4 ms·

Wework is just Regus with better branding. Much like we now have up-market coffee shops. It's not innovative, just a perfected execution of an existing idea.

• chrisseaton 7y ago
  Right, it's a lot better. Isn't that enough to build a good business on?
  • unlinked_dll 7y ago
    Only if the unit economics make sense. It doesn't matter how "good" your service is when you lose money acquiring customers. Your only strategy is market domination, which may work for some businesses, but not one where any market downturn would screw you six ways to Sunday.
  • ethbro 7y ago
    Depends on if there's enough demand for the service from people who consider Regus an unacceptable option. Starbucks built an empire on the unserved masses of people who (1) wanted to be people who went to coffee shops & (2) were scared to go to actual independent coffee shops. It seems a good path for WeWork to follow. Lower costs and broaden appeal, just enough to cater to people who won't use Regus.
    • jjeaff 7y ago
      Is anyone really scared to go to an independent coffee shop? Seems like they just didn't want to go bad enough. But since Starbucks is everywhere, you no longer have to cross the street to drop in at a coffee shop.
    • chrisseaton 7y ago
      > were scared to go to actual independent coffee shops Nobody's 'scared' to go to an independent coffee shop. This is a ridiculous snobby notion.
      • everyone 7y ago
        Well if u have an extreme peanut allergy for example.. in a big corporate place everything is in a packet, just made in a big factory and you can get a list of the ingredients.. Whereas in a small cafe, they may have made the cakes themselves + put a cake with nuts next to a non-nut cake on the shelf. Personally, having a nut allergy, I feel less stressed by soulless corporate homogeneous food. Though still jusy much happier never going to any place of that ilk and having my own food (wayyy cheaper too).
      • mhdhn 7y ago
        I took it to mean they were scared to be treated like they don’t fit in. That is a real thing. One example: There is a chain that sells “goth” and other pop culture lifestyle goods to mostly teens call Hot Topic, mostly in malls. They improved their business prospects by being friendly and professional to would-be goths’ parents and kids with parents and other “outsiders”. I’m sure they take biz from a lot of independent outlets that way. I.e., don’t be scary.
  • notahacker 7y ago
    Is being one of the many, many coffee shops that serve better coffee in more enticing environments than Starbucks enough to build a good business on? Answer: yes, but probably not a business worth an order of magnitude more than Starbucks, and especially not a business whose growth is predicated on using VC money to give the coffee away for free whilst the ex-CEO milks it for cash. A lot of the many, many businesses reselling charmingly-decorated desk space without the hype and self-dealing should be fine.
  • jjeaff 7y ago
    Not a very defensible business model if you have massive competitors that need little more than some colorful paint and a few shared desks smashed together in the middle of the room.
    • chrisseaton 7y ago
      Hmm I don't know. The fact that it never occurred to Regus to make the working environment even remotely pleasant makes me think they don't 'get it' in the way that WeWork do, and it's a more deep divide. They may be able to literally paint their offices now it's been pointed out to them by someone else how horrible they are, but they're probably still missing the point even if they do that.
      • notahacker 7y ago
        Alternate hypothesis: Regus has successfully scaled and retained its customer base and makes a big profit per desk whilst not following the trend of the thousands of other spaces being sublet with trendier decoration and social spaces, most of them not by WeWork. Maybe it's not the company whose investors have written down 90% of their investments which is the one that 'gets it' McDonalds makes terrible beefburgers too, but they're doing just fine.
      • rchaud 7y ago
        I'm pretty sure it occurred to Regus to dress up their offices; perhaps they couldn't afford to do it on WeWork's scale because they actually focused on profitability as opposed to carefully threading emperor Neumann's garments with Softbank's money.