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I can think of so many examples of unwise founders doing the exact opposite. They don’t recognize that their business is still ultimately a niche with a limited

by dangus 3y ago

I can think of so many examples of unwise founders doing the exact opposite. They don’t recognize that their business is still ultimately a niche with a limited addressable market. I think WeWork is a great example. That market did need some freshening up and maybe even some full blown disruption, as the incumbents weren’t delivering a modernized co-working experience attractive to young professionals. But the founder took a great idea way too far, mistaking a straightforward office subleasing business for a cultural movement that could change the way people live and work en-masse. It’s that founders’ hubris of “I invented the next iPhone and the world will never be the same again.”

leoqa 3y ago
In part, I don’t think this is people naively pursuing the moon shot. Rather the incentives and pressures are there to go for the cultural shift. Your investors are pushing you to do it, you can have a lifestyle business that makes you a comfortable millionaire or become a billionaire. People push for the billonaire option because it’s plausible if they have a revenue machine growing 2x every year and investors behind them. It’s likely their one shot at it.
ProjectArcturis 3y ago
He also had Masayoshi Son giving him billions and telling him to build it bigger and crazier. And Adam Neumann managed to walk away with dynastic wealth, so... I wouldn't call him unwise.
- otterley 3y ago
  I don't think we should equate wisdom with the ability to accumulate a massive amount of personal wealth -- especially when there's a lot of controversy over how it happened. Besides, when it comes to getting rich, luck often plays a huge part, as it did here.
  - zaphirplane 3y ago
    I think he was charismatic, had a vision, marketed very well I suspect he knew it was near pyramid scheme when their valuation had 9 zeros
ecshafer 3y ago
I think WeWork was a great idea poorly executed. They took a huge amount of money, treated it like s tech start up, instead of having a frugal corporate office managing their various locations. But the great irony, given that WeWork might collapse at any moment (or already has?) is that it would probably be a great idea to start that right now or in the next year or so, as CBRE prices collapse and people increasingly look for cheap temporary and part time offices
- toddmorey 3y ago
  Yes, exactly. It was a real estate company saying, "No, we're a tech company!" while contracting into an insane amount of real estate. Nothing about their technology changed the fundamental economics of corporate office space but they were building something that needed to do exactly that to survive.
- yumraj 3y ago
  > I think WeWork was a great idea poorly executed. I would argue that it was a poor idea that was greatly executed. Everything was great for a while due to execution. But, when the realities or should I say limitations of the poor idea caught up, everything came crashing down.
  - ecshafer 3y ago
    IWG (who owns Regus) is a 45 year old company with almost 3 Billion British pounds of revenue a year. Its evidently possible to have a large successful business doing this. Shaking it up with more flexibility and nicer offices is a good idea overall I think.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - paxys 3y ago
    Throwing an unlimited amount of investor money at a problem without caring about profits isn't exactly great execution.
pjc50 3y ago
WeWork was a huge success for its founder: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/27/wework-founder-adam-neumann-enormous-exit-package https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/27/wework-foun... If Softbank are throwing money around, the rational thing is to build as big a net as possible to catch it. If that happens to involve free beer in offices then so be it.

by dangus 3y ago

leoqa 3y ago

In part, I don’t think this is people naively pursuing the moon shot. Rather the incentives and pressures are there to go for the cultural shift. Your investors are pushing you to do it, you can have a lifestyle business that makes you a comfortable millionaire or become a billionaire. People push for the billonaire option because it’s plausible if they have a revenue machine growing 2x every year and investors behind them. It’s likely their one shot at it.

ProjectArcturis 3y ago

He also had Masayoshi Son giving him billions and telling him to build it bigger and crazier. And Adam Neumann managed to walk away with dynastic wealth, so... I wouldn't call him unwise.

otterley 3y ago
I don't think we should equate wisdom with the ability to accumulate a massive amount of personal wealth -- especially when there's a lot of controversy over how it happened. Besides, when it comes to getting rich, luck often plays a huge part, as it did here.
- zaphirplane 3y ago
  I think he was charismatic, had a vision, marketed very well I suspect he knew it was near pyramid scheme when their valuation had 9 zeros

ecshafer 3y ago

I think WeWork was a great idea poorly executed. They took a huge amount of money, treated it like s tech start up, instead of having a frugal corporate office managing their various locations. But the great irony, given that WeWork might collapse at any moment (or already has?) is that it would probably be a great idea to start that right now or in the next year or so, as CBRE prices collapse and people increasingly look for cheap temporary and part time offices

toddmorey 3y ago
Yes, exactly. It was a real estate company saying, "No, we're a tech company!" while contracting into an insane amount of real estate. Nothing about their technology changed the fundamental economics of corporate office space but they were building something that needed to do exactly that to survive.
yumraj 3y ago
> I think WeWork was a great idea poorly executed. I would argue that it was a poor idea that was greatly executed. Everything was great for a while due to execution. But, when the realities or should I say limitations of the poor idea caught up, everything came crashing down.
- ecshafer 3y ago
  IWG (who owns Regus) is a 45 year old company with almost 3 Billion British pounds of revenue a year. Its evidently possible to have a large successful business doing this. Shaking it up with more flexibility and nicer offices is a good idea overall I think.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- paxys 3y ago
  Throwing an unlimited amount of investor money at a problem without caring about profits isn't exactly great execution.

pjc50 3y ago

WeWork was a huge success for its founder: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/27/wework-founder-adam-neumann-enormous-exit-package https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/27/wework-foun... If Softbank are throwing money around, the rational thing is to build as big a net as possible to catch it. If that happens to involve free beer in offices then so be it.