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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

#221

Post by komali2 »

bobthepanda wrote: post #179
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…

Ah, the Nintendo strategy. Why anyone at Nintendo thought that the Wii U was a good name for a completely new console is beyond me.

There's some systematic issue with naming that has existed at Nintendo since the 90s.

Thinking:

Nintendo entertainment system and super Nintendo entertainment system. Not necessarily bad, but also kinda "meh." Probably the best 90s explanation for what a "console" is, before everyone already knows what a console is. I bring it up because here begins Nintendo's critical error: failing to understand the customer in America isn't children, it is their parents and grandparents, who have no fucking clue what the difference is between "the Nintendo" and "the super Nintendo." I remember peripherals were a nightmare already. Also: consider the competition. Sega Genesis. Badass.

Gameboy: what the fuck does this even mean. And thus: Gameboy color. Advance. Sp (what?????). Mini?

DS is even worse. Dual screen, maybe. And then, DS but smaller. DSi, also some games for this aren't compatible with DS regular. 3ds. 3ds xl (not too bad). "New 3ds," good luck grabbing the right one at GameStop.

Wii vs Wii U is just a crime. What does the "u" even mean??? How do you communicate across parental units the intended Christmas purchase? "Sally wants what? We? We want to what? We you? Honey what are you saying? She wants the Nintendo we with you? With enhanced we motes?"

The switch, I argue, is the only time Nintendo has applied a sensible name.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#222

Post by sdinsn »

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.

Americans use "wee" too

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#223

Post by JohnFen »

coldcode wrote: post #86
zwkrt wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pets.com was also overvalued, right? It's easy to see the winners in hindsight.

Pets went out of business trying to ship heavy dog food for free. But today the logistics for that actually exists. Often it doesn't pay to be too early. If you are too early you need more cash to stick around until you are proven right. Webvan was another example, today food shipping businesses are everywhere (whether they make money or not one can argue) but back then they were too early and tried too hard before t…

> Often it doesn't pay to be too early

As the old adage goes -- the pioneers get all the arrows.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#224

Post by JohnFen »

projectramo wrote: post #19
Traster wrote: post #4

>The Gulf investors backing the Vision Fund seem to have decided that WeWork is not a tech bet but simply an aggressive punt on real estate. This is the bogey man of a huge number of current 'tech startups' - What if it turns out Tesla really are a car company! Or if We Work are actually an office rental company! OR gasp Uber is a cab company! (1) We now have a glut of companies operating in traditional markets that…

You're right on Tesla and WeWork, but not on Uber. Uber doesn't buy and own the car, which means it requires much less capital. This small change has many implications, and the tech helps solves many of the problems that come up. I am not saying it is properly valued (over or under or whatever). Just that given the choice between an Uber (or Lyft or yourlocalapp.com) or a cab company with the same fleet, customers, a…

Has Uber started actually turning a profit yet?

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#225

Post by sbov »

sixstringtheory wrote: post #204
sriram_sun wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do not forget your local community college and city libraries!

Remote coder here, this is my jam. I can get a whole conference room all day and kick back in my local library, which I can lock behind me if I want to jump out to use the bathroom or eat. Granted, this is in Fairbanks, not LA or SF :) But even living in Boston I never saw the libraries super packed, usually plenty of room in the top-floor old-school reading room at the central branch on Boylston. Maybe not on holida…

This made me curious so I checked our local library that has study and meeting rooms. But looking at their online calendar, they're all reserved for most of the day.

At least it's nice to know people are using our library.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#226

Post by williamdclt »

lsc wrote: post #85
zrobotics wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you been in a WeWork office, though? IME all shared offices are incredibly noisy, I don't understand why anyone would want to rent there.

but that's pretty true of all tech offices I've been to in the last few years. Even FAANG companies where they're paying their engineers a lot. Over time, it seems like I'm getting less and less noise dampening... my last office, they had these little fabric cardboard deals they clipped to the edge of the desk... before that, I worked at smaller places, where there were a few people per office, and before that, I wor…

What I'm going to say is a very personal opinion and I understand well that it's not everybody's:

You'd have to pay me a lot of money to have me work in a place with separate offices or with people that think that "accidental eye contact is just not okay". A lot of people (not arguing that it's the majority, I have no idea) are actually more productive and happy in an open space than in a box cut out from the rest of the workers.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#227

Post by JohnFen »

IanCal wrote: post #98
projectramo wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right on Tesla and WeWork, but not on Uber. Uber doesn't buy and own the car, which means it requires much less capital. This small change has many implications, and the tech helps solves many of the problems that come up. I am not saying it is properly valued (over or under or whatever). Just that given the choice between an Uber (or Lyft or yourlocalapp.com) or a cab company with the same fleet, customers, a…

> Uber doesn't buy and own the car, which means it requires much less capital. That sounds the same as all cab companies I know of that have operated in the UK for years.

Same in my part of the US -- I believe that with every cab company in my city, the drivers actually own the cabs and are contractors. It's been that way for at least 20 years.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#228

Post by samschooler »

eddiezane wrote: post #153
whalesalad wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We (2 of us, expected to grow to 4 quickly) toured WeWork, Spaces (Regus) and a few other one-off spots here in Orange County. Everyone was pretty pricey, like 2500/mo for 100 square feet. WeWork was definitely the worst and was the most overcrowded... but hey they have beer on tap! (sarcasm) Ultimately we grabbed a lease on Pacific Coast Highway with a sweeping view of the ocean for less with about 3x the room in a…

I recently became remote and when hunting for a coworking space initially figured I'd just go to one of the WeWork's here (Denver). I was blown away at the cost of a "hot desk" membership [1]. The least expensive offering was $360/mo. For a desk that's not "yours" and you can't leave anything at. I wound up going with Novel [2] for $99/mo. Sure printing costs me $0.10/page but other than that it's pretty much a desk.…

I might end up at a desk near you! I'm currently looking for a co-working space in Denver.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#229

Post by JohnFen »

lsc wrote: post #85
zrobotics wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you been in a WeWork office, though? IME all shared offices are incredibly noisy, I don't understand why anyone would want to rent there.

but that's pretty true of all tech offices I've been to in the last few years. Even FAANG companies where they're paying their engineers a lot. Over time, it seems like I'm getting less and less noise dampening... my last office, they had these little fabric cardboard deals they clipped to the edge of the desk... before that, I worked at smaller places, where there were a few people per office, and before that, I wor…

> nothing in between me and the person in the desk across from me.

You literally couldn't pay me enough to work in an open office space. Those things are nightmares.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#230

Post by felipemnoa »

addajones wrote: post #33
sachinprism wrote: post #9

I feel like WeWork would be one of the first companies to go under in case a recession hits the US market. Everyone who works there is probably going to decide en masse that they can do the same things from home or a Starbucks

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.

>>somewhere considerably more affordable.

Your local library. It has desks, internet, restrooms. And there are more than one so you can pick the one that best fits your needs.

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