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WeWork Employees Caught Spying on Competition (nypost.com)

Posted by msmash on from the stranger-things dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: The battle in the red-hot co-working space business is heating up. WeWork, the No. 1 player in the sector, allegedly sent two spies to infiltrate rival Knotel -- to steal info and some customers, Knotel claimed. The spies showed up at seven Knotel properties in Manhattan last month in a "systematic attempt to pilfer Knotel's proprietary information and trade secrets," according to a cease-and-desist letter the smaller company sent to WeWork. The Post has obtained a copy of the letter. The corporate espionage rookies may have pulled off the caper except, in a totally random happening, a Knotel employee recognized one of them as a friend of a friend, according to sources close to Knotel. While the pair used fake names to gain entry, according to the letter, a call to the Knotel worker's pal got the spy's real name -- and a couple of social media inquiries turned up the fact that he worked for rival WeWork, sources said. The letter to WeWork asks for a reply by Oct. 13 -- but so far Knotel hasn't heard a peep from its rival, according to CEO Amol Sarva. While inside the Knotel offices, visited Sept. 12-14, the luckless spies posed "as the founders of a fast-growing startup" and said they needed space for their six-person company, according to the letter.

8 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. forty spots by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Have they actually done anything wrong? I'd be very surprised if hotel chains, airlines etc. didn't send people to try out the opposition from time to time.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:forty spots by Software · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Of course hotels do this. You can even call a hotel, say that you're from a competitor, and ask for a tour, and they'll probably give it to you. They know that customer service can't be hidden.

      The hotel may not be willing to hand over the source code to its billing system, or their customer list, but information like, "how spacious are their rooms" is easily acquired.

    2. Re:forty spots by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Anything that a prospective customer - not even an actual one - can see is hardly a secret.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    3. Re:forty spots by JohnFen · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Is this unethical?

      Sure it is. If you find yourself lying to people, then you're being unethical.

    4. Re:forty spots by lengel · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Is this unethical?

      Yes, it is unethical. When I am at a trade show if someone comes to our booth asking questions but not wearing a badge, I am very careful at what information I give out.

  2. What is the "Red-hot co-working space business"? by andreas.hummelbrunne · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Someone please explain in a few words, what kind of "sector" that is supposed to be.

  3. Re:What is the "Red-hot co-working space business" by ArhcAngel · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's Maker Space for would be entrepreneurs

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
  4. Trade Secrets? by lionchild · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm struggling to figure out just what "trade secrets" there might be in a co-working setup. The billing system? The facilities? The sort of coffee they have? The network setup? The way they control print costs?

    It's hard for me to imagine just what a co-working group has to really hide that's so proprietary.

    --
    Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]