Founder Spotlight: Drew Calin of Greenhouse

Founder Spotlight: Drew Calin of Greenhouse

By Asha Gutierrez

An Environmental Office Space for Everyone

Drew Calin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Greenhouse. They specialize in helping foreign companies enter, and domestic companies scale, within fast-growth markets.

“We don’t just want to be one of a million co-working spaces, we want to create business value far beyond other office spaces,” he said. They do this by going into market and building a network of vetted, high quality, b2b service providers. Their intention is to eliminate minimize risks for under resourced organizations trying to establish and scale their business quickly. These will be available on their website shortly, and will eventually include registration, payroll, recruitment, legal/tax advice, and more Their offering in the co-working space world is their end-to-end solution set for growing businesses. They build workspaces designed to inspire productivity and employee wellness. We call these two businesses “Greenhouse Connect” and “Greenhouse CoWork.” More to come on them shortly….

Drew is extremely passionate about building his business around people first. He has a unique approach to building a high-performance culture at Greenhouse, he calls it the “4Ps”: People, passion, process, and performance. “If we invest in people by expressing our commitment to them through empowerment, autonomy, resourcing, development, and recognition, then we’ll build their confidence and sense of ownership…which will result in passionate work. Work they care about, work they WANT to own. If we then install process and structure to help them plan and execute more efficiently, then we’ll ultimately get to the 4th and final P, performance. But it all starts with the 1st P doesn’t it, PEOPLE!”

He has more than 15 years’ experience in digital media and sales and is formerly the Head of Enterprise Sales for SEA at Linkedln, where he worked for nearly a decade. Drew has long been involved with startups, and is known as inspiring, helpful, and hardworking by those close to him.

An Expansion for Business Revenues

It is Drew’s aim to expand across SEA over the next two years and go beyond within the third and fourth year. He is known as a passionate entrepreneur and is always keen to challenge the status quo while pushing himself and his team to go beyond their own perceived limitations.  

Town hall meeting in Greenhouse

Greenhouse is based out of Singapore but launched its first coworking space in Jakarta (Kuningan) last year and will be opening their first here in Manila in August of this year. They expect to offer spaces across most of SEA within the next 2 years. “If you're entering or expanding your company within fast growth markets here in SEA, if you travel or send teams in/out for work, or need excellent training/event space, please feel free to contact me directly anytime. I'd love to explore how we can help,” he said.

Your Key to Fast Growth Markets

Drew believes that timing is important. To create convert ideas into action, we need to be cautions of forced decisions, and recognize the power of good timing. At first, he didn’t join in Greenhouse right away given that he is preparing for the birth of his son. However, he was already involved as a partner and investor. “In life, there is a critical balance between timing and opportunity. We have to understand that choosing not to do something, it at least as important as choosing TO do something,” he explains. Because of this process, he was able to take time off from work, improve his vision for Greenhouse, and take action at the right time. His vision for Greenhouse is to promote economic growth, environmental consciousness, and employee wellness in fast-growth markets. He goes on to elaborate “If we’re able to help companies more effectively mobilize and scale through high quality/high-value B2B services, if operate our spaces as a zero-waste business, and raise awareness to environmental consciousness, and if we provide healthier work environments for the employees of the companies we service…then in our own little way, we’re contributing to the progression of these amazing markets.”

World Environment Day in Greenhouse

Wanting to give back to the host communities is important. That is why Greenhouse recycles everything including food and they plant trees, one for every member, every month.

Their location in Jakarta is situated in the penthouse unit of the Multivision Tower, has beautiful 9-meter ceilings and a 270-degree view of the city, which not only provides breathtaking views but also foods the entire office with natural sunlight and provides them the ability to minimize their usage of electricity. They have a 300 square meter bar and restaurant which doubles as gorgeous event space. There are a variety of rooms: like phone booths for those who want to make private calls, conference rooms for meetings, a brainstorming room, and a workshop/training facility for up to 60 pax. The entire experience of working out of Greenhouse facilities is created to make people healthier and happier during their stay.

“I want entrepreneurs and business leaders to understand and relish the notation of employee wellness, this is how they’ll realize great productivity. We have to recognize that we can and MUST create work environments designed for our people to thrive.”

Greenhouse Connect is launching their MVP in Q2 this year with plans to be available in 7 countries across the region, and Cowork will be in 5 locations across Indonesia and the Philippines, all by the end of this year. They’re hiring aggressively in both markets and welcome anyone to contact them directly for employment or partnership opportunities.

To learn more about Greenhouse, check out their website here: https://greenhouse.co