"I'm the poster child for FLOC, because since I've joined, I've completely expanded my network. I've made so many connections."

Caroline Van den Eynde doesn't fit the typical profile of a coworking founder. She stumbled into the industry three and a half years ago when a recruiter called about a marketing role at IQ Offices — and she'd never heard of coworking.

Now she's the Director of Sales and Marketing for IQ's eight Canadian locations and the Marketing Director for FLOC (Future Leaders of Coworking), a peer-led community that fills a gap most people in the industry didn't realise existed.

The gap? Peer connections. Real ones.

While CEOs and founders network over dinner at conferences, everyone else — including community managers, marketing directors, and operations staff — often finds themselves without peers to learn from.

Caroline discovered this firsthand when she realised most of her coworking connections came through her CEO Caine Wilma's introductions to other CEOs.

"I was lacking those relationships with other people in the industry who are at my level," she explains. "People who I could talk to about the day-to-day things that were happening and the challenges."

Enter FLOC, launched by Sam Shay to create exactly those peer-to-peer connections. Just under six months in as Marketing Director, Caroline has become living proof of what happens when you build genuine community in the coworking world.

Double the expected turnout at their GCUC Boston "FLOCtail." Members are getting vulnerable about mistakes and learnings. Real knowledge sharing that saves people from repeating each other's errors.

But FLOC isn't just about networking. They're leading a campaign that reveals how invisible the coworking industry remains: getting LinkedIn to recognise "coworking" as an official industry category.

Currently, you can filter for various niche industries in LinkedIn's dropdown menu, but not for coworking.

Four hundred signatures and counting on their change.org petition. They're pushing for a thousand before taking it to LinkedIn.

Caroline's journey from psychology graduate to coworking champion also reveals something about how this industry shapes careers. Her psychology background prepared her for marketing in ways business school might not have — understanding people, behaviour, and what drives genuine connection.

Now at IQ Offices, she's leading the kind of strategic focus the industry needs more of. Through data analysis, they've discovered 84% of their revenue comes from enterprise clients, so they're leaning into that niche instead of trying to serve everyone.

"Future state, I think we're going to see spaces no longer focus on fast Wi-Fi and good coffee. Everybody has that," Caroline observes. "We're at that point in the industry where that's a given."

This conversation captures someone who makes things happen — Caroline's self-described superpower — while building the infrastructure for others to do the same.

Timeline Highlights

[01:20 ] Caroline's definition: "I'm known as someone who makes things happen"

[02:20 ] "I will do anything to get to the end... I get a lot of satisfaction from completing something"

[06:47 ] The leap from Paris to Canada: "I pulled the plug and I was like, I'm moving to Canada, even though I've never been there"

[08:59 ] Stumbling into coworking: "I met a recruiter... to be honest with you, at that point, I had no idea what coworking was"

[10:31 ] The peer connection problem: "I was lacking those relationships with other people in the industry who are at my level"

[13:34 ] FLOC's impact: "We had double the amount of people show up... It's so nice to have a place to come to make those face-to-face connections"

[16:01 ] "There's just so much potential. There are thousands of people across North America, across the UK, and everywhere else that work in coworking"

[20:12 ] The education challenge: "There's still a lot of misconception about what coworking really is"

[22:42 ] Changing how she explains coworking: "I completely changed my thought process... now I actually take the time to explain it"

[25:29 ] The enterprise realisation: "We had two companies, one leaving, one going, but for the exact same reason"

[28:25 ] The LinkedIn campaign: "We just hit 400 signatures... we're pushing to get that to a thousand"

[30:33 ] Meeting in person: "A few of us will be at GCUC London in October"

When the Founders Get Dinner and Everyone Else Gets Nothing

Here's the thing about coworking conferences: CEOs and founders eat well together. They network over dinner, share war stories, and make deals.

Community managers queue for coffee alone. Caroline lived this for three years.

Every industry connection came through her CEO, who introduced her to another CEO. Meanwhile, she's running day-to-day operations, solving real problems, with no one at her level to learn from.

Then FLOC happened. Those monthly "Cherp and Chat" calls became something nobody expected—people actually told the truth. About mistakes. About what doesn't work. About the messy reality behind the LinkedIn posts.

80% of FLOC members say peer connections matter most. Not the workshops or the resources—the conversations with someone who gets it.

The "FLOCtail" at GCUC Boston proved the point. They expected maybe twenty people. Forty showed up. All hungry for the same thing: someone else dealing with the same daily chaos.

Numbers Don't Lie

Caroline ran the data at IQ Offices. 84% of revenue comes from enterprise clients.

So they stopped trying to please everyone.

The moment that crystallised it: the same day, one medium-sized business left due to cost-cutting. One enterprise client joined because of cost-cutting. Same reason, different worlds, different value propositions.

Most coworking spaces still believe they need to cater to everyone. Startups, freelancers, corporates, remote workers, creatives—the lot. Caroline's team proved otherwise.

Enterprise clients want something specific. They require different tours, proposals, and messaging. So IQ leaned in hard.

"Future state, I think we're going to see spaces no longer focus on fast Wi-Fi and good coffee. Everybody has that," Caroline says. "We're at that point in the industry where that's a given."

The businesses that survive will be the ones that people can easily distinguish.

The Invisible Industry

FLOC's petition sits at 400 signatures. Target: 1,000.

The ask? Get LinkedIn to add "coworking" to their industry dropdown menu.

Right now, you can filter for dozens of niche industries. Coworking isn't one of them. For an industry employing thousands across every major city, that's a problem.

Not because of the dropdown itself—because of what it represents. Career paths people can't name. Job searches that don't work. Professional identities built around an industry that doesn't officially exist.

Caroline changed how she explains her work. Used to be: "Oh, do you know WeWork? Well, I work for a competitor." Now she takes time to actually explain what coworking is.

"To my surprise, once you actually do that, a lot of people get it," she says. "Then you start getting responses like, 'Oh yes, I'm sure after COVID, that's become really popular.'"

The shift from defensive to educational. From apologising for the industry to explaining why it matters.

From Psychology to People-Centred Marketing

Caroline's background in psychology — chosen as a stepping stone to marketing when business school was too expensive as an international student — reveals something about non-traditional paths into coworking.

Psychology provided her with tools for understanding behaviour, motivation, and what drives genuine connection. Skills that translate directly to community building, member engagement, and strategic positioning.

Her self-awareness about being someone who "makes things happen", combined with strategic thinking, creates a profile the industry needs more of: operators who can execute while building systems for others to succeed.

The intentionality she describes — never doing anything just for the sake of doing it, always understanding the why — reflects the kind of thoughtful approach that builds sustainable community infrastructure.

The Vulnerability Factor

One of the most striking elements of Caroline's FLOC experience is how naturally vulnerability emerged in their community calls. She expected they might need to encourage people to share mistakes and learnings, but instead found members immediately willing to be honest about challenges.

This speaks to something deeper about the coworking community's readiness for authentic connection. When the infrastructure exists — such as FLOC's monthly "Cherp and Chat" calls — people are eager to move beyond surface-level professional interactions.

The willingness to share mistakes becomes a resource for the entire community. Knowledge transfer that prevents others from repeating the same errors. The kind of collective learning that accelerates individual and industry growth.

Future-Proofing Through Focus

Caroline's prediction about the industry's future resonates: spaces will stop competing on Wi-Fi and coffee (table stakes) and start differentiating through their specific value propositions and target audiences.

The enterprise focus at IQ Offices represents this kind of strategic clarity. Understanding that enterprise clients need different solutions than startups, and leaning into serving that need exceptionally well, rather than trying to serve everyone adequately.

This kind of niche focus — whether it's enterprise clients, creative communities, or local economic developmen