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

《The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion》 – Eliot Brown / Maureen Farrell –

《The Cult of We – WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion》

简介 Intro

<The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion>—— Eliot Brown / Maureen Farrell

The definitive inside story of WeWork, its audacious founder, and what its epic unraveling says about a financial system drunk on the elixir of Silicon Valley innovation—from the Wall Street Journal correspondents (recently featured in the WeWork Hulu documentary) whose scoop-filled reporting hastened the company’s downfall.

WeWork would be worth $10 trillion, more than any other company in the world. It wasn’t just an office space provider. It was a tech company—an AI startup, even. Its WeGrow schools and WeLive residences would revolutionize esrccation and housing. One day, mused founder Adam Neumann, a Middle East peace accord would be signed in a WeWork. The company might help colonize Mars. And Neumann would become the world’s first trillionaire.

This was the vision of Neumann and his primary cheerleader, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son. In hindsight, their ambition for the company, whose primary business was subletting desks in slickly designed offices, seems like madness. Why did so many intelligent people—from venture capitalists to Wall Street elite—fall for the hype? And how did WeWork go so wrong?

In little more than a decade, Neumann transformed himself from a struggling baby clothes salesman into the charismatic, hard-partying CEO of a company worth $47 billion—on paper. With his long hair and feel-good mantras, the six-foot-five Israeli transplant looked the part of a messianic truth teller. Investors swooned, and billions poured in.

Neumann dined with the CEOs of JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, entertaining a parade of power brokers desperate to get a slice of what he was selling: the country’s most valuable startup, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a generation-defining moment.

Soon, however, WeWork was burning through cash faster than Neumann could bring it in. From his private jet, sometimes clouded with marijuana smoke, he scoured the globe for more capital. Then, as WeWork readied a Hail Mary IPO, it all fell apart. Nearly $40 billion of value vaporized in one of corporate America’s most spectacular meltdowns.

Peppered with eye-popping, never-before-reported details, The Cult of We is the gripping story of careless and often absurd people—and the financial system they have made.

关键词：The Cult of We;

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《The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion》 – Eliot Brown / Maureen Farrell –

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读者评论 Readers\’ Comments

倘若这是一册小说，主角villain般的狂妄、愚蠢、虚伪让人不能忍受，按网文标准都是烂故事，故事太违背常理。可它真实发生了，熙来攘往，不忍直视的丑陋。WeWork的故事过于苍白，tech到real estate的虚伪面具一旦被揭开故事本身毫无看头。作者视角老练，并行孙正义发家跟Prince Mohammed掌权，WeWrok 2011年lost就5万，真心有盈利的可能；后面泡泡吹起来后，全球割资本韭菜，各路资本都生怕错过又一个谷歌，穷极贪婪贯穿欲望，单读此书都赌心大起，billion跟100块似的。假如不是LP按下了愿景基金的投资，做GP的孙正义用软银IPO套现计划用软银的钱吃WeWork的debts，刚好软银股票大跌，否则Fortitude项目真执行完软银也要歇菜。5星打给此书的英语写作。

完全就是adam neumann黑化史- 也从侧面反映了这个时代的startup bubble。

四星好评！讲述了wework的邪性生长，adam可以算是另一维度的麦道夫了，能够成功把房地产行业包装成tech的“天才”，让vc、pe、大投行和软银出于“fear of missing”争先恐后地投钱。只是这样的天才私欲过盛，从买私人飞机到给自己小孩建个学校，却没有把功夫花在管理好庞大的公司上，还有纵酒狂欢的公司文化也显得很幼稚，最终把这个牛戳破的不是什么竞争对手，也不是投资人，是一场突如其来的疫情，真的是老天也看不下去了。有点可惜了投资人的钱，不过既然是赌博，也就有了输光的准备。对了解tech bubble很有帮助，值得一看！

新闻故事写得流畅，节奏很快，很好读。进一步对硅谷创业文化、nepotism、靠创业者-投资人点对点营销而支持的投资决策、企业家缺乏效率的独裁进行反思 //1.16.22 资本主义的结构促进了传统社会关系的崩裂，却也滋养出来WeWork这样依托企业家个人魅力贩卖梦想的初创公司；真是充满了讽刺–你不是缺少真诚的人际关系吗？来加入我们吧！不只是个租房公司噢！还是一个平等、有趣的集体。我们一起改写未来，一切问题都可以解决！说这句话的同时加入百分之一百二十的感染力和信念（真是充满了宗教意味呢！喜欢书名里用了cult这个词，作者也用简单的语言讲到不同个体经历背后的哲学理念。期待后面的发展。

书观感相对主观，作者是真的很不喜欢Neumann，但故事讲得还是不错的，是一代枭雄了。

作者 Author

Eliot Brown / Maureen Farrell

Eliot Brown covers startups and venture capital for The Wall Street Journal. He joined the Journal in 2010 to cover real estate, and previously worked at The New York Observer. He lives in San Francisco.

Maureen Farrell covers initial public offerings for The Wall Street Journal, where she has been on staff since 2013. She previously worked at CNN, Forbes, Debtwire, and Mergermarket. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters.