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WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

theverge.com

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Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#81

Post by SamWhited »

roland35 wrote: post #75
SamWhited wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I can tell the only benefit they provide over other smaller coworking spaces (most of which are a lot better) is that there are a lot of them. You can get a mebership at a WeWork in Austin, then pop into the one in Tokyo to get some work done while you're visiting. That being said, that's probably not worth the expense, terrible technology, or loudness of weworks for most people.

They don't seem to focus much on the 'digital nomad' side of things either, so I am not sure if that is a big part of their benefits! I'd imagine most of their customers only use local weworks.

Yah, absolutely. It's the only benefit I can think of (and it's not really a benefit, coffee shops and other coworking spaces with a day pass exist) and I've never heard them advertise it. They only advertise "community building" nonsense. I'm not saying that no company has ever made vital connections or new leads in a wework, but I'd be willing to bet money that it's a very, very low number. Nowhere I've ever worked has engaged with any other company just because they were both in a wework other than maybe playing a game of ping pong with some random people in the lobby or similar.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#82

Post by decafninja »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #46
Jestar342 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's the trend of bringing tech to an existing market. When that stops, we'll probably stop calling it tech companies. Uber is the perfect example of a "tech company" - they brought technology (and in this context "tech", arguably, means "the internet") to an industry that was previously dominated by standing on a street and waving down a cab/taxi. However I think it is rather pithy to just call them a taxi c…

But we don't call, say, banks tech companies. A huge portion of their business requires sophisticated technical infrastructure they create themselves, but we just call them banks. And there are plenty of normal taxi companies with similar systems to Uber's.

One description I’ve heard is that “tech companies”, as the term is often used nowadays, are organizations where software engineers and their work are respected and considered first class citizens. As compared to a company that might heavily use tech, but only as a necessary evil cost center. Never mind that the company would absolutely fall apart without its tech.

As someone who has worked in banks most of my career, I would classify most banks in the latter category.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#83

Post by tictoc »

UncleMeat wrote: post #10
tedivm wrote: post #7

For the number of engineers they have you'd think they'd have figured out how to build a decent wifi network with some actual security in it. Instead every WeWork has the same password for the wifi (literally a variant on `P@ssw0rd`) and it is super easy to spy on other people's connections. The hilarious thing is they actually built a secure wifi network for their staff, so they clearly recognize the need. They also…

Wifi is largely insecure anyway. You should largely assume that the network is malicious no matter what and just rely on application layer security.

What VPNs should one be using? Should I create my own because what's the guarantee of a vpn actually being trustworthy?

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#84

Post by labster »

not_a_cop75 wrote: post #48
baxtr wrote: post #45

The Verge simply doesn't get it. WeWork will leverage their real estate assets and come up with an AI-based cryptocurrency to monetize their community base. They will call it "The Country of We." Just wait for it. The time will come.

The difference between reality and satire is getting smaller and smaller all the time.

Not just a You-topia, it’s a We-topia. This is how We build an enlightened world for all of We.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#85

Post by Kalium »

skrebbel wrote: post #78
tedivm wrote: post #7

For the number of engineers they have you'd think they'd have figured out how to build a decent wifi network with some actual security in it. Instead every WeWork has the same password for the wifi (literally a variant on `P@ssw0rd`) and it is super easy to spy on other people's connections. The hilarious thing is they actually built a secure wifi network for their staff, so they clearly recognize the need. They also…

I thought I knew this stuff, but now I'm not so sure anymore. If I take care to only visit https sites, what's the risk in being on an open network or a network with a stupid password? They can see what domains I connect to and when, but that's it, correct? No MITM, no further snooping, right?

If the network is open, your machine may be open to being sent traffic - or attacked - from other devices on the network.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#86

Post by SamWhited »

jdhawk wrote: post #73
roland35 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like their isn't much benefit to brand loyalty here - I would imagine it is easy to simply do a google search for a short term work place in a new city if you need a change of scenery from the coffee shop!

Or they should create a network (like Free ATMs) and allow roaming to a limited extent.

I always liked this idea and wish the https://www.atlantacoworking.club/ or similar clubs, collectives, or co-ops would do something similar (instead of it being run by any individual coworking space).

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#89

Post by duxup »

roland35 wrote: post #75
SamWhited wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I can tell the only benefit they provide over other smaller coworking spaces (most of which are a lot better) is that there are a lot of them. You can get a mebership at a WeWork in Austin, then pop into the one in Tokyo to get some work done while you're visiting. That being said, that's probably not worth the expense, terrible technology, or loudness of weworks for most people.

They don't seem to focus much on the 'digital nomad' side of things either, so I am not sure if that is a big part of their benefits! I'd imagine most of their customers only use local weworks.

I remember a lot of the office sharing type companies selling that whole having an office anywhere thing as a big selling point and then ... they didn't mention it.

I also suspect it just wasn't a common thing people did.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#90

Post by OJFord »

notatoad wrote: post #58
OJFord wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you define it (as opposed to giving examples) in a way that calls any non-hardware-producing company a tech company though? I sort of want to agree, but it seems like any software manufacturer is 'a company that uses tech, not a tech company' if you keep going. WeWork, absolutely though. Honestly, the news to me here is that anyone thought it was or called it a tech company.

If your revenue isn't driven by your technology, then you aren't a tech company. If it is, then you are. There's tons of software companies that make money by selling (directly, or by charging licensing, usage fees, etc) for their software. WeWork isn't selling software, or any other form of technology. They're renting property.

So if Uber's model was subscription-only software that enabled ~unlimited~ fair usage many rides, it would be a tech company, but as it is it isn't?

I'm not disagreeing with the conclusions about WeWork and Uber, I just think it's hard or not possible to define what it is, and what does it really mean anyway: to varying degrees any company in any sector is enabled by 'tech'.

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