- Vinay Nair
Everything That Went Wrong With WeWork IPO
One of the savviest unicorns of our generation, had emerged on the scene around the time of a worldwide economic meltdown: offering cool, flexible and affordable co-working spaces for young professionals looking to hustle through the crisis.
Nearly a decade since then, the company seems to have wound up with a meltdown pooling around its own feet. It has only been a short while since the controversial IPO plans of this company unravelled and devolved into a hot mess, leaving the once-coveted startup to lick its wounds before it even dreams of making another appearance in the public market. While the company's new co-CEOs Sebastian Gunningham and Artie Minson are pulling out all the stops to get it back on track, WeWork's woes are unlikely to end anytime soon, especially if it does not manage to raise sizeable funds by as soon as the end of November. While efforts are underway to revive WeWork after its very public dalliance with disaster, its failed IPO leaves both Wall Street insiders and interested laymen with some important lessons to learn from.
Before we delve into the learnings I've amassed from the firm's catastrophic turn at the public market, it is only fair to bring the uninitiated up to speed.