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WeWTF, Part Deux

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Re: WeWTF, Part Deux

#41

Post by jancsika »

factorialboy wrote: post #18
JauntTrooper wrote: post #15

This was a really striking sentence: > We've witnessed a halving of journalists since 2008, while the number of corporate communications execs has tripled. In sum, the ratio of bullshit/spin to watchdogs has increased sixfold. I personally know half a dozen former journalists that recently moved over to PR, but I hadn't realized had much of a sea change it's been over the last decade.

> We've witnessed a halving of journalists since 2008, while the number of corporate communications execs has tripled. In sum, the ratio of bullshit/spin to watchdogs has increased sixfold. This assumes that journalists are capable of spotting (and willing to) spin / bullshit in the first place.

It's probably not sixfold since journalism includes a mix of the intrepid and the opportunist. But it's likely on the order of at least twofold increase as the opportunists are the most likely to have moved from journalism to PR.

But the idea that there isn't an increase in the ratio at all is laughable. You'd have to be some type of fascinating conspiracy theorist to believe that none of the Pulitzer-winning stories of the past decade uncovered any type of corruption or wrongdoing.

Re: WeWTF, Part Deux

#42

Post by bogomipz »

The post states:

>"The firm will be forced to sell equity/issue debt at a price substantially lower than they had anticipated."

What is this "selling debt" referred to here, is the basically a bond? Would it be a bond that's backed by equity? Something else entirely?

Re: WeWTF, Part Deux

#43

Post by tortasaur »

SilasX wrote: post #32
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of what happens when you name your company something insanely stupid like “We”. And yes I read your last sentence in Gollum’s voice and it was perfect. :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii

With the Wii, though, there were two important differences: you could call it "The Nintendo Wii", and it's spelled differently than the English word.

Re: WeWTF, Part Deux

#44

Post by NeedMoreTea »

phyzome wrote: post #28
rzzzt wrote: post #3

The company name should be highlighted in the text somehow; in its current form, it sounds like an eloquent Gollum's internal monologue in my head. I found myself having to re-read quite a few sentences. "We has gone from unicorn to distressed asset"

Similarly, Yahoo insists on being called "Yahoo!" in their branding guidelines, but it just makes the writer look like an idiot. There's no reason you have to stick to the chosen name of a corporation if the chosen name is cutesy and dumb. :-)

That's why The Register headlines about Yahoo turned out how they did, with every single word gaining a "!". Which is now a trope in itself.

Re: WeWTF, Part Deux

#45

Post by Jhsto »

SilasX wrote: post #31
phyzome wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, Yahoo insists on being called "Yahoo!" in their branding guidelines, but it just makes the writer look like an idiot. There's no reason you have to stick to the chosen name of a corporation if the chosen name is cutesy and dumb. :-)

Yes, and similarly for Apple’s insistence that you not use “the” with iPhone. (Which Nintendo also did for the Wii.)

And on the contrary, it was rumored that Microsoft named Xbox One so that people would start calling it "the One." To my knowledge, this never worked, but instead "xbone" stuck better.

Re: WeWTF, Part Deux

#46

Post by sroussey »

tempsy wrote: post #20

I’d also argue that WeWork isn’t necessarily optimized for remote work e.g. they are optimizing for longer term office tenants who buy the actual offices and not just a hot desk because those make more money and it’s a more reliable source of income. If true remote work becomes a bigger reality then you’d expect to see a greater share of workers who only need a hot desk and not one of the glass cubes, which have smal…

There are lots of 20, 40, 80 person offices and I don’t think they are going to Starbucks.

Re: WeWTF, Part Deux

#47

Post by [deleted] »

JauntTrooper wrote: post #15

This was a really striking sentence: > We've witnessed a halving of journalists since 2008, while the number of corporate communications execs has tripled. In sum, the ratio of bullshit/spin to watchdogs has increased sixfold. I personally know half a dozen former journalists that recently moved over to PR, but I hadn't realized had much of a sea change it's been over the last decade.

[deleted]

Re: WeWTF, Part Deux

#48

Post by sroussey »

seibelj wrote: post #34

The last WeWork I went into felt super impersonal. If I was to be a solo freelancer, I’d have to work somewhere communal because I hate working at home, but WeWork doesn’t have the vibe of coworking. More like ultra-cubicles where talking to other people is even harder. Second, there is definitely a question mark on companies that have their main office at WeWork, like “this is temporary until we actually make money”…

I know they are known for hot desks and all, but that actually accounts for very little of their square footage. For a solo freelancer it is a nice to have.

But have 6 people and growing, then it’s a different world. Hard to find places that aren’t WeWork. Get to 14 and growing still, and you are doing leases for expected size (say 65) and a long term lease. So you are getting much more than needed. Then you grow faster and you need an office for 200 and you still have your old 5-10 year lease for 65 and now you have to sublease that out and get your next 10 year lease, hopefully in a place with an option to expand. And you probably have that 12 person office lease too if you weren’t able to get out (we were in this story).

Re: WeWTF, Part Deux

#49

Post by josephjrobison »

sroussey wrote: post #48
seibelj wrote: post #34

The last WeWork I went into felt super impersonal. If I was to be a solo freelancer, I’d have to work somewhere communal because I hate working at home, but WeWork doesn’t have the vibe of coworking. More like ultra-cubicles where talking to other people is even harder. Second, there is definitely a question mark on companies that have their main office at WeWork, like “this is temporary until we actually make money”…

I know they are known for hot desks and all, but that actually accounts for very little of their square footage. For a solo freelancer it is a nice to have. But have 6 people and growing, then it’s a different world. Hard to find places that aren’t WeWork. Get to 14 and growing still, and you are doing leases for expected size (say 65) and a long term lease. So you are getting much more than needed. Then you grow fas…

Yea the flexibility is the bread and butter. I talked to Regus, and their default pricing revolves around 24-month leases, while WeWork prices off monthly.

Spot on from grandparent comment on community. One of their main forms of community is an occasional cereal bar with $20 worth of cereal and milk for the whole space, and the majority of other social events are paid for by another company.

Re: WeWTF, Part Deux

#50

Post by JumpCrisscross »

bogomipz wrote: post #42

The post states: >"The firm will be forced to sell equity/issue debt at a price substantially lower than they had anticipated." What is this "selling debt" referred to here, is the basically a bond? Would it be a bond that's backed by equity? Something else entirely?

> What is this "selling debt" referred to here, is the basically a bond?

Yes, issuing bonds or taking out a loan from a bank.

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