Project Summary

 

MERGE is a case study concept developed as a consulting project to test whether it could become a viable, sustainable business. At its core, MERGE is imagined as a membership-based social lounge for creatives: part coworking space, part networking hub, and part professional studio. Unlike traditional coworking models or exclusive social clubs, MERGE’s mission is to provide artists and creatives with the three things they struggle most to access: workspace, professional equipment & industry-grade tools, and a creative network– all under one roof.

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The consulting case study was designed to answer a central question: Can an idea like MERGE be built into a profitable and scalable business with cultural impact? To do so, we had to validate the market, design a membership and revenue model, forecast financial outcomes, and chart a roadmap for expansion. 

 

Given the nature of the project, my team had to establish several “givens” at the outset in order to ground the analysis in realistic assumptions. The project therefore began with the presence of two co-founders in their mid-fifties, both of whom brought a combination of professional experience, industry connections, and a deep-seated passion for empowering creatives. Their vision for MERGE was not abstract; it was informed by decades of observing how artists, freelancers, and creative entrepreneurs often lacked the resources that corporate professionals took for granted. To signal their commitment, the founders pledged an initial bootstrap investment of $2 million USD, a sum intended to cover some of the initial costs aimed to the build-out of a flagship site, acquisition of equipment, and early-stage operating costs. This framing was critical. By anchoring the case study in a founder-led, bootstrap-backed context, my team was able to model the economics of MERGE not as a hypothetical idea floating in isolation, but as a venture with real leadership, seed capital, and constraints. It also allowed us to evaluate trade-offs in funding strategy: whether MERGE should remain bootstrap-driven, seek angel capital, or consider larger institutional investors once proof of concept was achieved. 

 

At the outset, MERGE was just a root of an idea– a vision for a space where filmmakers, designers, musicians, and other creatives would not only be able to sit side by side, but also have access to the tools and equipment they normally would not be able to afford on their own. The challenge for my team and me was to transform that vision into a viable business blueprint: to test the economics, anticipate the risks, and explore whether MERGE could become more than a local experiment.

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This concept was worth studying because of its cultural significance. The creative economy is a trillion-dollar global industry, yet its infrastructure has lagged behind. Creatives remain underserved by models designed mostly for corporate professionals or elite social circles. MERGE stands apart by focusing directly on the creative class as an economic and cultural force, positioning itself as not just a business, but a new category of infrastructure.​

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Download the full report HERE to explore how MERGE evolved from a concept into a consulting-grade strategy.