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Thats definitely jumping to conclusions. I don't fully disagree with you, but from my experience, I can say that what WeWork is doing is incredible. At a confe

Thats definitely jumping to conclusions. I don't fully disagree with you, but from my experience, I can say that what WeWork is doing is incredible. At a conference I attended recently, one of the WeWork chief data scientists presented on their process for analyzing cities and determining venues for expansion. The detail with which WeWork acquires and analyzes public and private demographic data is incredible. Based on their information, they are making highly targeted decisions about property acquisition. From my perspective, when compared to any other real estate entity, I can wholeheartedly say that what they are doing the right thing.

dasil003 9y ago
Well I'm not exactly jumping to conclusions as I've shopped for office space for multiple startups and toured multiple WeWork locations as well as dozens of other co-working space and sublets over the past few years, and IMHO WeWork is cashing in on easy money from boom-time founders. Clearly they are doing something right, but I don't know what data they would be analyzing that would protect them from a downturn.
coralreef 9y ago
You seem amazed by their secret sauce, but fundamentally, are they that much better than their competition in terms of the product they offer? Is it 10x better in price, service, quality?
- beagle3 9y ago
  McDonald’s is by far more successful than other burger chains; Starbucks than coffee chains. WeWork is trying (and at this point seems to be succeeding) to be the equivalent for coworking spaces. Also note McDonald’s burgers are not very different than burger kings, and Starbucks is not better than any other chains. The secret sauce doesn’t have to be in the actual product.
  - sgt101 9y ago
    McDonalds is a franchise; it doesn't acquire or run restaurants.
    - somecontext 9y ago
      In case anyone was curious, I have collected some context from McDonald's 10-K filing on March 1, 2017 available at http://corporate.mcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/financial-information/sec-filings.html http://corporate.mcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/financial-infor... : At year-end 2016, McDonald's had ~37k restaurants, of which ~15% were company-operated and 85% were franchised. (The filing expresses a long-term goal to be ~95% franchised.) Of the franchised restaurants, ~70% were "conventional franchisees". Under both the company-operated and conventionally franchised models, McDonald's "generally owns the land and building or secures long-term leases". I believe it is this real estate-focused setup that drives the comparison between WeWork and McDonald's in various comments.
      - rockostrich 9y ago
        Which is what the movie "The Founder" drives home near the end (besides that Ray Kroc screwed over the McDonald brothers). It's a real estate company that owns buildings that are occupied by fast food burger restaurants. How well those restaurants do doesn't really matter all that much because the value of the real estate is most likely going to increase over time. If the restaurant does well, it's just a bonus.
hkmurakami 9y ago
I mean is it any different in sophistication from what McDonald's has been doing expertly for decades now?
amyboyd 9y ago
Do you know if there is a video or slides for that talk? I tried Googling but couldn't find anything,
- rememberlenny 9y ago
  It was an in-person talk at CARTO from their Spatial Data Science conference. I remember seeing that the talks woulds be uploaded, but I don't know where.
  - amyboyd 9y ago
    Thanks! If anyone else is interested, the speaker was Carl Anderson (https://twitter.com/leapingllamas https://twitter.com/leapingllamas). The talks aren't on YouTube yet. I've messaged him and CARTO on Twitter asking if the videos will be uploaded.

dasil003 9y ago

Well I'm not exactly jumping to conclusions as I've shopped for office space for multiple startups and toured multiple WeWork locations as well as dozens of other co-working space and sublets over the past few years, and IMHO WeWork is cashing in on easy money from boom-time founders. Clearly they are doing something right, but I don't know what data they would be analyzing that would protect them from a downturn.

coralreef 9y ago

You seem amazed by their secret sauce, but fundamentally, are they that much better than their competition in terms of the product they offer? Is it 10x better in price, service, quality?

beagle3 9y ago
McDonald’s is by far more successful than other burger chains; Starbucks than coffee chains. WeWork is trying (and at this point seems to be succeeding) to be the equivalent for coworking spaces. Also note McDonald’s burgers are not very different than burger kings, and Starbucks is not better than any other chains. The secret sauce doesn’t have to be in the actual product.
- sgt101 9y ago
  McDonalds is a franchise; it doesn't acquire or run restaurants.
  - somecontext 9y ago
    In case anyone was curious, I have collected some context from McDonald's 10-K filing on March 1, 2017 available at http://corporate.mcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/financial-information/sec-filings.html http://corporate.mcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/financial-infor... : At year-end 2016, McDonald's had ~37k restaurants, of which ~15% were company-operated and 85% were franchised. (The filing expresses a long-term goal to be ~95% franchised.) Of the franchised restaurants, ~70% were "conventional franchisees". Under both the company-operated and conventionally franchised models, McDonald's "generally owns the land and building or secures long-term leases". I believe it is this real estate-focused setup that drives the comparison between WeWork and McDonald's in various comments.
    - rockostrich 9y ago
      Which is what the movie "The Founder" drives home near the end (besides that Ray Kroc screwed over the McDonald brothers). It's a real estate company that owns buildings that are occupied by fast food burger restaurants. How well those restaurants do doesn't really matter all that much because the value of the real estate is most likely going to increase over time. If the restaurant does well, it's just a bonus.

hkmurakami 9y ago

I mean is it any different in sophistication from what McDonald's has been doing expertly for decades now?

amyboyd 9y ago

Do you know if there is a video or slides for that talk? I tried Googling but couldn't find anything,

rememberlenny 9y ago
It was an in-person talk at CARTO from their Spatial Data Science conference. I remember seeing that the talks woulds be uploaded, but I don't know where.
- amyboyd 9y ago
  Thanks! If anyone else is interested, the speaker was Carl Anderson (https://twitter.com/leapingllamas https://twitter.com/leapingllamas). The talks aren't on YouTube yet. I've messaged him and CARTO on Twitter asking if the videos will be uploaded.