WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality • Hacker News Board

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#251

Post by whalesalad » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 10:34 PM UTC

badwolf wrote: post #236

whalesalad wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not really tech bro's ... I don't encounter those people very often. I think that fraternity style vibe has kinda gone by the wayside. It's everyone else who aren't really technologists but want to get in on the gold rush. The social media marketing companies, the wordpress/magento factories, the crypto people, the uber-for-xyz... there is a lot of noise both literally and figuratively with these groups.

I'm currently "officing" in a WeWork dedicated desk. Out of all the desks immediately around me, I'm the only person working for a "tech" company. There's a building contractor, a couple designers, electrical engineers, and a Realtor, and a marketer for some distillery/alcohol co.

That sounds like a pretty cool snapshot of a diverse set of folks.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#252

Post by linkmotif » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 10:35 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #247

linkmotif wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. But what makes more sense: you stepping out or getting a private office, or making the open office non-viable for everyone else who has to focus? What a conceit that everyone else should adapt to you when you could simply adapt to everyone else.

It's a matter of expectations. For most people, an office isn't a library reading room. It's a place they work which often means talking. Someone's welcome to do a silent co-working space startup but I don't think they'll have much success.

> It's a matter of expectations. For most people, an office isn't a library reading room. It's a place they work which often means talking.

Can't argue that. Only issue is WeWork doesn't sell it that way. They sell the open office space as a quiet place, and then play good cop/bad cop and everything in between.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#253

Post by chiefalchemist » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 10:37 PM UTC

> "While there’s no doubt a sober message here for Silicon Valley optimists, there’s also one for markets at large. This might be a turning point not too dissimilar to past real-estate bubbles."

The question is have now is: where are those investors / investment monies going to go next? If the hipness of being involved in startups is over (for the trendy types if you will), where are these rich cool kids going to go next? That is, unless they have a place to go, are they going to leave?

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#254

Post by hinkley » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 10:38 PM UTC

digitalzombie wrote: post #189

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?

The mint flavor is to cover the aftertaste.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#255

Post by john_moscow » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 10:39 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…

One opinion about the unrealistically high valuations of companies like WeWork, Uber, etc is that Saudis like to feel that they are buying control over Americans' lives. Pure vanity, not much long-term planning, IMO. The whole "We Company" stunt looks like a desperate attempt to highlight this property in the face of a disappointed would-be buyer.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#256

Post by EthanHeilman » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 10:40 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…

The dystopian novel "We" tells the story of a society which encompass all aspects of your life, in both physical and mental worlds.

>"We is set in the future. D-503, a spacecraft engineer, lives in the One State, an urban nation constructed almost entirely of glass, which assists mass surveillance. The structure of the state is Panopticon-like, and life is scientifically managed F. W. Taylor-style." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_(novel)

I'm not sure why they would invite the comparison in both mission and name,

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#257

Post by mcintyre1994 » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 10:41 PM UTC

I get these financial criticisms, I doubt they'll last long when the recession hits. We were in one recently and I remember seeing a bulletin board thing I think showing stuff from their Instagram, but it said they're opening 40+ buildings a month. And there's probably 10 in walking distance of the City now. It's pretty insane.

That said, we moved from a WeWork to a Spaces (the Regus clone-ish) and it's incredible the basic things that feel standard that Spaces screw up. It took weeks to get us all building passes. The office was boiling when we moved in, we asked them to cool it and they made it freezing (no thermostat...), then ignored further requests to adjust. No microwaves (they sell food instead...). No free coffee (you can buy instant pods). To print you have to email reception then wait for someone to be available to do it - and you have to pay for that. Booking meeting rooms for a future day costs money. You can't ask them to get your parcel from the postroom, they just leave it wide open so anybody can take whatever, and there's no organisation. WeWork wasn't anything special (and had the noise issues everyone else mentioned), but they did have down the very basics that make an office usable.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#258

Post by Nasrudith » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 10:43 PM UTC

whalesalad wrote: post #150

auiya wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These coworking spaces are terrible. They're like Monkey Joe's for tech bro's.

It's not really tech bro's ... I don't encounter those people very often. I think that fraternity style vibe has kinda gone by the wayside. It's everyone else who aren't really technologists but want to get in on the gold rush. The social media marketing companies, the wordpress/magento factories, the crypto people, the uber-for-xyz... there is a lot of noise both literally and figuratively with these groups.

That amusingly describes we work as well - they are clearly marketers above all else - you can tell because they speak in pure buzzword instead of technical aspects at all - even by the standards of overhyped technologies.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#259

Post by EthanHeilman » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 10:43 PM UTC

sixstringtheory wrote: post #194

sudosteph wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In case anyone is wondering: not worth the read unless you're just interested in the history of dystopic fiction. The characters are boring and everything drags on far too long.

I’ll agree it can get boring at times, but it was incredibly creative and a lot of the descriptions of the world in the book are unlike any other I’ve read about and were quite poetic, while at the same time mathematic and scientific. Still, it’s a pretty short read and should be of much interest to those into scifi and dystopias.

I found it quite the page turner. I'm not saying sixstringtheory is wrong, reading excitement is certainly a matter of opinion, but I would invite people to give it a try. They might be surprised by how much they enjoy it.

Re: WeWork Gets a Visit from Financial Reality

#260

Post by the_duke » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 10:49 PM UTC

happycube wrote: post #214

bartread wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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...

I don't get it...