4 ms·

WeWork Looks to Sell Private Jet, 3 Side Businesses

20 points by alephnan 7y ago

neonate 7y ago
https://outline.com/PAFXej https://outline.com/PAFXej
basch 7y ago
I'll be in the minority and say this is a mistake. >WeWork is also planning to sell three businesses acquired in recent years: event organizing platform Meetup, office management startup Managed by Q and marketing company Conductor, according to the person. Despite the debate over WeWork being a tech company or not, they WERE taking an interesting route that other companies have taken, which is to own their software stack, and not just eat their dogfood, but license it to competitors as well. I thought We's ambition to own/build/compile a building management stack was ambitious and forward thinking. We becoming the Microsoft of building management seemed feasible, because up until them it was a bunch of disparate parts. Them buying things like Fieldlens seemed inspired. Shedding the parts that numanagement doesnt like, instead of integrating their software into a WeSoft365 is a step towards turning We back into a pure realestate play, and being a software company would have been their competitive edge, differentiating factor, and risk aversion of future obsolescence. The thing We did wrong was to not merge its businesses faster. When Adobe or Microsoft buy something, the first thing they do now is lightly rebrand it, and throw it into a bundle. High paying customers then get that new product for free, without prices going up. And in MSWorld, because everything is built on Nav, Sharepoint, and Exchange, data flows freely between their products. We would have benefited from a unified identity and storage across its products. Sign your building up once, get Fieldlens and Managed by Q and everything else theyve bought in the last 5 years. IBM survives by constantly shedding its legacy businesses and reinventing itself. We is shedding its reinvention.
- mikestew 7y ago
  There was an article this past day or two criticizing We, with an "old vs. new" business model graphic as Exhibit A of how fucked up We is. Except I looked at it and said, "I dunno, looks reasonable to me." Because it was a graphic of just what you describe: take disparate parts, put them under the We umbrella, profit. To me, that wasn't Exhibit A of their fuckedness, it was what might have saved them if anything was going to. Exhibit A is what you allude to: I had forgotten We bought Meetup until you mentioned it. Now why, as a person immersed in the tech industry, was I allowed to forget that? EDIT: "...are looking to focus on WeWork’s main business of leasing office space, refurbishing it and renting it out to businesses on shorter terms." (emphasis mine) Oh, man, they are so doomed.
  - basch 7y ago
    Id love to see that article if you find it. I see it the same as Stratechery sees Amazon's Whole Foods acquisition. (see last chart) https://stratechery.com/2017/amazons-new-customer/ https://stratechery.com/2017/amazons-new-customer/ Amazon didnt buy a grocery business, it in housed the largest customer of its grocery services business (suppliers and supplies.) WeWork owning the BuildingManagementOs would make their rental business their largest customer of building management software services, one that could sustain it until it was big enough to be its own thing that doesnt need WeWorks rental side anymore, for the OS div to be profitable.
    - mikestew 7y ago
      This one, second graphic down (after the bro pic): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21071890 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21071890
      - basch 7y ago
        Wall Street and the Fifth estate are being too skeptical here and fucking up what could be a pretty radical change. They just cant see past the way things have always been. The question shouldnt be "is We a tech company" but "how close could they be to becoming one." If they have the potential to be the closest to delivering, thats worth something. How can they not see the value in owning all the building blocks and being in the process of assembling them. Using real estate cash flow to fund building management software seems like a pretty fucking smart business model. (that all said, it does seem like We sucked at offering a cohesive software suite, not sure whos fault that is engineering, marketing, org structure etc.)
wiseleo 7y ago
Bizarre. Meetup is the perfect match for bringing new customers. They will pay more for customer acquisition if they divest this.
alephnan 7y ago
I was desperately looking for a short-term furnished apartment / long-term hotel in Manhattan and spent ~$4k month for a studio at WeLive. The leasing process was worst than most traditional NYC landlords. Point being, it's an overpriced dorm for adults who want to "network" / make friends. If you're looking for this sort of thing in NYC, look into "ALTA+ by Ollie". The leasing staff there actually treat you like a customer, instead of you trying dozens of times to contact WeWork's leasing / management office.

20 points by alephnan 7y ago

https://outline.com/PAFXej https://outline.com/PAFXej

I'll be in the minority and say this is a mistake. >WeWork is also planning to sell three businesses acquired in recent years: event organizing platform Meetup, office management startup Managed by Q and marketing company Conductor, according to the person. Despite the debate over WeWork being a tech company or not, they WERE taking an interesting route that other companies have taken, which is to own their software stack, and not just eat their dogfood, but license it to competitors as well. I thought We's ambition to own/build/compile a building management stack was ambitious and forward thinking. We becoming the Microsoft of building management seemed feasible, because up until them it was a bunch of disparate parts. Them buying things like Fieldlens seemed inspired. Shedding the parts that numanagement doesnt like, instead of integrating their software into a WeSoft365 is a step towards turning We back into a pure realestate play, and being a software company would have been their competitive edge, differentiating factor, and risk aversion of future obsolescence. The thing We did wrong was to not merge its businesses faster. When Adobe or Microsoft buy something, the first thing they do now is lightly rebrand it, and throw it into a bundle. High paying customers then get that new product for free, without prices going up. And in MSWorld, because everything is built on Nav, Sharepoint, and Exchange, data flows freely between their products. We would have benefited from a unified identity and storage across its products. Sign your building up once, get Fieldlens and Managed by Q and everything else theyve bought in the last 5 years. IBM survives by constantly shedding its legacy businesses and reinventing itself. We is shedding its reinvention.

mikestew 7y ago
There was an article this past day or two criticizing We, with an "old vs. new" business model graphic as Exhibit A of how fucked up We is. Except I looked at it and said, "I dunno, looks reasonable to me." Because it was a graphic of just what you describe: take disparate parts, put them under the We umbrella, profit. To me, that wasn't Exhibit A of their fuckedness, it was what might have saved them if anything was going to. Exhibit A is what you allude to: I had forgotten We bought Meetup until you mentioned it. Now why, as a person immersed in the tech industry, was I allowed to forget that? EDIT: "...are looking to focus on WeWork’s main business of leasing office space, refurbishing it and renting it out to businesses on shorter terms." (emphasis mine) Oh, man, they are so doomed.
- basch 7y ago
  Id love to see that article if you find it. I see it the same as Stratechery sees Amazon's Whole Foods acquisition. (see last chart) https://stratechery.com/2017/amazons-new-customer/ https://stratechery.com/2017/amazons-new-customer/ Amazon didnt buy a grocery business, it in housed the largest customer of its grocery services business (suppliers and supplies.) WeWork owning the BuildingManagementOs would make their rental business their largest customer of building management software services, one that could sustain it until it was big enough to be its own thing that doesnt need WeWorks rental side anymore, for the OS div to be profitable.
  - mikestew 7y ago
    This one, second graphic down (after the bro pic): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21071890 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21071890
    - basch 7y ago
      Wall Street and the Fifth estate are being too skeptical here and fucking up what could be a pretty radical change. They just cant see past the way things have always been. The question shouldnt be "is We a tech company" but "how close could they be to becoming one." If they have the potential to be the closest to delivering, thats worth something. How can they not see the value in owning all the building blocks and being in the process of assembling them. Using real estate cash flow to fund building management software seems like a pretty fucking smart business model. (that all said, it does seem like We sucked at offering a cohesive software suite, not sure whos fault that is engineering, marketing, org structure etc.)

wiseleo 7y ago

Bizarre. Meetup is the perfect match for bringing new customers. They will pay more for customer acquisition if they divest this.

alephnan 7y ago

I was desperately looking for a short-term furnished apartment / long-term hotel in Manhattan and spent ~$4k month for a studio at WeLive. The leasing process was worst than most traditional NYC landlords. Point being, it's an overpriced dorm for adults who want to "network" / make friends. If you're looking for this sort of thing in NYC, look into "ALTA+ by Ollie". The leasing staff there actually treat you like a customer, instead of you trying dozens of times to contact WeWork's leasing / management office.