This September, a different kind of founder retreat is taking shape on Spain's Mediterranean coast. As the late-summer light softens over Valencia's orange groves and Gothic spires, a group of women building companies — from pre-seed solo founders to Series A operators — will move into a shared home for a month of focused work, unfiltered conversation, and the kind of support that's hard to find in a solo founder's day-to-day.
Why Valencia, Why Now
Valencia has quietly become one of Europe's favorite bases for remote workers and founders alike: fast trains to Madrid and Barcelona, a walkable old town, some of the best food in the country, and a cost of living that stretches further than Lisbon or Berlin. September adds a final ingredient — the summer crowds thin out, the heat breaks into something more livable, and the city settles into a rhythm that's easy to build a routine around.
For a coliving pop-up built around deep work and real connection, that combination matters. Founders aren't just showing up for a change of scenery; they're showing up because the setting actually supports the work.
What Coliving for Founders Actually Looks Like
Unlike a conference or a one-off retreat, this is a full month under one roof. The format typically blends:
A shared house or converted villa with private bedrooms and communal kitchen, living, and workspaces
Structured programming — workshops on fundraising, hiring, go-to-market strategy, and operations, often led by peers or visiting investors and operators
Unstructured time — the coworking sessions, dinners, and late-night conversations where a lot of the real value actually happens
Optional 1:1s and mentorship with more experienced founders or advisors who rotate through
Local excursions — markets, beach mornings, day trips — that keep the month from feeling like a monastic sprint
The pitch isn't just productivity. It's the specific relief of building a company surrounded by other people who understand the particular weight of it — the fundraising rejections, the cofounder tension, the loneliness of being the only person who really sees the whole picture.
Who It's For
These pop-ups tend to draw a mix: first-time founders looking for community and accountability, more seasoned operators who want space to think without office noise, and women navigating industries — deep tech, venture, hardware — where they're still often the only woman in the room. Company stage varies widely, and that's usually by design. A pre-launch founder and a founder closing a Series A have different problems, but strikingly similar instincts to compare notes.
What to Expect If You're Considering It
If you're weighing whether to apply for a program like this, a few practical things are worth asking upfront:
Cost and what's included — some pop-ups cover housing and programming with a flat fee; others ask participants to book their own accommodation nearby
Group size — smaller cohorts (10–20) tend to produce tighter relationships; larger ones offer more diversity of experience
Time commitment — can you actually be present for the full month, or is a partial stay an option?
What "programming" really means — ask for a sample week. Vague itineraries are a signal to dig deeper
Who else is coming — stage, sector, and geography of the cohort will shape the experience more than almost anything else
The Bigger Picture
Coliving pop-ups for women founders are part of a broader shift: recognizing that the infrastructure around company-building — who you can call at 11pm, who reads your pitch deck before the VC does, who tells you honestly that your churn number is a real problem — matters as much as the capital itself. Valencia in September is, for one month at least, a bet that proximity and time together can build that infrastructure faster than a Slack group ever could.
For founders who spend most of the year building alone, or who are simply craving a change of scenery with substance behind it, it's worth a look.
