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

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

#181

Post by scarface74 »

tptacek wrote: post #82
manishsharan wrote: post #11

Short Answer: he is riding the Gig economy just like Uber etc. Most viable businesses with a steady revenue stream can afford to rent office space and furnish it on their own. But the self employed folks -- the web designeers, SEM experts, and various other professionals without a steady employer need a place to work. For some, working from home is not an option due to regulation or family consideration etc. For most…

I'm not a believer in WW's business model, but this is an overly-cynical take. We're a company that "started" in WeWork, have our own office now, and in fact moved a different office of ours from a private space in Long Island to a WeWork in Manhattan. What WeWork offers to small businesses is quite valuable: an instantly-obtainable month-to-month lease, at relatively reasonable rates, with all standard office amenit…

It does not, on the other hand, seem fair to suggest that WeWork isn't offering something that people want.

If WeWork isn’t charging people enough to be profitable, there is no way of knowing whether WeWork is offering something people want - at a price they are willing to pay.

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

#182

Post by hrktb »

gbersac wrote: post #166
baxtr wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ones I saw were very busy, and, filled by large corporates that wanted to be hip. I think for them value proposition is that they are able to hire some hipster people who don't want to work in the old buildings and also build some marketing stories around their "labs". That said, I "worked" in a WeWork for about 6 months and it was just terrible. Tiny offices, lots of visual distractions, lots of noise, many part…

Really? I'm working in wework Lafayette right now and I love WeWork, so many free stuff (even beer!), beautiful building in a well placed location... I love it.

The frame of reference matters. In Paris at least Wework offices are relatively clean, well managed, and modern compared to most offices.

But compared to a decent traditional office, they are:

- noisy (always someone phoning while walking around because they couldn't get a booth, even when recruiting or doing otherwise sensitive discussions)

- more agitated (at a point there was people trying electric scooters in the corridor)

- some offices are just gloomy (some don't have any windows, with no natural light coming in from any direction)

I think we could see them as the McDonald of offices: a know quantity that passes some threshold. It's better than a random sandwich place next to a tourist trap, but not as good as a decent well managed (although slightly pricier) restaurant.

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

#184

Post by alexgmcm »

ForHackernews wrote: post #179
onion2k wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's a matter of wanting to "be hip", but a case of recruiting being a huge problem for most companies. Renting out the 'cool' co-working spaces of WeWork probably isn't their long term goal. If BigCo has exhausted the talent in their city they have three options left: employ remote workers, pay people to relocate, or open satellite offices and pay a little more than then the local businesses to get peo…

There's also option four: raise salaries. Historically, that's what companies have done when the labour market is tight. Though obviously somebody must have crunched the numbers and decided these WeWork things are a cheaper bet.

I agree - but it makes sense to try to spread work out in other cities rather than have all the jobs in London with soaring CoL and struggling infrastructure.

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

#185

Post by dual_basis »

sokoloff wrote: post #177
paulcole wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most estimates put the cost of driving (in the US) at around $.50 to $.60 per mile. Assuming this is somewhat on par with Europe. Guy’s costs were likely around $1.50. After Uber’s cut he’s “making” like $3? Take someone else’s money, spend it aggressively, pretend like you can fix things in the future, and viola - you have a unicorn.

The cost of driving a marginal mile is probably more like $0.15-$0.20/mile. The total cost of ownership of a newish car is $0.50-0.60/mile. If an Uber driver is driving with a car that they were already going to own anyway , they only need to cover the variable costs.

Not sure I understand your math here. A car depreciates faster if it is driven (more repairs, needs to be replaced sooner). Just because I already own a car doesn't mean it's only the cost of fuel to drive it.

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

#186

Post by boh »

hdpq wrote: post #16

I'll just go on the record to say that I think WeWork is the biggest deck of cards that is begging for a collapse. I've only been to a handful of locations, but they never seem busy and I'm not sure how they're making rent. Plus, not to mention, back in my day, when you did a startup and got funding from your rich uncle (not Uncle Rich), you grew your startup from your apartment, and when you outgrew that space, you…

The consensus on Wall Street has WeWork nowhere near its $47B valuation. Like Uber/Lyft, its size is more a consequence of VC investment, rather than organic growth.

Plus the management isn't particularly scrupulous with how they allocate those funds. The CEO, for instance, buys property himself and then rents it to WeWork (for a profit obviously). VCs let him get away with it because their business is no longer to fund and help create sustainable companies, but rather to gather as much money into a "unicorn" as they can and then pawn it off to the public markets who ultimately pay the bill.

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

#187

Post by Bakary »

rpmcmurphy wrote: post #157

Ah, the magic of financial engineering. Mr. Neumann will cash out of his fictional decacorn in dribs and drabs and never have to work again. Everyone else will be left with a bit pile of shit (aka a commercial real estate venture that bet on ever upward growth and got ripped to shreds in the secular downturn).

It's not like they were working hard to make the world a better place, but investing in the hopes that they would be richer without too much work. It's hard to feel sorry for them. They are on the same level as Neumann but he happened to be cannier.

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

#188

Post by wetpaws »

thedrbrian wrote: post #124
rchaud wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So many of these unicorns seem so stupidly simple in hindsight. The "stupidly" part comes in when you realize that maybe the cabbie had a better grasp of the economics of his business when he accepted your bid of 30 EUR. The gig economy people driving you for a fraction of the 5 EUR you paid might come to the same conclusion sooner or later.

Even worse Uber might have paid the cabbie another €5 to take the job.

$10 is still less than $30

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

#189

Post by Bakary »

sonnyblarney wrote: post #53

"“valuation and size today are much more based on our energy and spirituality than it is on a multiple of revenue.”" 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 fin…

This guy is a legend. He is exposing how our world is running on bullshit fumes, and how people throw money without thinking out of greed, and becoming richer than a small nation for it. We need more of these modern day Diogenes.

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

#190

Post by rightbyte »

dual_basis wrote: post #185
sokoloff wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of driving a marginal mile is probably more like $0.15-$0.20/mile. The total cost of ownership of a newish car is $0.50-0.60/mile. If an Uber driver is driving with a car that they were already going to own anyway , they only need to cover the variable costs.

Not sure I understand your math here. A car depreciates faster if it is driven (more repairs, needs to be replaced sooner). Just because I already own a car doesn't mean it's only the cost of fuel to drive it.

The insurance is not even fixed cost (atleast I pay per mile bracket).

A have one minor vehicle tax that is fixed

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