The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion

When Neumann told them WeWork was like Uber and Airbnb, the investors focused on the few parallels between those businesses rather than numerous fundamental differences, including how Airbnb and Uber are asset light and don’t have costly fifteen-year leases for their homes and cars.

Simply put, bubbles are the result of a herd of people who collectively start paying more for something than its intrinsic value. They are, at their core, a very human creation—a stampede of investors who are following the scent of a compelling narrative. Gluts of capital combine with a fear of missing out. The result is mania. The rising price fee

Rising valuations gave the illusion of success. In reality, little had changed beyond investor demand, and many companies that saw their valuations rocket into the hundreds of millions or billions hadn’t shown that their basic business model could even be profitable—a rather elementary requirement for a viable business outside Silicon Valley. Inste

In the summer of 2019, The Wall Street Journal published a series of articles that raised questions about WeWork’s a corporate governance and revealed unsavory details about Adam Neumann’s personal financial dealings, as well as his penchant for partying.