Seoul Coworking Space CowNDog
Best for: pre-founder startups with social benefit mission; digital nomads; students;
Cost:
Hot desk: free
Membership: ₩20,000 (one-time deposit)
Parking: ₩30,000 per day
Amenities: Meeting rooms, Phonebooth, Lockers, Cafe
Summary
It is a ten-minute walk from Ttukseom Subway Station. You will find a futuristic building of CowNDog coworking space and social venture initiative. The unusual name comes from CowNDog’s motto: “COWork+DOGood”. Inside CowNDog has a very industrial design with concrete and lots of light, but the second floor has a much warmer look is with a lot of wood elements. The first and second floor are designated for coworking with 50 seats in total. A number of meeting rooms for different group sizes is located on the second floor.
To enter this place you don’t need anything except their application. After registering in the app and adding your credit card, a one-time deposit of ₩20,000 will be deducted from your account. It allows you to buy drinks from the cafe with 50% discount as well as book meeting rooms and phone booths for up to 10 hours per month (Additional booking is possible through extra fee). Regular members can also take advantage of free lockers and leave their stuff there until the next day. But if you just want to try this place for a day you absolutely can come and grab a seat without registration.
CowNDog also offers to rent space on the third and fourth floor with special benefits for those enterprises who aim to bring a social change to some aspect of Korean society. In addition, CowNDog values their community and hold a lot of events per year. For example, at the end of every spring, they hold Seoul Forest Market event. Furthermore, they open their space for small enterprises to sell their products and the profits go to charity. Last year alone it has attracted over 1000 people.
Benefits:
- Easily accessible: CowNDog doesn’t have an expensive membership fee and open is to all members of the community
- Social enterprise benefits: If you are part of a startup or a project that has a social initiative in your foundation, this place can not only provide you discounts for their membership fees but also introduce you to a community that is built around the same vision.
Downsides:
- Korean focused: Unfortunately, CowNDog is not particularly foreigner friendly. The app functions only in Korean and the stuff is limited in responding in English (though it seems they are able to understand and help).
- Winter is coming: A futuristic design with concrete walls and huge glass windows create a unique atmosphere, but during the cold season it might not be warm enough to work on the same spot for several hours.
Final note
CowNDog is a great place for digital nomads who are looking for an affordable coworking space Seoul. It will be particularly interesting for startups who are developing a product to bring a solution to existing social issues.
andCards will continue to review the top coworking spaces in Seoul.
Webpage: http://cowndog.com/english/
Working hours: Weekdays: 10AM-9:30PM; Weekend, Holidays: 12PM-7PM
Location: Wangsimniro 2-gil, 20 seongdong-gu Seoul, Korea
