Item — HN Reader

The “How I Built This” on WeWork[1] was fascinating. Basically the 2008 financial crises increased vacancies in trendy places a lot. WeWork grew up with the trends in coworking. But really has turned into a very fancy middle man for turning buildings into beautiful coworking office spaces. The brand for a while had some cache, but the thing is many are realizing that they can also build beautiful coworking spaces and there’s no magic secret sauce IP or tech that makes WeWork special here. In this context, WeWork has only gotten weirder and full of itself... they just seem disconnected from reality from what they are while at the same time losing money hand over fist.

1 - https://www.npr.org/2018/08/31/643774290/wework-miguel-mckel...

2 comments

> there’s no magic secret sauce IP or tech that makes WeWork special here

Indeed; they don't really have a moat. For customers who travel a lot, there might be some network effects, but I suspect they're the minority.

I think there could be something to economies of scale, but in the How I Built That podcase, they brag about every space is bespoke!

I’d pay for a version of WeWork that let me camp out for $10 get self serve coffee but was drab, boring, and decidedly antisocial

Basically a library next to a coffee shop?

More libraries need to sell coffee :)

> The brand for a while had some cash...

Couldn't resist fixing that for you. The little pun (homonym?) has some explanatory power for the company's current position.

Though the OP misspelled cachet, so I guess it should be "The brand for a while had some cash, eh?" :)