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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?

#161
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WeWork, of all of the overvalued unicorns that exist today, will likely be hit the hardest during a recession. Just watch.

How do I protect my VTSAX investment if we work goes public and is included in the basket??

The whole point of owning something like VTSAX/VTI is that you're not overly exposed to any company. They currently own 3,607 different stocks.

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

#162
post #20
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 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…

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 people. WeWork is enabling the last option at scale. Renting managed office is a viable business model that's been happening for decades.

Whether there's enough of a market to make WeWork work is another question, but there might be. Anecdotally, a large insurer recently opened a new office in my city here in the UK because they've had 40 open positions in their London office for years. They've already filled half those positions. They wouldn't have done that without renting a large office on a business park.

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

#163
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…

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…

I don't understand why BigCo would ever go with the last option after talent exhaustion. The former two make way more sense.

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

#164
post #105

I have the next billion-dollar business idea, an " Airbnb for coworking spaces". Convert your existing house to a co-working space. Looked at Wework, already pay too much for rent in the Bay area. I work from home, and would not mind the company. Got good coffee and great beer as well!

While there are a few companies that are actually trying to build this idea with renting out homes by the hour, at Out Of Office[0] we're working on a similar concept of a more general marketplace for coworking spaces. We've scouted hundreds of locations in San Francisco, both free and bookable, that you can search for in our app. You can find coffee shops, hotel lobbies, public spaces, or book private desks, and con…

Nice Concept. Good Luck. :)

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

#165
Hm, I worked in a company that had hired ~140 desks in WeWork (Aldgate London). If all the floors in the world have a few large-companies provisioned and filled like that - I could. be convinced the valuation is plausible.

When you are a large company in WeWork, you set the culture (e.g. noise) and you have personal relationships with the WeWork staff - which makes things run smoother.

From reading the comments it seems many people have had lack-luster experiences. Especially those who hired a single desk and have been forced to interact with the community. And imho the community is pretty unique:

I remember knocking off work at 7pm, and hearing there was free beers. I wandered over in a work-daze. As I approached the door, it opened and out poured hi-energy EDM, accompanied by a large group of happy, shout-chatting drunks. I slid around them and entered what was more "club at 1am" - rather than "knock-off drinks". I mean there was flashing lights, a DJ, and a decent sound system. What I was most amazed by was passing multiple people who seemed to be rolling hard. It was definitely impressive, but after coding for 10 hours straight it was not what I needed, so I grabbed a fist of and Heineken backed out.

The thing that always stuck with me, was the implicit agreement by all-attending, that they were all going to go _hard_ as soon as they knocked off work. I provide no judgement, just an account of something I'd never seen in inter-office culture. Note: I never personally saw that level of revelry again.

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

#166
post #20
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 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.

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

#167
post #20
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 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…

> it was just terrible. Tiny offices, lots of visual distractions, lots of noise, many parties. I wouldn't ever do it again.

Same (London, Shoreditch). Additionally we had relatively frequent and loud noises from the ceiling ("eeeeeNNGNGNGNGNGNNG") which they couldn't fix. But not once did they suggest we move offices to any one of the 30+ empty ones downstairs.

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

#169

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…

I don't understand why BigCo would ever go with the last option after talent exhaustion. The former two make way more sense.

A big company that's resisted remote working will find it hard to integrate remote people in to their teams. Remote is great, but unless everyone is in favor of it it can fail horribly - a manager who insists on having oversight of what people are doing at any given moment will kill any chance of remote workers being productive. Consequently if you have a big team at 'head office' who aren't used to or good at managing remote people then remote won't work.

Paying people to relocate from a small city to the most expensive place in the country is exceptionally difficult and expensive. Many developers here in the UK see London as a really bad place to live unless you're paid more than £100,000. Developer wages in London are often not £100,000.

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

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But now, WeWork opened three more floors of space, and of the six floors, four are occupied entirely by large companies. This was interesting to me. I've seen wework turn corporate often. Startups are great candidates: they want to offer good offices and not worry about big moves, contract negotiations, get good branding, etc. But that is a small market..

Yahoo also thought it was doing well when most of its profit was coming from unprofitable startups funded by VCs. Guess what happened when VCs stopped investing in startups in 2000?

I will never forget hearing a software consulting shop had been around for 20 years until they picked too many customers who went under simultaneously.
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