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I haven't read the book, but WeWork doesn't seem to fit the principles of Blitzscaling. They haven't been able to dominate their market (office space) in the sa

I haven't read the book, but WeWork doesn't seem to fit the principles of Blitzscaling. They haven't been able to dominate their market (office space) in the same way that Google owns search or Airbnb owns home rentals. A quick search for "Reid Hoffman WeWork" returns no relevant results other than him investing in a possible competitor: https://media.thinknum.com/articles/how-liquidspace-is-undermining-everything-wework-is-setting-out-to-do/ https://media.thinknum.com/articles/how-liquidspace-is-under...

AgloeDreams 7y ago
They live by the policies, getting giant investments for a warchest and blowing it on possibly impossible to monetize locations with the hope that they will kill any competitor before one can take root. See how Uber subsidised new drivers and riders.
hn_throwaway_99 7y ago
> They haven't been able to dominate their market (office space) in the same way that Google owns search or Airbnb owns home rentals. I disagree. First of all, WeWork's market isn't really 'office space', it's short-term, flexible, furnished office space, and in the sense of "market domination" I think WeWork is very similar to AirBnB in that regard. That is, while they both have strong competitors who predate them (e.g. Expedia/VRBO and Booking.com both have huge short-term rental businesses), they both certainly lead in the "mindshare" of their particular markets. The main difference is just that the economics of AirBnB's model (they neither own nor lease any real estate for rent) is much more profitable than WeWork's.
- adrr 7y ago
  Airbnb owns the peer to peer market rental. WeWork isn’t even close to the size of regus. Airbnb can expand by dropping money into marketing. We work needs to do huge outlays to buy/lease buildings and also drop money into marketing to grow.
  - fragmede 7y ago
    > WeWork isn’t even close to the size of Regus. They both manage ~45 million sq feet of office space. Regus isn't chasing tech IPO valuations as they went public in 2000.

AgloeDreams 7y ago

They live by the policies, getting giant investments for a warchest and blowing it on possibly impossible to monetize locations with the hope that they will kill any competitor before one can take root. See how Uber subsidised new drivers and riders.

hn_throwaway_99 7y ago

> They haven't been able to dominate their market (office space) in the same way that Google owns search or Airbnb owns home rentals. I disagree. First of all, WeWork's market isn't really 'office space', it's short-term, flexible, furnished office space, and in the sense of "market domination" I think WeWork is very similar to AirBnB in that regard. That is, while they both have strong competitors who predate them (e.g. Expedia/VRBO and Booking.com both have huge short-term rental businesses), they both certainly lead in the "mindshare" of their particular markets. The main difference is just that the economics of AirBnB's model (they neither own nor lease any real estate for rent) is much more profitable than WeWork's.

adrr 7y ago
Airbnb owns the peer to peer market rental. WeWork isn’t even close to the size of regus. Airbnb can expand by dropping money into marketing. We work needs to do huge outlays to buy/lease buildings and also drop money into marketing to grow.
- fragmede 7y ago
  > WeWork isn’t even close to the size of Regus. They both manage ~45 million sq feet of office space. Regus isn't chasing tech IPO valuations as they went public in 2000.