WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality • Hacker News Board

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#181

Post by ghaff » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 7:54 PM UTC

linkmotif wrote: post #148

I really wanted WeWork to work for me. But it did not. During my time there, it became apparent that their entire focus was on growth. WeWork was never interested in catering to their core market: people who want to work. They failed to create a productive work environment. They alienated people like me, who were willing to pay top dollar for a decent place to work. Instead they created distraction-filled, tacky plac…

Aren't "co-working" and "nice, quiet place to work" sort of mutually exclusive? It's like nice quiet open office plan. I suppose it's possible in theory but doesn't seem to be the norm. Certainly there are lots of places that rent private offices.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#182

Post by fhbdukfrh » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 7:54 PM UTC

mcmoose75 wrote: post #126

rglover wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We're disrupting funeral homes. Man, that sounds...horrible.

Does it really? I can imagine there's room for innovation in helping people to honor and grieve the passing of their loved ones.

First step would be to provide direction to your loved ones upon your passing.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#183

Post by _bfhp » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 7:58 PM UTC

kgwgk wrote: post #93

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-08/wework... "In addition to the corporate finance weirdness: “Going forward, the company will no longer be called WeWork but rather The We Company.” (“The switch is not a legal name change,” okay.) And: “Rather than just renting desks, the company aims to encompass all aspects of people’s lives, in both physical and digital worlds,” which is—and I have spent years w…

Did Google not do something similar?

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#184

Post by pkaye » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 7:59 PM UTC

fhbdukfrh wrote: post #180

pkaye wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The innovation would be to not demand obscene prices from the loved ones at their time of grieving.

This isn't necessarily the fault of the funeral home. It's a much the traditional and society pressure that says this is what you do when you die. Aside: How come airlines give you a bereavement discount while a caterer doesn't? Nothing stopping your family from a simple cremation and open tab at your favorite social spot for a couple of hours of celebration Or a picnic... Or a concert with your favorite local bands…

The funeral home can certainly be at fault. They try to upsell the options like a car salesman. They should just provide a list of options and let the family decide.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#185

Post by genericone » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 8:00 PM UTC

stevofolife wrote: post #140

kgwgk wrote: post #93

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-08/wework... "In addition to the corporate finance weirdness: “Going forward, the company will no longer be called WeWork but rather The We Company.” (“The switch is not a legal name change,” okay.) And: “Rather than just renting desks, the company aims to encompass all aspects of people’s lives, in both physical and digital worlds,” which is—and I have spent years w…

Wait but what about WeChat?

Maybe they are setting themselves up for the eventual company buyout from WeChat?

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#186

Post by toufiqbarhamov » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 8:05 PM UTC

jjeaff wrote: post #168

dcole2929 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon hasn't been just a retail company in a very long time. It is probably THE Tech company at this point. They are a consumer electronics company having cornered the market on the cheap android tablet, and the smart speaker. They are a dominant enterprise cloud player. They own the biggest player in e-sports currently with twitch. They are in the music and video streaming business. They do government contracting a…

And twitch is becoming much more than esports. With YouTube shooting itself in the foot with their copyright nonsense, there are lots of big YouTubers carefully transitioning their content and user base to twitch.

It will come to nothing once Twitch becomes a big enough target. Then they’ll start to resemble YouTube more and more until the in turn are “disrupted.”

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#187

Post by addajones » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 8:11 PM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #119

addajones wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds about right. Spent a couple years at a WeWork in Los Angeles. It's a luxury, a glorified co-working community. People enjoy the beer. One shake of the economy and everybody will cut WeWork and go back home or somewhere considerably more affordable.

One shake of the economy and everybody will cut WeWork and go back home or somewhere considerably more affordable Or even free. When I was in the Seattle tech scene about ten years ago, the State of Washington had free co-working space at the convention center as a way to stimulate local entrepreneurship. The desks were a little strange, but they were free!

That's a great point!

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#188

Post by canadaduane » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 8:13 PM UTC

kgwgk wrote: post #93

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-08/wework... "In addition to the corporate finance weirdness: “Going forward, the company will no longer be called WeWork but rather The We Company.” (“The switch is not a legal name change,” okay.) And: “Rather than just renting desks, the company aims to encompass all aspects of people’s lives, in both physical and digital worlds,” which is—and I have spent years w…

I think they used to call this "a church".

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#189

Post by digitalzombie » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 8:16 PM UTC

kgwgk wrote: post #93

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-08/wework... "In addition to the corporate finance weirdness: “Going forward, the company will no longer be called WeWork but rather The We Company.” (“The switch is not a legal name change,” okay.) And: “Rather than just renting desks, the company aims to encompass all aspects of people’s lives, in both physical and digital worlds,” which is—and I have spent years w…

WeHarvest what is their product? Soylent green?

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#190

Post by asah » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 8:16 PM UTC

mikeryan wrote: post #154

mikestew wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somewhere along the way I think we got it flipped around. No one was calling Sears a tech company in 1969 just because they bought an IBM 370 to computerize their accounting and inventory. By probably 1975, if you were Fortune 500 and still doing your books by hand you were probably just a dinosaur rather than your computerized competitors being so advanced. Uber, Tesla, okay, maybe there is an argument to be made fo…

Similar I have issues with Compass Real Estate getting 440M in funding to basically buy traditional real estate companies with some sort of mythical special tech to make home buying “better” https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/27/safe-as-houses-compass-400...

Apparently, they spent the 440M on signing bonuses for top realtors, who brought listings with them. I can't speak to the economics, but as an active buyer right now, I'm seeing Compass listings all over Streeteasy, where the other firms barely acknowledge that SE has upended the search process, and still try to peddle "buyer agent" services, like I can't just find listings online. Compass.com at least has "coming soon" listings.