The Rise of WeWork and the Transformation of Office Culture

Over the last four years there has been a quiet revolution building within the startup/freelance verticals. In an industry where new companies often work autonomously from one another, WeWork is doing the opposite.

In their office ranging in locales from Austin, Texas to Amsterdam, WeWork is offering spaces where startups who operate in any industry can rent out rooms to collaborate and work together in ways that they have never been able to before.

So why put the brake pedals on a good thing? This Monday, November 17, 2014 WeWork expanded its brick and mortar services to the online digital marketing ecosphere with the launch of its social platform WeWork Commons. This early buzz around this social network has already been lauded as the next LinkedIn. But can WeWork Commons live up to the hype?

The general goal of the site is to bring the same experience of being on location at one of WeWorks many offices around the world to anyone with access to the internet or a mobile ready smartphone through the WeWork Commons mobile app. This online service allows its members to interact with entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and others in the tech industry, sharing stories, ideas and collaborating. It also allows its members to scout out local events, rent workspaces and obtain access to business services at a discounted price.

WeWork is slated to bring in an estimated $150 million dollars this year with operating costs at about 30%. With current plans in place, revenue is set to be more than $400 million next year. While this success has been largely brought on by some of the great minds that created it, it is also reinforced by WeWork’s strong company culture which reinforces the old adage, “we work hard we play hard”. A motto many businesses are adapting as a younger workforce enters the market with different sets of priorities and expectations than those who have come before.

While some may be hasty to judge WeWork as simply jumping on a new chance to bolster its already impressive revenue stream (a case that is slightly well made with its $45 a month membership fee), WeWork is citing shifting work dynamics and business models as its motivation with its foray into the social media world. With mobile application growing into a billion dollar industry, the WeWork Common app is poised to be a heavy hitter in the entrepreneurial niche.

“It’s about accommodating a fundamental shift in the way work is being done; it’s the rise of the independent worker. What we are launching is about that. It’s about giving voice to that and building tools to allow that to happen”, says Kakul Srivastava, WeWork’s chief product officer.

The current state of the economy very much lends itself to these types of solopreneur environments. In a recent study done by MBO Partners, in the United States alone there are nearly 17.9 of these solopreneurs. This number puts the masses at a 12.5% rise from 2011. This trend, labeled as the “project economy” or, “the flex economy” is the exact waters that has allowed WeWork to proliferate as fast as it has.

With its first location located in a creaky, less-than-ideal 3,000 square foot space in SoHo, WeWork has quickly expanded to be the fastest-growing lessee of new office space in New York. Like other start-ups with humble beginnings, WeWork is right on par to be just as successful as companies like Skype and Dropbox who also enjoyed modest early stages of their time as a business.

With access to the WeWork Commons app, members are able to login and see a similar news feed like that of Facebook’s or LinkedIn’s but with much more targeted conversations and posts. In addition to the news feed, members will also be able to ask other members for advice on a particular project, feedback on a demo they’ve created or even accounting help. With the $45 a month membership, members will also accumulate two credits a month. These credits can be turned in to rent out physical locations inside one of WeWorks offices. The membership even comes with perks like low cost health insurance and discounted web hosting packages.

“Our goal is to not build the biggest social network in the world. Our network is for and about a particular kind of person. It’s not for everyone”, says Srivastava.