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Idk is it's really all that bad. We tend to focus on juicy scandals. In this case, it was/is terrible conflicts of interest combined with a "pump-and-dump" men

by netcan 7y ago

Idk is it's really all that bad. We tend to focus on juicy scandals. In this case, it was/is terrible conflicts of interest combined with a "pump-and-dump" mentality that exit focused startups are prone to during boom times. OTOH, the "system" worked, and wework investors got "busted" before IPO. It never reached the stage where pros and insiders cash out to public investors. In retrospect, investor cash was spent/wasted by operating expenses... Operating expenses are salaries and such. It may be wasteful, but the losers are risk tolerant investors so c'est la vie. In a "dot-com" scenario, a much larger amount (market cap) goes from public investors to private ones. If wework had succeeded in getting to this stage, it would be aweful. Imo, we need more risk, not less. Professional risk investors though, they are too good at offloading that risk to where it isn't supposed to be. Most of the institutional fixers (large funds, banks, regulators, sec, etc) suggest "fixes" that reduce risk. This is not a good thing. We need risk, and that includes a risk of shenanigans. I'd rather have a public blowup than an even more conservative professional investor class.

abvdasker 7y ago
Adam Neumann is now a billionaire. In the meritocratic, rational-markets mythology of how many people believe the system works, you're only supposed to get a billion dollars if you create value for a lot of people. After 18.5 billion dollars of investment, thanks to Adam Neumann's leadership, WeWork is now worth 8 billion dollars. So rather than creating value, he actually destroyed a shitload of it. And now he's richer than you or I will ever be. You're also ignoring one group of victims here. I wonder how the current and former employees of WeWork would feel about your assessment that it's "not so bad"? Their labor was no doubt compensated largely in the form of now-worthless equity grants. "Sorry you got screwed but this is necessary for the health of the investor class. Won't somebody please think of the investor class?!" How totally fucking odious. I don't know how you look at WeWork and arrive at the conclusion that professional investors are at risk of becoming too conservative. Clearly, venture capital has stopped functioning with any sort of discipline or rationality if it can invest in companies like WeWork and Theranos which later turn out to be obvious mirages of pure ineptitude and greed.

by netcan 7y ago

abvdasker 7y ago

Adam Neumann is now a billionaire. In the meritocratic, rational-markets mythology of how many people believe the system works, you're only supposed to get a billion dollars if you create value for a lot of people. After 18.5 billion dollars of investment, thanks to Adam Neumann's leadership, WeWork is now worth 8 billion dollars. So rather than creating value, he actually destroyed a shitload of it. And now he's richer than you or I will ever be. You're also ignoring one group of victims here. I wonder how the current and former employees of WeWork would feel about your assessment that it's "not so bad"? Their labor was no doubt compensated largely in the form of now-worthless equity grants. "Sorry you got screwed but this is necessary for the health of the investor class. Won't somebody please think of the investor class?!" How totally fucking odious. I don't know how you look at WeWork and arrive at the conclusion that professional investors are at risk of becoming too conservative. Clearly, venture capital has stopped functioning with any sort of discipline or rationality if it can invest in companies like WeWork and Theranos which later turn out to be obvious mirages of pure ineptitude and greed.