WeLit: What People Are Missing About WeWork
“WeWork isn’t really a real estate company. It’s a state of consciousness, a generation of interconnected emotionally intelligent entrepreneurs.” -Adam Neumann.
I’m interested in WeWork because it is a surprising and intriguing company.
Even though it seems to position itself as a luxury brand, what exactly is it?
A real estate company? A cult? An accelerator? An investment company or holdings company? A landlord by a different name?
Let’s find out.
A Brief History
GreenDesk was founded by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey in 2008. Both individuals spent extensive time in a collective setting. Adam Neumann, spent his childhood in a kibbutz in Israel, and Miguel spent time in a commune in Oregon.
GreenDesk was dubbed an “eco-friendly co-working space” in Brooklyn. The company would provide “affordable, environmentally friendly, turn key office suites available for month-to-month or long term rental [units]. The company also provides virtual offices and meeting rooms.
GreenDesk did well but Neumann and McKelvey had different plans. According to Business Insider, they sold GreenDesk to their landlord in 2010 and got a couple million dollars.
They then started WeWork in a prime and trendy location, SoHo.
WeWork certainly did something right, it would quickly grow over the next few years and expand to further locations.
By the first half of 2015, WeWork would have more than 50 co-working locations the U.S., Europe, and Israel.
According to Crunchbase, it would pick up $12.8 billion over 14 funding rounds.
But what makes WeWork different from all of the many different co-working companies across the world? Why do they stand out? What made them take off?
The simple tenets present within its brand. Spirituality and oneness across all aspects of life, starting with the way we work.
The WeWork Brand
WeWork is a compelling lesson in branding and marketing. The company established itself with lofty ideals and ambitious goals but is able to convey it clearly and concisely. We click with the We and its mission. WeWork states that it started with:
“Just one building, a vision for a brand, and conviction that there was an entrepreneurial spirit that was being under served. We knew there were creators all around the world who needed a place to call home. Early investors recognized our conviction and helped us build communities.”
WeWork started and stayed true to itself with a focus on one core aspect, they believe that by “creating a community that helped people live life with purpose, we could have a meaningful impact on the world.” As such, the mission of the company has always been to serve the growing population of believers, creators, and doers. They serve the dreamers, the thinkers, the people that strive to do something different and be remarkable, essentially, the crazy one’s (sound familiar?).
WeWork or the The We, utilizes its physical infrastructure to cater to the millennial need for something more. It caters to the need to live in a world that has better values, to work and live in a meaningful way.
In a world of Reddit and Twitter naysayers, WeWork tells you that you, yes you, can do it! WeWork brings you the Gary Vaynerchuck energy + Instagram inspirational quotes aesthetic to life.
The We company defines exactly what it is, what it does, and who it caters to.
What It Is and What It Does — Value added spaces to “elevate the world’s consciousness and move toward a world where people work to make a life, not just a living. In addition to that, it seeks to build a world where no one feels alone and unleash every human’s superpowers.
Who It Caters To — A 400,000 strong community of those who want to build and live in an elevated manner by surrounding themselves with other like minded people through (WeWork), then comfortable co-living spaces (WeLive), creative teaching (WeGrow), and more recently, (MadebyWe).
The company taps into Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs by catering to the physiological (fresh fruit, water, beer? La Croix, micro-roasted coffee, tea, and Wi-fi) to love and belonging (community), esteem (through promoting collaboration), and self-actualization via We empowerment, fostering connections, and more.
The Process
WeWork did it right. They built their brand brick by brick and created a community that spans across the world. As noted above, they clearly defined who they were and they consciously built for and attracted that specific community. As Seth Godin would say, they grew in an exclusive manner, and didn’t present themselves as elite. WeWork’s core brand rests on the fact that they are pro-creators and world elevators, much like another powerful brand that goes by the name of…Apple.
Tap Into an Emerging Market
WeWork allowed the post-dot com growing base of angel listers, freelancers, hustlers, product hunters, startupers, and other types new economy workers and enthusiasts to do work while staying ‘lit’ and connected.
The Offering
Provide Amazing Spaces in Great Locations
Why build in your drab garage (unless, you’re Tai Lopez with knowledge and Lamborghinis) when you can work from a happening location with like minded people?
Meet, Engage, and Shift The Culture
In the early days, it hosted other startups such as Reddit, Fitocracy, and even added employees from established companies such as PepsiCo.
It would start to facilitate the exchange of ideas and collaboration from the start.
One example is where tenants, excuse me, members from their PepsiCo client, would act as counselors to emerging companies in the first SoHo WeWorkspace.
Right off the bat, one can see that WeWork set itself apart from others in the office rental game by having a focus on the people and the overall culture. WeWork came in and said work doesn’t have to be boring, work doesn’t have to be lonely, it’s not about you, or I, it’s about We, man.
This is just one instance that shows how WeWork was different from the rest (traditional commercial spaces, AKA strangers work or other emerging co-working spaces).
Deliver On Dragon Energy Visions (Extensions of the Brand)
The Innovation Component
Sure enough, the first glimpses of its eventual evolution would be seen with its release of WeWork Labs in the first half of 2011. The division would nurture startup residents within its spaces. By tapping into a key component of the startup ecosystem, WeWork showed that it would do more for residents than simply providing space, it would foster innovation.
The integration of WeWork Labs, would then, serve as another way of doubling down on the community aspect of WeWork and providing more value to further like minded individuals. By providing mentorship, education, dedicated lab managers, a global network, community, and innovation services, The We acts as a potential way to uniformly tap into the startup ecosystem in a physical and digital way. The collective We has recently added to this program through its launch of Food Labs to “fix food, now and for the future”.
Meetup Acquisition
The We acquired the interests oriented IRL hangout platform, Meetup in 2017. This (of course) made sense, the meetup acquisitions integrates different communities into the physical spaces that WeWork provides.
Co-Living
After progressing tackling the work segment and then scaling it up, the company stepped into the rising segment of fully furnished living spaces, applying the same concepts of community and shared spaces to this segment as well.
Work Cafe
Made by We allows individuals (who may not want to be members) to stop by a Made by We Cafe and work, eat, shop, and book conference rooms.
Education
The We acquired the Flatiron School, a tech oriented education platform, in 2017. Flatiron started in New York but after the We acquisition, is now present in cities such as Chicago, Houston, Seattle, and other cities.
The We launched WeGrow in 2017 to provide children with a new way to learn and grow within the world. The first location is in New York and it’s comprised of great physical design, free range education (the children get to interact with farming and nature once a week) and full accountability for their studies.
The WeWork Lifestyle
WeWork is in the life enhancement industry, it utilizes space, adds value, and brings people together in more communal ways. I don’t think we can classify The We as a technology company, I think it’s a real estate company with the ability to become something more.
WeWork is a global aspirational brand, it’s about putting yourself into a different space and changing your mentality, your habits, your friends, and manifesting your visions.
WeWork is a great example to study for many reasons. Whether you’re studying how to market your brand or broadening your offerings WeWork is a great case study.
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