31–40 of 63 posts
Incidentally, the hectic foosball, random barking and other sounds of great enthusiasm make it damn near impossible to actually do any deep work there.
Am I extremely out of the loop by just thinking that it's a hot desk company that rolls up all the expenses of the office adds 10%-25%, throws in some booze and lunches and says it's changing the world?
It also forgets the other services it handles for you, for example someone staffs a mailroom, others clean the bathrooms and yet others keep water and coffee ready. They also provide security systems (cameras, keyfobs, etc). All of these are things a new business would have to build out and maintain in their own office.
...what?
Oh, I see, it's because WeWork is launching a private elementary school for budding entrepreneurs.
...what?
Everything I've seen about WeWork indicates that this is exactly right -they've got a very traditional, poor business strategy, alongside full on insanity scale silicon valley optimism. Does anyone know why WeWork is valued at close to 10x competitor Regus?
Am I extremely out of the loop by just thinking that it's a hot desk company that rolls up all the expenses of the office adds 10%-25%, throws in some booze and lunches and says it's changing the world?
Actually yes - this perspective would discount the immense value of brand, design, narrative and belief. And before you think that that stuff is "not real", consider that the reason you do anything is because of some dominant narrative you may or may not have reflected on. Narratives are what get people build rockets and go to the moon, or build them and go to war instead.
And the CEO of Regus is still a bit crazy about tech btw. They actually have an R&D arm that is trying to build self-driving office cars...or something. I never worked it out.
Am I extremely out of the loop by just thinking that it's a hot desk company that rolls up all the expenses of the office adds 10%-25%, throws in some booze and lunches and says it's changing the world?
It also forgets the other services it handles for you, for example someone staffs a mailroom, others clean the bathrooms and yet others keep water and coffee ready. They also provide security systems (cameras, keyfobs, etc). All of these are things a new business would have to build out and maintain in their own office.
I attended a similar industry event in 2006 called HedgeStock[1], for hedge funds and the various remora fish that feed off them. It was a very strange and quite unpleasant experience. Most of the attendees' firms were severely damaged if not destroyed in 2008. This seems similar. Pride does seem to come before a fall. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5059232.stm
For WeWork the vegan, hippy vibe seems part of their culture. I had a harder time reconciling that type of atmosphere applied to the investment management industry.
Can anyone recommend a "coworking space" [0] for people who don't like coworking spaces? I like to work on my own independent projects, preferably at a place that isn't my apartment, but I just can't stand WeWork-style coworking spaces, which I find to be a mix of equal parts motivational speech, "networking," pretension, and pretend work. It just seems so fake to me. Am I being closed-minded? [0]: I live in NYC fwiw…
The Gwyneth Paltrow of coworking.
I wonder if there will be a day when WeWork "consciously unincorporates."