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WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

bloomberg.com

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Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#211

Post by ericd »

isostatic wrote: post #162
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What separates them from their competitors? Scale. One can reliably get an Uber almost anywhere. That makes it attractive to travelling businesspeople and jet setters, two price insensitive customer segments that Uber almost singularly dominates. Network effects. Ubers are almost always among the fastest transportation options in most cities. Breadth. I never use Uber Eats, but apparently it’s doing quite well. (I…

> Scale. One can reliably get an Uber almost anywhere. That makes it attractive to travelling businesspeople and jet setters, two price insensitive customer segments that Uber almost singularly dominates. Indeed. I was shocked to not be able to get one in China a couple of months ago When I land in Sydney, or Seoul, or Paris, or New York, I don't want to have to work out what app to get, download it, set it up, set u…

I was pretty shocked to be able to use them in Tanzania, and at like 1/10 the price of our hotels' car service.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#212

Post by jcwayne »

clamprecht wrote: post #155
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…

Eventually it may be, "we broke."

Never fear, WePivot.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#213

Post by toddmorey »

EliRivers wrote: post #164
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…

a still evolving business that currently includes an elementary school and a coding academy. Education is like catnip to these people. It's like some kind of attractor industry. They're all convinced they have the magic formula.

To be fair, education in the US is very broken.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#214

Post by happycube »

bartread wrote: post #206
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…

"The We Company": somebody didn't check what that sounds like when spoken in British English. Wait, what? A company that manufactures and or sells wee?!?? (Pee, to our American friends.) It's not as extreme as powergenitalia or expertsexchange but still something of a facepalm.

Nintendo got away with it...

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#215

Post by ghaff »

linkmotif wrote: post #209
ghaff wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Aren't "co-working" and "nice, quiet place to work" sort of mutually exclusive? I don't think this has to be true. Why can't people co-work together, quietly? This used to be the case in libraries, before libraries became places where governments administer social services. It's nice to work around other people, just as long as they are not on phone calls or taking meetings. These people belong in call centers or m…

In my experience, most of the spaces in libraries where I work are still pretty quiet. But there's a pretty strong cultural expectation that you don't talk on the phone or have more than short low volume exchanges with others--even aside from any specific rules.

I agree music seems more than a bit much but a workplace is somewhere many people have conversations and have to make and take calls. I don't think I'd be very inclined to spend money on a space where I had to try to find a room every time I was on a phone call or wanted to talk with someone.

I'm willing to restrict talking if I'm hanging out for free in a library. Not so much if I'm paying for a desk. One should of course have consideration for others but, for many, a big part of their job is talking on the phone.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#216

Post by cityzen »

What are people's thoughts about a franchise model co-working space where the core company develops all of the technology, infrastructure, etc and then they are all independently owned and operated paying a franchise fee? I see a lot of people that want to start a co-working space and spin their wheels trying to figure out how to do it right. If there was a blueprint and turnkey solution to manage users, website presence and you could open one in a strip mall, would people use it? One problem I see is that people compete to make it THE place to work as opposed to A place to work.

Imagine if your town had almost as many co-working hubs as mattress firm stores. I know that's a lot but a guy can dream, right?

Edit: Not to mention, you could have a membership that could be regional, national, international and interplanetary.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#217

Post by paulie_a »

leesec wrote: post #62
zrobotics wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What sort of moat does Uber have, though? Sure, it was a slight annoyance to sign up for lyft when they moved into the city my mom lives in, but that was ~5 minutes of annoyance and some phone data. I don't care at all about Uber, there's very little customer loyalty. How will they defend their valuation if the self driving project doesn't pan out?

Even with self driving, there's effectively no difference to the consumer in experience/product whether the car drives it self or someone else does.

I strongly disagree. I have had many Uber rides where I wished it took longer to get to my destination. The driver engaged in fantastic conversation. I learned from them, I got insight into the area and recommendations. Self driving seems sterile.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#218

Post by ghaff »

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…

>Aside: How come airlines give you a bereavement discount while a caterer doesn't?

I believe they mostly don't any longer. https://traveltips.usatoday.com/airlines-offer-bereavement-f...

The argument (besides $$ of course) is that airfares, even last minute ones, are mostly not the huge expense for even middle class people that they once were.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#219

Post by JohnFen »

bartread wrote: post #206
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…

"The We Company": somebody didn't check what that sounds like when spoken in British English. Wait, what? A company that manufactures and or sells wee?!?? (Pee, to our American friends.) It's not as extreme as powergenitalia or expertsexchange but still something of a facepalm.

> Pee, to our American friends

"Wee" also means "pee" in the US, as well as meaning "small".

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#220

Post by andrewf »

ghaff wrote: post #181
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.

WeWork is a new low. It's not even necessarily the demographics or the chatty beer/coffee scene; their standard fitout couldn't echo more, or block less noise, if they tried.

Source: spent over a year in a WeWork, with a desk, using meeting rooms etc. I've spent 14 years working in various open offices and WeWork was the worst.

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