WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources • Hacker News Board

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#291

Post by puranjay » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:05 PM UTC

nkoren wrote: post #182

tempsy wrote: post #23

As someone living in SF, I don’t think anyone in SF or SV would ever consider WeWork to be a “Silicon Valley” company in the same way that Uber or Twitter or Slack is. The company has 0 tech brand among employees (how many ex-FB or ex-Google engineers work there?) and outside of Benchmark’s early round none of the VCs are SV-based. Point is the media is making this out to be an indictment on some SV tech bubble but p…

It's not "Silicon Valley", it's Silicon Valley . As in the show. My wife just started a contract at a new WeWork office in London. The lobby features a giant but non-functional as skateboard ramp, and two DJ booths, both manned (at 9am on a Monday). The bathrooms feature the very latest in digital toilets, but they aren't flushing, and nobody can figure out how to reboot them. At an aesthetic level, this couldn't be…

My WeWork in Gurgaon, India has a biweekly bhangra dance class at 4pm on a weekday

After the third such class, I decided to get the hell out of my lease.

It's like their entire corporate culture is built around finding creative ways to not work. It's awful environment to build a startup in.

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#292

Post by mbesto » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:05 PM UTC

ummonk wrote: post #44

autokad wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Point is the media is making this out to be an indictment on some SV tech bubble" Its not the media, I think its just true. Had WeWork IPO'ed under the same conditions a year ago, I think it would have been 'fine'. but the glut of SV unicorns losing money, hating investors, and slowing growth has got people highly concerned. This list of companies (slack, lyft, Uber, Pinterest, beyond meat, crowdstrike, tesla, spo…

Some of those (e.g. Slack) are growing phenomenally fast though, and could become profitable quite easily. Others (e.g. Uber and Lyft) have a questionable business model. Edit: wow I didn't realize Slack had such a large market cap. That is a LOT of growth priced in, probably more than is justified.

> are growing phenomenally fast though, and could become profitable quite easily.

Exactly. Cut their S&M budgets overnight and you'll see a ton of very profitable companies. Just look at their Gross Margins.

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#293

Post by toddmorey » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:06 PM UTC

nkoren wrote: post #182

tempsy wrote: post #23

As someone living in SF, I don’t think anyone in SF or SV would ever consider WeWork to be a “Silicon Valley” company in the same way that Uber or Twitter or Slack is. The company has 0 tech brand among employees (how many ex-FB or ex-Google engineers work there?) and outside of Benchmark’s early round none of the VCs are SV-based. Point is the media is making this out to be an indictment on some SV tech bubble but p…

It's not "Silicon Valley", it's Silicon Valley . As in the show. My wife just started a contract at a new WeWork office in London. The lobby features a giant but non-functional as skateboard ramp, and two DJ booths, both manned (at 9am on a Monday). The bathrooms feature the very latest in digital toilets, but they aren't flushing, and nobody can figure out how to reboot them. At an aesthetic level, this couldn't be…

Do they oversell hot desks? Can you usually and easily find a spot to work? A price of $430/mo for a hot desk is a lot more than I was expecting.

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#294

Post by notfromhere » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:06 PM UTC

GCA10 wrote: post #62

tempsy wrote: post #23

As someone living in SF, I don’t think anyone in SF or SV would ever consider WeWork to be a “Silicon Valley” company in the same way that Uber or Twitter or Slack is. The company has 0 tech brand among employees (how many ex-FB or ex-Google engineers work there?) and outside of Benchmark’s early round none of the VCs are SV-based. Point is the media is making this out to be an indictment on some SV tech bubble but p…

On the merits, yes, We is not a tech company. But bear in mind that the company has gone to extraordinary lengths to cloak itself in the unicorn-tech narrative. It masquerades as a platform for other services; it ascribes its losses to a work-setting variant of the Uber fast-growth strategy; it draws parallels to Airbnb's disruption of the hotel business, etc. Yes, Silicon Valley's smartest minds may see through it a…

The fact that WeWork has received multiple billions in VC money is a pretty damning indictment of the financial sector

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#295

Post by pastor_elm » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:07 PM UTC

tempsy wrote: post #23

As someone living in SF, I don’t think anyone in SF or SV would ever consider WeWork to be a “Silicon Valley” company in the same way that Uber or Twitter or Slack is. The company has 0 tech brand among employees (how many ex-FB or ex-Google engineers work there?) and outside of Benchmark’s early round none of the VCs are SV-based. Point is the media is making this out to be an indictment on some SV tech bubble but p…

>I don’t think anyone in SF or SV would ever consider WeWork to be a “Silicon Valley” company

Well it is based in New York, so it really isn't a Silicon Valley company. It's a NYC one.

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#296

Post by RyanAF7 » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:13 PM UTC

sverige wrote: post #265

everythingswan wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, classic case of low vs. high margin businesses. Travel is a great example. You would think sites like Expedia would make a healthy margin on airline tickets. Due to the way it's set up (booking systems, airlines, competition) the actual net per ticket is something like $5 for domestic flights. Last I checked Expedia specifically, most of their revenue was on hotels. Contrast that with a high margin business like…

Revenue is King, margin is Queen.

If that's true then Retained Earnings is Emperor. And, the Emperor has no clothes.

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#297

Post by KoftaBob » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:15 PM UTC

tempsy wrote: post #23

As someone living in SF, I don’t think anyone in SF or SV would ever consider WeWork to be a “Silicon Valley” company in the same way that Uber or Twitter or Slack is. The company has 0 tech brand among employees (how many ex-FB or ex-Google engineers work there?) and outside of Benchmark’s early round none of the VCs are SV-based. Point is the media is making this out to be an indictment on some SV tech bubble but p…

I mean, the company is based in NYC, so it's literally not a SV company.

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#298

Post by KoftaBob » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:21 PM UTC

It's a shame WeWork is run by such scummy characters, the concept itself has the potential to make people's commutes much more flexible and shorter.

When on-boarding a new employee, companies would be able to automatically provision them a desk/office at the closest WeWork to them. This allows companies to have access to a much bigger pool of talent, and allows employees to have access to a bigger pool of companies.

On top of that, the flexibility means commutes are much shorter, as co-working spaces can be efficiently distributed across a city and its suburbs. Even when an employee moves to a new company, they could theoretically stay at the same WeWork site, rather than have to deal with a new commute.

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#299

Post by blaser-waffle » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:31 PM UTC

orbifold wrote: post #191

nkoren wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not "Silicon Valley", it's Silicon Valley . As in the show. My wife just started a contract at a new WeWork office in London. The lobby features a giant but non-functional as skateboard ramp, and two DJ booths, both manned (at 9am on a Monday). The bathrooms feature the very latest in digital toilets, but they aren't flushing, and nobody can figure out how to reboot them. At an aesthetic level, this couldn't be…

Seems like a perfect place for people who like to pretend to work.

Lifestyle branding for the IT crowd

Re: WeWork parent pulls IPO following pushback: sources

#300

Post by thedudeabides5 » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:32 PM UTC

code4tee wrote: post #276

thedudeabides5 wrote: post #137

Does anyone know what happens to the liqPref (and hence the subordinated equity shares of early employees) if they IPO below their $12bn liquidation pref?

Depends entirely on contractual details likely not broadly known. Those details have not been broadly reported or discussed. In general in a generic sense it’s quite common for investors (those writing actual cheques into the business) to be made whole again and then some before options holders or others get to come to the table. First dibs on the rewards goes to those that took the most risk. Reports out now are say…

Makes sense that at this point the cap table would be a bit of a mess.

Would be interesting to see something simple, like the total value of all the employee equity, according to different IPO prices/valuations, and then compare that to the changes in the CEO's wealth on the same axis.