FiLM REViEW

How WeWork spectacularly didn’t work

WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn | Hulu | 107 minutes

Having just rewatched the Fyre Festival

documentary, I had to admit to myself I have a problem. I’m obsessed with documentaries about business visionaries with delusions of grandeur.

I think it’s because at one point while watching these documentaries, there’s often a moment that leads the viewer to say “well hey, see, they had a great idea. Had they just run with that…” But some never had that. Some had an idea that didn’t work, and instead of admitting it, they dig themselves further into a hole through fraud. (Cough cough, Fyre Festival, cough cough Th eranos).

Adam Neumann of WeWork, as I think the documentary shows, had that moment. Kind of. Coworking spaces were just starting to kick off when Neumann launched and started growing WeWork. It wasn’t a bad idea. If you’re an individual or a small company, renting a short-term space and growing as you scale makes sense. Not being locked into a long-term lease lends an air of fl exibility for a company in the early growth stage when those companies really need it.

Neumann seemed to be by all accounts a pretty charismatic fellow. As such, he was able to recruit employees over to his company and grow rapidly, and court venture capital pretty easily, eventually landing the whale Softbank, whose CEO urged him to shoot for the moon in growth.

If WeWork highlights anything, it’s that there is a problem with the “grow at all costs” mindset. An accountant with a solid business plan to grow slowly over time and — now hold on to your hat, this is crazy — make a profi t… well, that’s just not exciting. Taking over the world is much more exciting, and the way venture capital works essentially ensures delusions of grandeur are rewarded. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but it’s hard for me to imagine a company being worth millions or billions when they’re losing money.

Sometimes that pays off . But that was not the case for WeWork. Th ings go from great to oh-so-very wrong. An exclusive experimental shared living space turns into an almost dystopian Truman show as Neumann brings investors and other important people to show off . A camp made as a fun weekend retreat for employees in the early days devolves into a cult-like WeWork worship festival that employees dread (back-to-back, dawn til dusk days watching Neumann talking about how great he and WeWork are sounds awful).

A common trait among many of these deranged visionary documentaries is that they seem to forget the idea that they are in business to turn a profi t. Companies that profi t tend to be able to, oh, I don’t know, pay their employees, for example, or provide a stable work environment. WeWork hemorrhages money while Neumann funds a lavish lifestyle for himself and seems to shelter himself from any bad news. Private jets, expensive trips, all on Softbank’s dollar while the company implodes.

WeWork is not Fyre Festival. While that festival was doomed from the start (losing the island and not really being able to fi nd a suitable replacement would have been where reasonable people cut their losses), WeWork could have been a decent business. Just not the venture capital darling Neumann hoped it would be. It was, however, entertaining to watch him try.

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