WeWork: Sounds/looks great, but does anyone actually work?

[jpn]

A company I worked for had their local NYC office in one. I spent a few months at that office at one point.

It worked well for them. Fully functional office. No need to invest in office management or infrastructure. The local office did very well. I saw the common game tables used from time to time. But never anyone from our office.

Everyone in that office was focused on getting shit done. That company had its culture down. And I think that makes all the difference.

Keep in mind that they rented their own private space within WeWork and they were part of an established and rapidly growing company. That office moved 4 times in 2 years within WeWork as they went from 2 to 20.

I think it’s down to the people and the culture. I’ve worked in super corporate settings where everyone was always having coffee and chatting. And super start-uppy with football tables and ping pong where most folks kept their heads down and focused on getting things done and not playing all the time.

Edit: some of the motivational slogan stuff was a bit over the top for me. But just assumed it’s a cultural difference between myself and Americans. The coffee was OK.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Anyone here have space at WeWork?

The whole concept feels like Starbucks on steroids where everyone goes to be seen, but no actual work gets done. (At least "deep work.")

When you're playing Foosball and drinking coffee all day in the atrium, are you really doing work?

Just curious what other's experiences have been...

I don't operate well in these "shared workspaces", not to mention the motivational sludge all over the place ("do what you love!")

Interesting article about the concept, including some detail in how it got started. (The founder's backstory, or process!)

How WeWork became the most hyped startup in the world | WIRED UK

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kak]

I asked this question a while back.

I ended up taking a tour, thinking that despite my prejudice against stuff like that, it might fill a need I had... Hard no. Massive lack of focus. Hippy verging on unprofessional. I feel like I would have a hard time leading an organization in an environment shared with the types of companies that like this stuff.

Huge divide between what I needed which was professional nearby overflow space as I grow. And what they are... A bigger Starbucks.

 

[TonyStark]

It seems like one would get really distracted here.

If you want to feel like you’re part of a start-up, then sure, pay $XXX per month.

But referring to Deep Work by Cal Newport, it’s hard to be focused in a deep level of concentration with an open office environment, glass walls, and constant alternatives (chattering employees, games, etc) to tasks at hand.

Looks more like a social, happy hour, than a work place.

We’re trying to remove distractions, not add more.

But to each their own.

 

[Kak]

Since many of the companies that are occupying WeWork facilities are fledgling tech companies, they are trying to appeal to quintessential silicon valley idea of bringing together work and social life.

The purpose isn't as a way to reduce stress as much as it's a way to encourage employees to work longer hours. In silicon valley, many companies have not only games and toys on site, but they bring in food/chefs for lunch and dinner, have dry cleaning services on site, allow pets, have sleeping areas, etc.

Think about it -- why do twenty-something employees ever leave work? Generally, it's to eat, sleep, walk their dog, wash their clothes, etc. If you don't have to leave to do these things, you work more hours...

Very interesting point there which is why I went looking at it... I thought, despite my views of what a business environment should be, I might be overlooking something that could work very well for us.

Whether this is a good idea or not is such a multi-dimensional question...

How is the turnover?
Are people poaching your good employees?
Can you poach their employees?
Are they distracted?
Are they encouraged to stay longer?
Are companies competing within over who can be the most progressive and hippy?
Are you completly off putting to intreverted employees that could be rockstars?
What about privacy and confidentiality?

I know the numbers on the place, and like them a lot... Very easy to go from a home office to a legitimate place of business adding one employee at a time.

I think there would be a massive market for something FAR more conservative with a simillar business model. By conservative, I dont mean stuffy. Cool furniture and an inspiring, ambitious, “monied” looking place would totally interest me.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

So basically it's trying to get employees to work like entrepreneurs.

For entrepreneurs, WORK and LIFE tend to be the same unit, and in an "always on" capacity.
For employees, they aren't. You work, you go home, and you're done.

So these work spaces are trying to bridge that gap between WORK and LIFE, to blend them as one unit like an entrepreneur. And then, you'll work like most entrepreneurs; instead of 9-5, you're going 7 to 7, because hey, there's a video game and a waffle machine.

Interesting indeed.

 

[Xeon]

Office inspiration for productivity-oriented and true deep work lovers and non-action fakers:

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GoodluckChuck]

I've been working out of WeWork Latino Reforma in Mexico City for 4 months this year and I love it. I go early before the hordes get there and snag my free coffee then find a quiet booth to work in.

It's relatively affordable at $240/mo and is well worth it since my productivity is through the roof being around a bunch of people that don't speak the same language as me...

I could work from my condo but I get distracted easily at home. My quiet booth at WeWork is an oasis of getting shit done.

I wouldn't do it for months on end but it's a nice way to mix it up as someone who can work from anywhere.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Xeon]

Not sure if they're going to work or to play.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kak]

Virtual Offices, and Office Spaces – Servcorp never heard of them before, but looks nice.

Interesting. Looks like the pay per employee model is spilling over into the more traditional executive suites and they are getting cheaper to compete. Gosh, I love capitalism.

This model is killer for incremental business changes in the beginning when you don't want to concern yourself with making sure the bathrooms are clean and stocked, the common areas are kept nice, the utilities are paid, what furniture to buy and so on. I see them as a great place for the 0-30 employee stage of a company.

 

[Xeon]

The company I'm working at, they moved to a similar sort of place. Like a local version of WeWork lol.
The interior is those 1920s hipster-retro mixed with modern industrial design, there's a beer/lounge area, workdesks are in full view of everyone (meaning, you've these folks from other companies walking past you while you're working). They also have "breakout rooms" (whatever that is) and all that fancy stuff.

Perhaps MJ is right in his first post : most folks go there probably not to work, but to be seen.
When you walk past the corridors when they're having meetings (it's all transparent glass rooms), they get distracted and look at you LOL

To add: these sort of working spaces aren't cheap.

 

[Jakeeck]

I toured WeWork in Denver and it was pretty awesome, but I could definitely see all the cool stuff being a distraction.

I settled on a different coworking space that wasn't on the 27th floor of a high rise.

Anyway, my reasoning for joining a co-working space was to surround myself with likeminded people and make some new friends/possible business connections.

I have made some friends, but my expectations were off. I thought the place was going to be full of entrepreneurs working heavy hours, but everyone is in by 9 and out by 4:30. I have the place to myself from 7pm on, and I'm usually the only one here on the weekends.

 

[becks22]

I looked into it to get me out of the house a few days a week. My local coworking space is right downtown next to my favorite acai bowl place and the rates were really reasonable. I considered it but stopped the minute I realized none my current contracts allow for co-working spaces. I might be in the minority here but if you have any contacts with your clients (NDAs specifically), I would review before moving forward.

 

[Boo]

I tend to agree, WeWork is pretty much just companies that are and probably will always be pre-revenue, freelancers and designers. Over a thousand dollars for a 30 square foot office for two people? What a joke.

WeWork is unbelievably overpriced. The only advantage that you have as a business owner is that you get the month to month contracts, whereas Regex and other large offices tend to be yearly contracts which might be a little much for some small businesses.

Regardless, after touring multiple co-working spots I see practically no difference between them and a nice coffee or juice spot. A bunch of different people working or just goofing around with nice art on the wall. If you'd rather spend a thousand dollars or more on that instead of paid advertising or a foreign VA... I dunno what to say. In my opinion, I don't think there are many reasons to logically justify the cost of WeWork.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Private Witt]

I dunno what to say. In my opinion, I don't think there are many reasons to logically justify the cost of WeWork.

I can give seven reasons why I'm going to spend the $300 to return to We Work in November with a Hot Desk.

1. I made amazing connections my first time working out of We Work and some are still there and nice to have consolidated.

2. I can hold events out of the We Work at no cost as long as I feed people and bring value. This is huge for me as I need to hold events all the time and this is going to be an interesting component.

3. My We Work is at the base of Amazon's HQ and is the perfect location.

4. I'll get access back into their online system and it really has a lot of benefits if you collaborate in many different cities.

5. Like Bart Kavanaugh I like beer, and they have free beer.

6. Easy contract, can do month to month, GTFO whenever.

7. I can go to any We Work in the World and work out of.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

That doesn't seem affordable.

Says the Abundant Man

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[samuraijack]

Curious, why did you sign on then in the first place? Did you expect to dismiss the commute?

How about the 15 times you did show up? Better productivity?

I'd drive 2 hours if I knew my productivity would spike by 1000%.

I thought since i was paying for it, it would be hard for me to not go. I was wrong and underestimated how much resistance my mind had.

I was not more productive but it doesn't speak about the coworking place so much as the person going. I was more "it will be nice for me to work there" rather than "I really NEED the space there to work".

 

[DaveC]

I've used them for meetups and for meetings where we needed to get together to whiteboard stuff and bounce ideas off one another, but wouldn't use it for solo work personally. I get that some people need to be in an office to get stuff done and get too distracted at home, or need a space for meetings. I always just considered Wework a hipper Regus type of deal.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ZF Lee]

I asked this question a while back.

I ended up taking a tour, thinking that despite my prejudice against stuff like that, it might fill a need I had... Hard no. Massive lack of focus. Hippy verging on unprofessional. I feel like I would have a hard time leading an organization in an environment shared with the types of companies that like this stuff.

Huge divide between what I needed which was professional nearby overflow space as I grow. And what they are... A bigger Starbucks.

My country is having a few of these shared workspaces popping up as well, but I also share some fears that the places are just going to turn out into bigger Starbucks as well.
I watched one of their ads and was aghast to see young folks on it playing around with water guns.

@Xeon, that's the question: work or play?!

I'm not sure if in-house facilities for playing games is supposed to be a way for folks to deal with work stress. I thought that solving key problems reduced stress, not some fancy office game.

But I like the model of WeWork, and shared office spaces in general. Owning one of these places, you could have revenue streams from drinks and food kiosks and transport, not just office space rental. And if one has a product that is specially for office use, perhaps shared offices spaces can be a testbed for feedback.

 

[Cat Lady]

I actually really like WeWork, but it is much pricier than a lot of other coworking spaces. In Portland, where real estate is increasingly expensive, we now have 3 wework locations and a lot of local tech startups use them to scale up because they only have to commit month-to-month (vs a 3-7 year commercial lease) or Silicon Valley companies that want a discount on engineering talent will buy a workspace for remote employees here in Portland. No one seems to socialize much - it's pretty much just a coffeeshop that you can leave your computer at overnight and where you won't get kicked out for working.

I do have a free version of the "lite" membership which means I get 2 credits a month for a "hot desk" and I use it to book conference rooms or workspaces when I'm traveling instead of setting up shop inside a coffeeshop all day. The fact that it is a consistent "franchise" means that while the spaces are locally attuned, you know what you're getting - even if you walk into the Shanghai wework when you're from Atlanta.

I love that they have beautiful architecture actually because it helps me be inspired and can impress clients when we meet there. And all the sundries are taken care of - mail, coffee, clean bathrooms, internet service - things that you don't want to worry about when you're focused on your own business.

The amount of networking that takes place seems to be really dependent on how many solopreneurs vs established companies you have. Portland's WeWork has major companies in it like LuLuLemon, which lends to a lot less networking than places like NY where nearly everyone is a 1- or 2-person company.

Coworking spaces can actually be a pretty good business. I know a friend here that's been running a 2-location coworking space for 10 years and makes excellent money.

ETA: I find I get less distracted here than I did at home when I lived in a studio. At home I had a cat; a fridge, a TV...any number of things to pull my focus. At the co-working space I'm just there to work. But I've always worked in open-plan style offices so I'm used to big headphones.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Dubidu]

Anyone here have space at WeWork?

The whole concept feels like Starbucks on steroids where everyone goes to be seen, but no actual work gets done. (At least "deep work.")

When you're playing Foosball and drinking coffee all day in the atrium, are you really doing work?

Just curious what other's experiences have been...

I don't operate well in these "shared workspaces", not to mention the motivational sludge all over the place ("do what you love!")

Interesting article about the concept, including some detail in how it got started. (The founder's backstory, or process!)

How WeWork became the most hyped startup in the world | WIRED UK

There are at least 3 in my immediate vicinity (I work in the UK equivalent of Wall Street and live in the UK equivalent of hipster central/tech hub). I have attended meet up events (Google host some events in one and I'm a member of that network). I have also gone to the one based in the tech part which was for the purpose of getting an MVP for my initial idea last year. I couldn't work in one myself as I think open-plan offices generally have repeatedly been proven to contribute to high stress levels and generally don't contribute to collaboration (which, in addition to being cheaper was one of the rationales for introducing open plan working way back when). I think the rental of an office space there is relatively cheap and the marketing has added to the hype of WW. Having said that, there is some value in simply being around people on the basis of networking whilst Starbuck-ing and playing foosball. I've not looked at the numbers of the business model and whether it is operating in profit yet but they are expanding at a pretty phenomenal rate here.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[samuraijack]

I just signed up for a coworking space similar to this.

24/7 access including wifi,coffee,conference rooms for around $200 a month.

It's really great for those who can't focus at home. No disctractions here, just desks and people working. Its 10pm when this photo was taken so that's why its so empty.

 

[samuraijack]

I just signed up for a coworking space similar to this.

24/7 access including wifi,coffee,conference rooms for around $200 a month.

It's really great for those who can't focus at home. No disctractions here, just desks and people working. Its 10pm when this photo was taken so that's why its so empty.

Follow up post on my experience.

In all honesty it was a big fail on my part. I only showed up <15 times during my 3 month period I paid for.

It didn't work for me because the benefits did not justify the extra 60 minutes round trip travel time to get the office and back. That just added a lot of resistance to getting work done.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

A new variant of this...

On Demand cubes (offices).

Taking investments now...

Zenspace Inc

No, I'm not investing. Not something that intrigues me.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Everyone in that office was focused on getting sh*t done.

Thanks! Great to hear a first or second person experience, not just my knee-jerk speculation.

 

[tuko]

Check out Kevin Smith's first four minutes here. He does a mini-preview of WeWork location in NYC, then enters a booth to continue his podcast quietly.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9dySj4LjGg

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[AFMKelvin]

A company I worked for had their local NYC office in one. I spent a few months at that office at one point.

It worked well for them. Fully functional office. No need to invest in office management or infrastructure. The local office did very well. I saw the common game tables used from time to time. But never anyone from our office.

Everyone in that office was focused on getting sh*t done. That company had its culture down. And I think that makes all the difference.

Keep in mind that they rented their own private space within WeWork and they were part of an established and rapidly growing company. That office moved 4 times in 2 years within WeWork as they went from 2 to 20.

I think it’s down to the people and the culture. I’ve worked in super corporate settings where everyone was always having coffee and chatting. And super start-uppy with football tables and ping pong where most folks kept their heads down and focused on getting things done and not playing all the time.

Edit: some of the motivational slogan stuff was a bit over the top for me. But just assumed it’s a cultural difference between myself and Americans. The coffee was OK.

Lol the coffee was OK too bad it wasn't artisan coffee.

 

[juba.hadjal]

Anyone here have space at WeWork?

The whole concept feels like Starbucks on steroids where everyone goes to be seen, but no actual work gets done. (At least "deep work.")

I don't know if there is one here in France but I think it could be interesting to have a working space where we can show off. I guess there are people who are there to flex and brag about working in a beautiful working space but as it is not cheap to rent "I suppose" it would be a waste of time and money to not actually work hard and get things done.

I know there are networks renting offices for Youtubers and they generally post more content afterwards. It can serve as a bunker to flee from noise, family, and friends... I guess I would be more focused if I had a real office, instead of having my son disturbing my work flow.

 

[Fastlane Liam]

Check out Kevin Smith's first four minutes here. He does a mini-preview of WeWork location in NYC, then enters a booth to continue his podcast quietly.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9dySj4LjGg

I was gonna clean my room, but then I got high

 

[S.Y.]

I think there would be a massive market for something FAR more conservative with a simillar business model. By conservative, I dont mean stuffy. Cool furniture and an inspiring, ambitious, “monied” looking place would totally interest me.

You should check out Breather.com
It might be what you are looking for. They don't have many locations yet and are scaling up.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.