11–20 of 32 posts
This got me wondering, why hasn't anyone made an airbnb for office space? (Or is that what this company does)
https://desksnear.me/ http://www.peerspace.com/ Loosecubes is another that recently shut down. Kodesk doesn't look like is is around anymore either. Here's a Quora answer with a bunch of them: http://www.quora.com/What-are-all-of-the-sites-that-do-Airbn... And Airbnb's 'Airbrb' April Fools: http://blog.airbnb.com/introducing-airbrb/
> “If I showed you their cash-flow statement, you would not compare it to a real-estate company,” said Henry Ellenbogen, a portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price. “You’d compare it to a brand or tech company—maybe Chipotle or Uber.” > WeWork said its December revenue puts it on an about $150 million annual revenue run rate. It also said the month’s annualized operating income puts its valuation at roughly 100 times incom…
This is my favorite part. So WeWork is "trading" at 33x on projected annual earnings and yet these contracts can easily be broken. When it all falls down (it will, but probably less dramatically than we've seen in the past) this type of business will be hit the hardest. Not having fixed cost structures are typically why so many tech startups can be valued so highly.
Paywalled. I wish the submission link went to the full article.
Instead of thinking of WeWork as Airbnb for desk spaces, I like to think of them more like office hostels. They are relatively cheap spaces depending on how much of it you need and and how private of an area you want. They offer community events and shared spaces to help connect founders with as many other people as possible. They're not all startups like at accelerators, but also include remote office workers from b…
The only secret sauce is if they can get a large enough following nationwide (especially for startups) to get a household name, such that you go directly to their location in your city, rather than Googling for Coworking.
Paywalled. I wish the submission link went to the full article.
and click the first link
Is there history behind the $355MM Series A funding, and does anyone have statistics for other large A rounds? I have never heard of such a large investment on the front side.
WeWork needs lots of upfront capital to cover security deposits, build out spaces (tenant improvements), prove enough assets to take 250k sq. ft. at a time for 15 year terms, etc.
Lots of coworking spaces have raised significant 6, 7, or 8 figure sums (WeWork definitely getting more than most), that mostly fly under the radar in terms of "companies that raise huge amounts of capital."
> “If I showed you their cash-flow statement, you would not compare it to a real-estate company,” said Henry Ellenbogen, a portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price. “You’d compare it to a brand or tech company—maybe Chipotle or Uber.” > WeWork said its December revenue puts it on an about $150 million annual revenue run rate. It also said the month’s annualized operating income puts its valuation at roughly 100 times incom…
I get the Chipotle analogy, but Uber definitely does not make sense. Uber neither owns nor leases the cars, so they don't need the massive capital. The drivers provide that. And Uber scales pretty easily: hire a bunch of contract drivers in your new city, and then open it up. Whereas WeWork has to find office space, sign up for multi-year leases, re-architect and re-decorate it, and then can get monthly memberships.
If you break it down, WeWork is "24 Hour Fitness for Coworking" (or insert your favorite gym name).
Paywalled. I wish the submission link went to the full article.
https://www.google.com/search?q=we+work+5billion&oq=we+work+... and click the first link
"News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal, is a customer."
> “If I showed you their cash-flow statement, you would not compare it to a real-estate company,” said Henry Ellenbogen, a portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price. “You’d compare it to a brand or tech company—maybe Chipotle or Uber.” > WeWork said its December revenue puts it on an about $150 million annual revenue run rate. It also said the month’s annualized operating income puts its valuation at roughly 100 times incom…
> You’d compare it to a brand or tech company—maybe Chipotle or Uber. I get the Chipotle analogy, but Uber definitely does not make sense. Uber neither owns nor leases the cars, so they don't need the massive capital. The drivers provide that. And Uber scales pretty easily: hire a bunch of contract drivers in your new city, and then open it up. Whereas WeWork has to find office space, sign up for multi-year leases, r…