Yeah, definitely. They’re a real estate company. They’ve gotten better at their version of “community” than Regus has, for sure, but if you get closer to what they do instead of reading the press and their marketing material, you’ll find that it’s a high volume, high turnover real estate business (which is a big part of what makes their financials appear different from their more conservative cousins).
Among the many things that are interesting to me is that early on, they actively rejected the coworking language along with the broader coworking community…until coworking really started to mainstream and it became advantageous for them to use the word. Now they’re rejecting the idea of being a real estate company because they don’t like being compared to it. I don’t think their model is bad, by the way. And they’re definitely smart. Overvalued? Definitely, but that’s what happens when you align yourself with an already overvalued startup market (which is the vast majority of their audience). But also like the startup market, this kind of growth isn’t sustainable…which is a whole lot more evident when you look beyond what the press tells you is true :) -Alex ------------------ The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself. Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com Listen to the podcast: http://listen.coworkingweekly.com On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 11:57 AM, Aaron Cruikshank <[email protected]> wrote: > Alex, > Do you consider WeWork to be coworking or something else - closer to Regus? > - Aaron > Aaron Cruikshank > Principal, CRUIKSHANK > phone: 778.908.4560 > e-mail: [email protected] > web: cruikshank.me <http://www.cruikshank.me> > twitter: @cruikshank <https://twitter.com/cruikshank> > book a meeting: doodle.com/cruikshank <http://www.doodle.com/cruikshank> > linkedin: in/cruikshank <http://www.linkedin.com/in/cruikshank> > On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 8:05 AM, Alex Hillman <[email protected]> > wrote: >> >> Funny enough, the article URL is more telling about what’s *really* going >> on here: >> >> /wework-now-a-5-billion-real-estate-sartup-1418690163 >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------ >> *The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.* >> Join the list: http://coworkingweekly.com >> Listen to the podcast: http://listen.coworkingweekly.com >> >> >> >> On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 10:59 AM, Steve King <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Wall Street Journal reports >>> <http://www.wsj.com/articles/wework-now-a-5-billion-real-estate-sartup-1418690163>WeWork >>> just raised $355 million and is now valued at $5+ billion. >>>> >>>> -- >>> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "Coworking" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> -- >> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
