We Study Billionaires - The Investor’s Podcast Network TIP366: Billion Dollar Loser w/ Reeves Wiedeman
Aug 1, 2021
Join Reeves Wiedeman, author of "Billion Dollar Loser," as he unpacks the dramatic story of WeWork and its controversial co-founder Adam Neumann. Discover how WeWork began, the wild idea of hiring a 16-year-old IT director, and how Softbank made a massive $4.4B investment on a napkin. Wiedeman analyzes whether Neumann was a visionary or a con artist and reveals the astonishing drop from a $96B valuation to near collapse. Dive into leadership missteps and the eventual ousting of Neumann—it's a captivating tale of ambition gone awry.
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Early Life and WeWork's Origin
- Adam Neumann's driving instructor predicted he'd either become a millionaire or go to jail.
- This foreshadowed his extreme ambition and the thin line between WeWork's success and failure.
Crawlers: The Precursor to WeWork
- Before WeWork, Adam Neumann started a baby clothes company called Crawlers with knee pads.
- This venture, though ultimately unsuccessful, demonstrated his entrepreneurial drive.
WeWork's Inception
- WeWork began as GreenDesk, a successful office-sharing venture co-founded by Neumann and Miguel McKelvey.
- Their collaboration led to the conceptualization and launch of WeWork.
