Related: while reading this thread I got an email with a job advertisement for COBOL programmers. It starts with "SIXT is an IT company with a very large car pool". Big words for a car rental firm, but I do hope they will be a tech company.
WeWork Isn’t a Tech Company
31–40 of 229 posts
Re: WeWork Isn’t a Tech Company
#32I really don't understand the negativity on HN towards WeWork.
In principle, how it is different than AirBnB or Uber in regard of being a tech company? It's not like Uber or AirBnB's core compentancies are tech, I'm sure WeWork can also build a dev team making frameworks and research that some day might be used in their core business.
The article argues that the difference is that Uber, AirBnB, Yelp, Twitter is a tech company because they have "scalable virtual models that can be exponentially magnified overnight with little additional costs" but this seems to bu untrue since they did not took over the world. Maybe they are just humble but I think it's simply that their business model is "low touch high scale" and this is being mistaken with Microsoft's ability to develop technology and sell it infinite times with at no addditional cost per copy.
What stops WeWork from embracing the Uber model? Maybe you have an empty flat, you can turn it into WeWork location by furnishing the place according to the WeWork standarts and install some kind of kiosk and smart lock system. Uber makes the driver to use cars that obey certain standarts, why wouldn't WeWork do the same and "scale overnight"?
Re: WeWork Isn’t a Tech Company
#33A lot of "tech" companies aren't. One reason, to avoid the scrutiny describing their actual business would expose them to more scrutiny, e.g., Uber is transportation company, not a software company. Once the BBC described Google as an "American advertising company", now that's cold.
I think, from the article, that the reason that Uber would be considered a tech company and not a transportation company is a matter of assets and how it can scale.
Uber is not a bus company. It does not own a gigantic fleet of cars or large depots to store them in, nor does it employ mechanics and cleaners to tend to them, or have long-term contracts for gates at stations around the country.
Uber is a tech company because it really only owns software and lawyers. The cost of bringing 10,000 new vehicles on the road is minimal -- they simply increase the incentives to drivers in that area.
Likewise, Air BnB is a tech company, for the same reason.
WeWork, however, is simply an office real estate company. Its business model is closer to a hotel chain.
Re: WeWork Isn’t a Tech Company
#34Very Interesting that the company that Supports Wework is in YC Summer batch [1] > Narrator: Narrator is a full-service data team for startups of any size. The team behind Narrator built WeWork’s data infrastructure, and wants to target more startups as early customers. The company says they’re generating $91,000 per month with this business model, but they aren’t stopping there. Narrator wants to build as a cross-co…
Nothing I can find indicates that Narrator "supports" WeWork or has WeWork as a client, only that Narrator's founding team all used to work at WeWork [0].
[0] https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/16/y-combinator-backed-narrat...
Re: WeWork Isn’t a Tech Company
#35Why would anybody claim it's a tech company? What kind of tech do they leverage to differentiate?
I think there is an expectation that with the money they will make from IPO, they will build a tech company about, well, “something”, like how AWS sprung from amazons core business. This is really a “fake it till u make it” Tech company
Re: WeWork Isn’t a Tech Company
#36I really don't understand the negativity on HN towards WeWork. In principle, how it is different than AirBnB or Uber in regard of being a tech company? It's not like Uber or AirBnB's core compentancies are tech, I'm sure WeWork can also build a dev team making frameworks and research that some day might be used in their core business. The article argues that the difference is that Uber, AirBnB, Yelp, Twitter is a tec…
It's different because according to the filing, the founder's relationship with the business - and its finances - is best described as "very unusual."
Re: WeWork Isn’t a Tech Company
#37I like that WeWork is finally forcing us to have the conversation about WTF a "tech company" even is. A company that sells software? Or one that employs a lot of engineers? Or companies that use a lot of tech in their operations? Companies with a presence in San Francisco and Kombucha on tap? Are big banks tech companies? Insurance providers? Hospitals, auto manufacturers, oil and gas... What isn't a tech company?
I was sad when I realized that the companies I've worked for, who make things like avionics and fiber optics and sattelite communications equipment were no longer considered "tech".
Oh well, language changes.
Re: WeWork Isn’t a Tech Company
#38I really don't understand the negativity on HN towards WeWork. In principle, how it is different than AirBnB or Uber in regard of being a tech company? It's not like Uber or AirBnB's core compentancies are tech, I'm sure WeWork can also build a dev team making frameworks and research that some day might be used in their core business. The article argues that the difference is that Uber, AirBnB, Yelp, Twitter is a tec…
>What stops WeWork from embracing the Uber model? Maybe you have an empty flat, you can turn it into WeWork location by furnishing the place according to the WeWork standarts and install some kind of kiosk and smart lock system. Uber makes the driver to use cars that obey certain standarts, why wouldn't WeWork do the same and "scale overnight"?
Everything is possible but that's worthless until someone actually does it. Uber, AirBnB, etc. have already done those things. WeWork hasn't. Until it does, it's perfectly valid to say it hasn't proven it can and to assume it can't.
Re: WeWork Isn’t a Tech Company
#39It's a startup though. The same way that GAP (the sweatshirts) wasn't a tech company but was a startup that raised Venture Capital before going public.
Re: WeWork Isn’t a Tech Company
#40Why would anybody claim it's a tech company? What kind of tech do they leverage to differentiate?
> Why would anybody claim it's a tech company? Because a company calling itself "tech" and "sophisticated" automatically gets higher stock market valuation by unscrupulous investment analysts. Thus, a company is priced higher the more techy and sophisticated is its image. Have you heard of Chinese companies' price jumping just from them adding word "blockchain" or "o2o" to their name? This is what it is. https://www.…
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