WeWork is a fascinating company. They lease spaces from everyone as small as freelance developers and wedding planners to companies who need entire floors. And, as Ben makes the case, they’re turning real estate from a fixed expense to a variable (scalable) expense.
There is a reason — beyond the fact it is August — that WeWork’s upcoming IPO has driven so much discussion: it is a document defined by audaciousness, both in terms of the company’s vision and also the flagrant disregard for corporate governance norms by its leadership. And, of course, massive losses despite massive amounts of capital raised. I suspect all of these things are related.
It will be interesting to see how the “rental” or “on-demand” office space market evolves. Especially now that I’m working at a company that provides energy, water, and waste measurement and reporting software for large commercial real estate owners.