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World's Largest Shared-Workspace Startup WeWork Is Cutting About 7% of Staff (bloomberg.com)
Ellen Huet, reporting for Bloomberg: WeWork Cos., the $16B startup, plans to cut about 7 percent of its staff and has instituted a temporary pause on hiring, according to e-mails obtained by Bloomberg. The cutbacks come just three months after the New York company said it raised a round of $430 million led by Chinese investors. Managers were instructed to begin dismissals this week, said one of the e-mails. The startup, which lets members rent desks in an open office, ballooned from about 230 employees early last year to more than 1,000 today, according to research firm Mattermark. WeWork said it hired 175 people in May and expects to add about 500 employees by the end of the year. The company said it expects to lift the pause on hiring as soon as next week.
Oh don't be silly.
It's a co-working space. Going and getting a desk in a library is not suitable for about 99% of actual small businesses. Co working spaces provide you with the things you ACTUALLY need in an office, like a permanent desk, conference rooms, places to make phone calls without disturbing everyone, kitchenette facilities etc.
You know, office things not a library.
And running offices actually takes real people.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
I saw an interview with Mike Judge recently where he said that he had originally intended Silicon Valley to be a parody of the real thing, but quickly discovered that the real thing is much more bizarre and insane than he had imagined even in his comic fictional universe. The biggest criticism he said he got from real "angels" and VC's was that it wasn't realistic that these characters even had to work at all to get funding. In real life, Silicon Valley investors would be pushing each other out of the way to throw money at them, just on the PROMISE of an idea.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
which lets members rent desks in an open office
Couldn't you just go to the library and get a desk and computer for free?
It's more than that. You get dedicated network services, and in some cases, a business number with a receptionist/secretary, PO boxes, etc. You can have a business presence on-demand, or a-la carte. This is more important when you have to meet with customers. You can book conference rooms, pay-as-you-go, to meet your customers while doing most of your work from home, let's say.
It is a balance. For some people it might be better just to lease an office. For others, shared workspace might be the way to go. It's all a matter of your specific accounting and cash flows needs.