The Coliving Code Podcast

Chris Bledsoe, Co-Founder & CEO of Ollie

Chris is the co-founder and CEO of Ollie, leaving behind his finance career in 2011 to focus his full time and energy on his passion for the development of coliving and micro-housing communities. His prior experience as both an institutional investor and an angel investor in the consumer sector led him to re-imagine how the multi-family housing sector could, and should, be very different if only real estate developers would segment and innovate their product as a consumer category rather than as a commoditized asset class or an investment vehicle. Chris’ entrepreneurial roots pre-date Ollie. He is one of the initial seed investors in the organic baby food manufacturer, Happy Family Brands, which boasts nationwide distribution in most major grocers, including Whole Foods, Target and Wal-Mart, and was acquired by global food giant Groupe Danone in 2013. He also serves as an informal advisor to other food startups, including popsicle maker Ruby’s Naturals as well as egg substitute manufacturer Beyond Eggs. Before making the entrepreneurial leap, Chris was a consumer staples analyst with Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel Investment Group. He began his career at the investment banking firm of JPMorgan Chase & Co, which he joined following his graduation from Georgetown University, where he was enrolled in the McDonough School of Business.

Morgane Oléron - K9 (Tech Farm) Stockholm, Sweden

Marica Leone - Resident of K9 (Tech Farm) Morgane Oléron - Resident of K9 (Tech Farm) https://www.techfarm.life/ https://www.k9coliving.com/ https://www.instagram.com/techfarmlife/ K9 was founded as a Tech Farm property in November 2016 by Lisa Renander and Fredrik Forss.Inspired by similar projects in San Fransisco, Lisa had previously open and run for 4 years a similar yet much smaller project in the Old Town of Stockholm, called Hus24. In 2016, Lisa and Fredrik took over the 4 floors of a former hotel in the heart of the Stockholm and turned it into a home for 50 people, which has been and still is an incredible and challenging journey. K9 is today completely self run and each responsibilities that need to be taken to make such a community work, is volunteer based. When moving in, everyone is invited to take part in the Community depending on their ability and time, through a system of teams taking care of different areas (Community & Culture, On-off boarding, Management & Communication, Maintenance, Beauty & Space, Economic Association). They have a monthly house meeting to address tactical and governance concerns, issues and suggestions. Finally, included in rent is a small house budget that used to buy shared supplies such as spices, tea, coffee, detergent and so forth. With the remainder of the money they try to fund Community and growth building activities, workshops, events, and more.

Kenneth Starling, Director of Community at Tribe Coliving

Kenneth Starling shares his journey with Tribe Coliving in NYC, which is committed to the mission of accelerating progress in the lives of its members by bringing people together with shared passions, interests and values. He started out with Founder House, but soon expanded and rebranded after huge demand from others wanting to join the space. Kenneth also offers his perspective on CoLiving and how people can connect with others in big cities.

Magdalena Sartori, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer at The Assemblage

https://www.theassemblage.com As a trained architect and developer, Magdalena's work managing The Assemblage is about creating and designing through the realm of feelings and the unseen; to make spaces that bring people together in community and allow them to be the highest version of themselves.

Naz Shuva, Founder of Origin Coliving

Origin is in Brooklyn, NY. Founded 2016-ish. Nav came to America from Turkey at the age of 17. He pursued a dual career in design-marketing and as an artist-musician. Nav founded the musical group PUi and toured over 23 cities globally and sold out shows in premier NYC venues such as Irving Plaza. They did this without a major record label as an artist/entrepreneur by building an event production company and developing a passionate fan-base/community. You can check out that era here: www.puitribe.com and via google searching “PUi Tribe” & “NC Shuva" Following that impactful experience in social entrepreneurship and community building, Nav consulted with startups, specifically creator platforms and social networks for human centric-growth marketing. All of this experience in bringing brands/missions/companies together with their people/tribe/community by utilizing various business models, mechanics and entrepreneurial initiatives, his interest and competency in designing systems with a community minded outcome has deepened. Coliving as expressed in the mechanics of real estate is also such process that Nav feels presents a great opportunity for developing systems that are rewarding to their stakeholders, including investors, landlords, residents and community at large. Nav is passionate about self-growth. He's currently studying an integrative approach to Psychotherapy, Neuroscience and Tibetan Buddhism at Nalanda Institute Of Contemplative Science. He tries to bring this attitude to our living spaces with habit building challenges. meditations, mornings rises and such. It would be a very fulfilling vision for him to see that living at Origin may help improve people's lives. Naz Shuva Founder - Origin www.origincoliving.com