After a failed IPO and multi-billion dollar losses, the founder of WeWork left the company in disgrace in 2019. But Adam Neumann is back in business with a real estate startup. So who’s betting on his latest venture?
“WeWork was actually founded in 2010 and it was founded based on community on making our members more successful and doing everything we can to create an experience that helps these small businesses really thrive.”
Adam Neumann
That’s Adam Neumann, he’s the entrepreneur who founded WeWork.
The co-working company broke the mould of the boring, corporate office with cool interiors and beer on tap. It was meant to be all about building a community.
And it was an idea that caught on. At its height, WeWork had 625 offices in 33 countries all over the world.
For a few years, his company was one of the most exciting “unicorn” companies – that’s a privately owned startup worth more than a billion dollars.
Everyone was talking about it and Adam Neumann was everywhere…he was this magnetic, energetic leader. A maverick and a visionary.
He spoke at flashy conferences and forums about how his business was going to change the world:
“There’s an energy that you feel. That energy is something that’s hard to explain, it’s something that either you feel it or you don’t and it’s an energy of people doing their own thing while actually still being part of something greater than themselves. We like to call it the WeGeneration.”
Adam Neumann
But WeWork didn’t work out for Adam Neumann… in fact, there’s been a book, a podcast, a documentary and a miniseries, all about how the business imploded…
***
WeWork got a $47 billion valuation in January 2019…
But the business was actually hemorrhaging money….and all of that was revealed when the company decided to go public.
“The co-working company first filed to go public four months ago but now it’s revealing its plans publicly. The New York-based behemoth has become one of the biggest corporate landlords in cities like New York and London and was last valued at 47 billion dollars in its latest round of funding. While managing to double its revenue last year to 1.8 billion it also doubled its losses to 1.9 billion dollars.”
YFinance
Nine months after that massive valuation, Adam Neumann was gone. He stepped down as CEO of WeWork in September 2019.
Now, two years on, he’s back with a new business plan…and despite his history, investors are piling in:
“All the money flowing into Adam Neumann’s new company, Flow. The former WeWork CEO and co-founder receiving a $350 million check from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.”
CNBC
So what’s the appeal?
***
Adam Neumann’s latest venture sounds a lot like WeWork…but for housing…
According to the New York Times he has bought 3,000 rental properties in Nashville, Atlanta, Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The idea is to create homes with plush services and a sense of community.
It’s a plan that’s been on his mind for a while…
While WeWork was meant to shake up the office rental sector, there was always an idea to do something similar but for private rentals…the company called it “WeLive” and it launched in New York in 2016
“Apartments are fully furnished and offer plenty of privacy but it’s what’s outside your door that makes WeLve different. A bar, a group workout room and a shared kitchen for family meals are all scattered throughout the building.”
CBS
This new venture is called Flow and there’s plenty of scepticism about it.
If you visit the website, it’s just a landing page with the logo. All it says is “live life in flow” and “coming 2023”.
Very little is known about it. So will this be just like WeWork, all over again?
***
“Flow” is backed by a venture capital firm with a lot of clout, because Andreesen Horowitz was an early investor in businesses like Twitter, Facebook and Airbnb.
And they said they really believe in what Adam Neumann is planning.
In a blog post announcing the investment, the firm’s founder, Marc Andreesen, wrote:
“We think it is natural that for his first venture since WeWork, Adam returns to the theme of connecting people through transforming their physical spaces and building communities where people spend the most time: their homes.”
That’s why they’re reportedly investing $350 million in Flow, giving Adam Neumann the cash he needs to get this new business up and running.
And he claims that things will be different this time. He says he has learned a lot from the WeWork disaster…
“Sometimes you’re up and sometimes you’re down but if when the times come that you’re down, you understand that it’s a moment in time. But if you can actually think about it and you can learn a lesson from it you can apply that lesson it will become a great part of your journey will become a good thing not a tragedy.”
Adam Neumann, New York Times
Adam Neumann has definitely learned some life lessons over the past few years…but only time will tell if he’s learned more about how to run a business…