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WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

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Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#11

Post by meddlepal »

badestrand wrote: post #8

I don't really understand the WeWork valuation of $20 billion. I guess they buy all their properties so they greatly profit from the rising property prizes in capitals around their world. I work a lot in coworking spaces and they usually don't seem like a cash cow for the owners. Now WeWork seems to target the B2B and luxury segment of coworking with prices 1,5x-3x of the competitors'. Interesting strategy. So is the…

I don't think they buy all their property. In Boston they have four locations and are planning a fifth but they're all rented / leased from property mgmt firms.

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#15

Post by GuiA »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #13
siquick wrote: post #12

Most Meetup events and groups have become a vehicle for salespeople and self-promoters.

So, what is an effective means to try to connect with people for work related stuff? Say, if you freelance and need a water cooler type group?

Prefer smaller, more specific meet ups (eg functional video game programming) over larger, broader ones (eg Python meetup) if you can.

Even better, try to start your own meet up for one of your interests! In any reasonably sized city it’s not hard to get 10-20 people to get started.

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#16

Post by ChuckMcM »

I liked Meetup, I didn't like it enough to pay for it. It wouldn't give me information without paying so I stopped using it.

I also note that they terms of the acquisition have not been mentioned. If it is an all stock transaction it could be an example of Wework exploiting their astonishing valuation to buy companies with stock. This was something that happened a lot in the dot com boom and didn't end well. The other thing was startups trading services to each other and the overvaluing them in dollars. For example a startup I worked for gave a database company $110,000 in advertising on the web site in exchange for a data base license and some training. They both reported it as income (we got $110,000 in advertising buys!, we got $110,000 in database sales!)

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#17

Post by DoreenMichele »

GuiA wrote: post #15
DoreenMichele wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, what is an effective means to try to connect with people for work related stuff? Say, if you freelance and need a water cooler type group?

Prefer smaller, more specific meet ups (eg functional video game programming) over larger, broader ones (eg Python meetup) if you can. Even better, try to start your own meet up for one of your interests! In any reasonably sized city it’s not hard to get 10-20 people to get started.

Starting my own is what I have in mind. I was considering doing so via Meetup. I am kind of flailing around, trying to figure out how to do that.

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#18

Post by mooreds »

potatolicious wrote: post #9
m52go wrote: post #4

I haven't followed Meetup in much detail, but it seems like they lost their way. "Meetup" has become a common noun in many circles tech-related and beyond...i.e., most people know about meetup.com and what it does. But despite this ubiquity, what happened? I stopped going to meetups a while ago because most just didn't seem worthwhile. A lot of people I know did the same. If this trend persisted across the service, d…

I think it's just fundamentally a hard product. Most people aren't motivated enough to organize events with enough regularity and quality for a community to form. In my experience most Meetup groups are pretty dead. That leaves the people who have something to gain - "new in town" groups run by real estate agents, tech meetup groups run by recruiters, etc etc. These communities tend not to develop a long-term followi…

I have been a part of a few meetups, and I think that Meetup the application is great when you have an existing community that you want to bring online. If an email list isn't enough (and sometimes it isn't) meetup can be a great way of extending an existing community online. However, if all you're doing is meeting once a month, Meetup is overkill.

It may work OK for generating new community and connections, but as the parent said, you need to have some staying power, and that is either going to be related to some kind of revenue (leads, etc) or some really dedicated hosts that will probably burn out in a few years.

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#19

Post by avenoir »

As a frequent user of meetup.com, I feel like it succeeded at making people one-time acquaintances and failed miserably at making lasting connections. I'm a member of several groups and most of these groups do not see any single individual more than once. I won't even mention terrible attendance for just about any groups I've ever been a part of. I think there could've been a lot of improvements made here but meetup really hasn't done anything with the concept for years, which is a shame. I still think this space is ripe for innovation.

Re: WeWork is going to acquire Meetup

#20

Post by mfrommil »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #16

I liked Meetup, I didn't like it enough to pay for it. It wouldn't give me information without paying so I stopped using it. I also note that they terms of the acquisition have not been mentioned. If it is an all stock transaction it could be an example of Wework exploiting their astonishing valuation to buy companies with stock. This was something that happened a lot in the dot com boom and didn't end well. The othe…

Completely agree. Tried using meetup several times, but the experience as a free user is too limited... Can't view all event details, can't create a group, etc.
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