How coworking startups are booming: WeWork case study

wework case study

Space is something we all need. It could be your personal space or a space for your business. Well, there are many solutions to the first problem. The second problem was tackled by an American organisation called WeWork.

Since the company was established in 2010, they have been providing shared spaces and office administrators for people and companies. It has its headquarters in New York City and is present in approximately 700 locations and almost 40 countries. 

So, today, we are going to have a look at a brief WeWork case study. 

How did it all begin? 

WeWork was established by Miguel McKelvey and Adam Neumann. Adam’s landlord was showing him numerous places in a building, and he instantly thought of subdividing that space altogether. This sparked the idea to start their first venture together, GreenDesk, which they sold later on. 

WeWork was born in 2010 in one of the greatest cities in the world, New York, where it had its first building in a short span of only a year, it doubled in size and got on the right track of growth. In their earlier stage, they were backed by a venture capital firm based in San Francisco, Benchmark. Due to their support and expertise WeWork was able to reach a valuation of around $10 billion with only $500 million as an investment. 

Another reason behind this increase in success was the fact that many people coming from different places working together in a community sparks innovation. This was one of the biggest reasons why numerous young and budding entrepreneurs decided to use WeWork, and also save a lot of money on office space. By the year 2015, the company had around 50 cooperating areas in Israel, the US, and Europe. In the same year, they also appointed the ex-Chief Financial Officer of Time Warner Cable, Artie Minson, as President and Chief Operating Officer. 

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In 2017, WeWork started offering wellness classes in certain areas and also opened an exercise centre in one of their New York locations. This also added to the success of the company and by the year’s end, the valuation rose to $20 billion. 

The year 2019 

The year 2019 was not a particularly good year for the company as it started running into problems. At the start of the year, they were valued at $47 billion and were planning to rebrand the company as ‘The We Company’. In September 2019, Adam Neuman left his position as the CEO of the company and also surrendered a majority of his ballet control in WeWork. This made the company postpone its arranged securities exchange posting until the end of the year. 

Issues began to arise in its valuation, corporate administration, and other business aspects as well. By the end of September 2019, WeWork pulled back its S-1 documentation, which resulted in the delay of the proposed IPO. The valuation of the company dropped significantly to $12 billion. 

This brief WeWork case study tells us that the company may not be what it once used to be, but it created a co-working space industry that many startups and companies all over the world use for their operations. 

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