Co Working spaces Yay or Nay ?

We spent about 12 months in a co-working space as a ~25 person company and it was horrendous. It certainly has the appeal for individuals or small teams, but conference room booking was always a nightmare, you’d never have a dedicated space that made it easy to hold brainstorming meetings without annoying everyone, and any facilities upgrades (network, phone, even heat) took months to get done.

Yay. I have only worked in co-working spaces for about 7 years. You learn to concentrate and get to business even in the midst of distractions. At the end of the day, it is not the cubicle nor the open office paradigm idea that works - it is a mix. Also, workspaces need to be as specialized as possible. Ideally it contains not only desks but a variety of work stations - one for sitting work, one for standing, one for sketching, one for making, one for 3D printing, sewing, conversing, having lunch etc.

Anyone else following the WeWork saga?

On that subject, here’s an interesting read;

Nice read. It’s like it’s 1999 again. pets.com

Why are investors so dumb? I mean, I remember 20 years ago. It’s not that hard.

I’m with you. The entire time I’ve been thinking that this doesn’t seem to add up. Turns out it doesn’t.

How in the hell is a dispatch service (uber, lyft) worth billions? In reality, none of these services are new, just digitized. And what is most funny, it seems that digitizing actually increases costs over the old way. Go figure (wait, we did, didn’t turn out well then either).

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I probably wouldn’t have given 1.7 billion to the CEO to walk away…

“ Former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann will get up to $1.7 billion to walk away from the company and give up his voting rights, according to people familiar with the matter. SoftBank will pay Neumann up to $970 million for his shares, a $185 million consulting fee and will offer him $500 million in credit to help repay his loans to J.P. Morgan Chase, UBS and Credit Suisse”

I never understood why Uber was considered so hip and influential. It’s a frigging taxi service. The emperor has no clothes!

It’s not even a taxi service as those actually own taxis. Uber is equivalent to Tinder, it provides a hookup, making Uber the highest valuated pimp.

Why wouldn’t I want to pump millions of my own dollars into a company that hasn’t, and never will, turn a profit? Google, Facebook or Amazon will buy the company eventually and I’ll be a billionaire. It’s a solid investment.

Uber is a good example, even though they haven’t been purchased.
-Estimated value at IPO earlier this year was $80B
-2019 operating loss so far is $5.5B
-2018 operating loss of $1.8B
-2017 operating loss of $4.5B
-2016 operating loss of $3B

The only thing that makes it worth $80B is investors gambling that it is actually worth $80B. Solid.

I do think it would be interesting to have a co-working space especially for creatives. Meeting rooms up front to present to clients, the common working area would be member only. A portfolio review board would screen potential members and emphasis could be put on having different types of creatives under one roof. Essentially an ad hoc agency… with a coffee shop.

I love the idea.

There is an ‘innovation hub’ here in Adelaide which is almost exactly what you’ve described. It’s not just design focussed, but is focused on creation of IP and business development, and they do screen incoming companies and members for suitability. There’s a lot of potential for networking for designers in this space.

You can work there permanently or just pay a day rate to use it as needed.

http://www.co-hab.com.au/en

:headphones:



Amy Chozick
And this is the point when Adam really leans into Masa’s advice, which is to go wild. Pursue your craziest dreams. He opens a WeLive apartment building and wants to expand that. He says these are places that will have community and cut down on the suicide rate because people never feel alone. He was talking about WeGrow, and he and his wife opened a school in downtown Manhattan. There was WeBank, there was WeSail. There was WeSleep. There was talk of an airline.

Michael Barbaro
WeFly?

Amy Chozick
WeFly, presumably. There was talk of WeMars, even putting office space on the red planet.

I remember seeing a CBS Sunday morning interview with him talking about WeLive, WeGrow, and WeBank and thinking either this guy is going to take over the world or this thing will collapse like the house of cards it is…

WeWork is in deep trouble, other co-working businesses are already starting to shut down.

WeWork has been like a slow moving train wreck.

Nay. Zero privacy and fellow users pick off all of your ideas. Also, if there’s ever a pandemic, you’re screwed.

Bankruptcy is their best chance to turn it around.

They can get out of all of their bad leases and cherry-pick the profitable properties to keep.

Intresting thread resurection. I just finished watching WeCrashed on appleTV and currenty watching ”pumped up - the Uber story”. It’s like 2 new seasons of Silicon Valley except non-fiction. Love it.