5 Critical GTM Lessons from Cody’s Journey Through Commercial Real Estate Disruption

Market disruption creates opportunities for founders who can spot shifting power dynamics and adapt quickly. In a recent Category Visionaries episode, Cody CEO Christelle Rohaut shared how her company achieved 10X customer growth by transforming their approach to office space solutions. Here are the key go-to-market lessons from their journey:

1. Solve the Problem, Not Your Original Solution

The most crucial GTM lesson from Cody’s journey is the importance of staying focused on the core problem while remaining flexible about solutions. As Christelle explains: “I think it’s just as a founder as a company, staying focused on solving a problem and not being too in love with a solution. I was very much in love with residential spaces and utilizing that as a workspace, but there was no product market fit there.”

When COVID-19 disrupted their initial business model of utilizing empty homes as workspaces, they didn’t try to force their original solution. Instead, they recognized that the underlying problem of workspace accessibility remained unchanged, leading them to pivot toward a more viable solution.

2. Capitalize on Power Shifts in the Market

Market disruptions often create fundamental shifts in power dynamics between suppliers and customers. Successful GTM strategies identify and capitalize on these shifts. Christelle observed: “The beauty of today is that demand got the power back… If all the demand want a one year term, supply doesn’t have a choice… offering a five year lease is no longer in demand.”

This insight led Cody to position itself as a bridge between evolving customer demands and traditional supplier constraints, creating a new category of flexible office solutions.

3. Build Solutions for Emerging Behavior Patterns

Rather than trying to change customer behavior, Cody built their solution around emerging patterns they observed in the market. Christelle shares an example with Airbyte: “They are publicly like a remote first company but they do use a Cody space full time here in San Francisco… we’re seeing that a lot more where companies that hit a certain threshold in terms of employee density, like you have more than ten people somewhere, they start to have a hub.”

This observation of how even remote-first companies approach physical spaces helped shape their product offering and target market identification.

4. Reframe the Value Proposition

Instead of competing solely on flexibility, Cody reframed the conversation around total cost and operational complexity. As Christelle explains: “When you get a direct lease or sublease, you think only on the base rent, right? But then you have utilities and then the deposits and all the upfront cost of purchasing furniture, and then cleaning and coffee and tea… There’s a lot of hidden costs and fees in running your own office.”

This comprehensive view of the problem helped them position their solution as more than just flexible office space, but as a complete operational solution.

5. Build for the Future, Not the Past

Successful GTM strategies anticipate where the market is heading rather than solving for past paradigms. Christelle predicts: “I think the mainstream behavior will be to have a twice a week hub… And the other days it’s a different company using the space.” This insight shapes not only their current offering but their entire product roadmap and market positioning.

The Bigger Picture

The key insight threading through all these lessons is the importance of maintaining strategic flexibility while staying true to the core problem you’re solving. As Christelle notes: “We’re still on the same mission of decentralizing access to workspaces and making having a space a lot easier than it is today.”

For founders navigating their own market disruptions, these lessons offer a valuable framework: stay focused on the problem, recognize power shifts, build for emerging behaviors, reframe value propositions, and position for the future. Success comes not from rigidly adhering to initial plans, but from maintaining focus on the core problem while remaining flexible about solutions.