How Did WeWork’s Adam Neumann Build a $47B Company?

I mean, they can actually be more valuable than other such companies if they get the ambience right. Maybe that's what he meant. But if they're referring to the ambience as "spirituality", I cannot take them seriously. [Edit: And if by "spirituality" they mean something besides ambience, I still cannot take them seriously.]

If I had more faith in the market's rationality, I would short them as soon as they IPO...

Literally valuation based on 'spirituality'.

Not only do I call 'bubble' but also 'BS'.

Very wary of companies leveraging 'morality' in whatever form (esp. all the way up to 'Spirituality'), unless it's somehow deeply authentic (i.e. a company that makes 'green' eqipment can claim 'greeness' that's fine), and are something to be cynical about. I find it kind of repulsive.

My feeling is that WeWork must be the 'high tech startup' opportunity for all those non-tech 'Goop' reader types.

... like the NXVM of startup land.

Tony Robbins of working real estate + SoftBank.

“There are 150 million orphans in the world. We want to solve this problem and give them a new family: the WeWork family.” In L.A., Neumann told his employees that the newly formed We Company would now have three prongs — WeWork, WeLive, and WeGrow — with a single, grandiose mission: “to elevate the world’s consciousness.”

Just beautiful ...

WeWork’s size and scale could put it in a position to help deal with some of the world’s largest problems, like the refugee crisis, saying, “I need to have the biggest valuation I can, because when countries are shooting at each other, I want them to come to me.”

How does anyone take this guy seriously?

In the comments here there seems to be a lack of calling out on the so many of the gob-smacking authoritarian/hypocrisy red-flags going on here.

The guy's line is preaching morality, spirituality and inclusuion ... while doing the opposite i.e. dropping the least productive 20% staff every year? 'All dudes' in charge? (Nothign necessarily wrong there (maybe red flags), but it's definitely hypocritical)

All of the Kabbalah stuff and social preaching at offsites?

'It's like a capitalist Kibbutz' ... this is double-speak.

And that his background doesn't legitimately speak to any of this, i.e. total lack of legitimacy?

The trick to this kind personality is 1) words have no bearing on reality 2) total lack of self-awareness or consideration such that he can come across as 'honest' even when spouting garbage.

Who else could possibly be talking about 'saving the refugees of the world' like this with a straight face?

This guy is the Donald Trump of Vegans.

I worked in a recently furnished office two years ago, there was a sizeable effort to make it an attractive work place but it still slightly paled compared to wework in terms of pure office space.

This becomes more obvious when you leave the rich tech bubble of SF.

The thing is: there's very little competitive advantage in that.

Having 'cool decor' is less valuable to larger companies, and it's not as though other entities can't duplicate that if they want.

Other, more established firms can inch their way into copying some of WW's mojo, and compete on price, which the CFO's of said companies will appreciate.