4 ms·

What a long winded article. I don't really understand the fascination/surprise at wework and similar. It's just office space, packaged in a way that suits a fe

What a long winded article. I don't really understand the fascination/surprise at wework and similar. It's just office space, packaged in a way that suits a few underserved markets. Flexibility is valuable, and was previously underavailable. It also turned out that a lot of the "work-from-home" people would like office space, if it's nice and they can afford it. What is so surprising or notable here? A slightly quirky aesthetic? Espresso?

porpoisely 8y ago
It's just paid PR for WeWork. WeWork must have a great PR team and most importantly investors with significant contacts because they get great press. http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html
- eeZah7Ux 8y ago
  Disguising PR as articles is really dishonest.
  - black6 8y ago
    Native advertising... After Craig Newmark effectively killed newspapers’s No. 1 source of revenue, they had to turn to other means of generating ad sales.
  - pizzazzaro 8y ago
    I had thought the NYTimes was above that internet troll behavior. Clearly I was mistaken. Well, that's one less place I'll be spending my money online.
- jdormit 8y ago
  I don't know, the tone of the article wasn't actually super favorable towards WeWork. The author outright mocked their founder pretty consistently throughout the piece. The vibe I got was more, "WeWorks are nice to work at but they are not as revolutionary as they think they are".
  - kristianc 8y ago
    For a PR company, a few negative comments about the business model is a price-of-admission to the New York Times and a pre-requisite for getting it past an editor. Largely, it's one the PR company / WeWork are happy to pay because they get to say they've been in the NYT, they get exposed to new potential new customers without having to pay per lead, and 'WeWorking' becomes a step closer to being a verb with WeWork's brand attached to it.
  - rtx 8y ago
    It's deeper, its for people who need it.
conjectures 8y ago
Yes. This is an article in want of an editor. "I went to an office and there was coffee. A person called X runs the office. X is a singer blah blah blah." If the article touches anything like 'class' it doesn't touch it in the first couple of thousand words.
bsenftner 8y ago
I ran a competing CoWorking space in Los Angeles. WeWork is the opposite of the no-frills aesthetic: they have lots of perks, fun perks, they are not cheap, and having any one perk is conspicuous. WeWork is how people not in larger youth communities meet to get laid. That is it. WeWork is a youth community of people spending mom & dad money, conspicuously in a play-like-work space, not really working, and being super irritating to those trying to work.
- rb808 8y ago
  > WeWork is how people not in larger youth communities meet to get laid I never knew, maybe they should advertise this more.
  - meddlepal 8y ago
    I'm not sure what that line is supposed to mean. I work in a WeWork as well and everyone seems to be working. Maybe some are worse than others...
    - jtms 8y ago
      I met my wife at work while we seemed to be working.
  - schnevets 8y ago
    Glad to know I can add to the "Unicorns that trick people into thinking they are going to get laid" list that I started during the rise of Facebook.
- skohan 8y ago
  I have not been to a WeWork, but this is the vibe I got from their advertising: the one that pops up for me on YouTube features a group of good looking millennials, dressed office-chic, walking confidently and shaking hands in slow motion with auspicious music in the background. The entire message is aesthetic: there's no dialog or text at all, let alone an argument as to why WeWork would benefit your organization. It struck me as more like lifestyle-brand advertising than anything.
notacoward 8y ago
> It's just office space, packaged in a way that suits a few underserved markets. The whole point of the article is that it's not. "All its accessories serve to buttress its real product: “office culture” as a service." It might be more helpful to address the flaws in their argument than merely to state its opposite.
- dalbasal 8y ago
  I don't know how to argue against an abstract claim like that. You could say coca cola's real product is "A taste of 1950s America" or that a designer suit is really "a statement of intent." How do you argue that it is, in fact, a drink?
fullshark 8y ago
> I don't really understand the fascination/surprise at wework and similar Image and marketing matters, as much as engineers wish it didn't
david-cako 8y ago
Major companies that need distributed workspace for areas that don’t quite need offices, and the “impression” of think tank. They do have cool hosted events fairly often.

porpoisely 8y ago

It's just paid PR for WeWork. WeWork must have a great PR team and most importantly investors with significant contacts because they get great press. http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html

eeZah7Ux 8y ago
Disguising PR as articles is really dishonest.
- black6 8y ago
  Native advertising... After Craig Newmark effectively killed newspapers’s No. 1 source of revenue, they had to turn to other means of generating ad sales.
- pizzazzaro 8y ago
  I had thought the NYTimes was above that internet troll behavior. Clearly I was mistaken. Well, that's one less place I'll be spending my money online.
jdormit 8y ago
I don't know, the tone of the article wasn't actually super favorable towards WeWork. The author outright mocked their founder pretty consistently throughout the piece. The vibe I got was more, "WeWorks are nice to work at but they are not as revolutionary as they think they are".
- kristianc 8y ago
  For a PR company, a few negative comments about the business model is a price-of-admission to the New York Times and a pre-requisite for getting it past an editor. Largely, it's one the PR company / WeWork are happy to pay because they get to say they've been in the NYT, they get exposed to new potential new customers without having to pay per lead, and 'WeWorking' becomes a step closer to being a verb with WeWork's brand attached to it.
- rtx 8y ago
  It's deeper, its for people who need it.

conjectures 8y ago

Yes. This is an article in want of an editor. "I went to an office and there was coffee. A person called X runs the office. X is a singer blah blah blah." If the article touches anything like 'class' it doesn't touch it in the first couple of thousand words.

bsenftner 8y ago

I ran a competing CoWorking space in Los Angeles. WeWork is the opposite of the no-frills aesthetic: they have lots of perks, fun perks, they are not cheap, and having any one perk is conspicuous. WeWork is how people not in larger youth communities meet to get laid. That is it. WeWork is a youth community of people spending mom & dad money, conspicuously in a play-like-work space, not really working, and being super irritating to those trying to work.

rb808 8y ago
> WeWork is how people not in larger youth communities meet to get laid I never knew, maybe they should advertise this more.
- meddlepal 8y ago
  I'm not sure what that line is supposed to mean. I work in a WeWork as well and everyone seems to be working. Maybe some are worse than others...
  - jtms 8y ago
    I met my wife at work while we seemed to be working.
- schnevets 8y ago
  Glad to know I can add to the "Unicorns that trick people into thinking they are going to get laid" list that I started during the rise of Facebook.
skohan 8y ago
I have not been to a WeWork, but this is the vibe I got from their advertising: the one that pops up for me on YouTube features a group of good looking millennials, dressed office-chic, walking confidently and shaking hands in slow motion with auspicious music in the background. The entire message is aesthetic: there's no dialog or text at all, let alone an argument as to why WeWork would benefit your organization. It struck me as more like lifestyle-brand advertising than anything.

notacoward 8y ago

> It's just office space, packaged in a way that suits a few underserved markets. The whole point of the article is that it's not. "All its accessories serve to buttress its real product: “office culture” as a service." It might be more helpful to address the flaws in their argument than merely to state its opposite.

dalbasal 8y ago
I don't know how to argue against an abstract claim like that. You could say coca cola's real product is "A taste of 1950s America" or that a designer suit is really "a statement of intent." How do you argue that it is, in fact, a drink?

fullshark 8y ago

> I don't really understand the fascination/surprise at wework and similar Image and marketing matters, as much as engineers wish it didn't

david-cako 8y ago

Major companies that need distributed workspace for areas that don’t quite need offices, and the “impression” of think tank. They do have cool hosted events fairly often.