professionals, startups and small businesses.

In return, business owners can book affordable co-working spaces on a flexible basis. 

I discovered the idea for Spacehop while speaking to a group of freelancers working in a co-working facility next to my apartment.

They informed me that they were paying over £400 per month for a desk when they only used it for a couple of days every week.

I then playfully joked that they could come and work in my home for a day at the kitchen table for a tenner each.

We launched Spacehop on the 6th of January and we’ve had over 100 home-owners applying to list their space and dozens of workers taking advantage of their facilities.

“Resilience and Self-belief are keys to success”

It was challenging getting Spacehop off the ground.

The stress of being unsuccessful on Crowdcube and the elation of finding private investment a few days later was memorable.

Hiscox made the process of organising a comprehensive insurance package for our home-owners easy – Our site’s ID verification, booking and payment systems are among the best you can find anywhere.

It has been an incredible and exhilarating experience, and the support of skilled friends and colleagues was instrumental in getting us to where we are today.

Resilience and self-belief are the keys to success.”

Spacehop