Introducing Foundering

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Everyone was too bright-eyed and too eager, and we chanted, WeWork, we chanted, WeWork, WeWork, and then we hit a gong.

Joe Weisenthal (0:13)

Not that long ago, Adam Neumann was one of the most successful startup founders in the world. He was a visionary leader who said he was going to overturn a trillion dollar industry.

SPEAKER_3 (0:26)

If we work, we really strive to help you as much as we can.

SPEAKER_4 (0:29)

Focus on doing what you love.

SPEAKER_5 (0:31)

Create your life's work and let us take care of the rest.

Joe Weisenthal (0:35)

Venture capitalists were falling all over themselves to invest in his company.

SPEAKER_1 (0:40)

WeWork has revolutionized the leasing of office space.

SPEAKER_5 (0:43)

Ten billion dollars invested in this company. It's the second largest venture capital investment of all time.

Joe Weisenthal (0:50)

He ran the most valuable startup in America, and he pitched that he was going to revolutionize your work life.

SPEAKER_6 (0:57)

It sells fun.

SPEAKER_5 (0:59)

I mean, it sells excitement.

Joe Weisenthal (1:01)

You don't even have to go out to a bar or a club.

SPEAKER_1 (1:04)

We will bring that all to your office space where you sit and do work.

SPEAKER_4 (1:08)

The bar is now at your desk. So when you first walked in, you're like, dude, this place is awesome.

SPEAKER_5 (1:13)

Like, what is going on?

Joe Weisenthal (1:15)

But as Adam raised more and more money, things started to get strange.

SPEAKER_3 (1:21)

You know, if Adam was coming down the hall, it's like every executive's butthole tightens. Like everybody just got really like, oh my God.

Joe Weisenthal (1:30)

He started saying things like he wanted to live forever, be the president of the world.

SPEAKER_4 (1:35)

WeWork was nothing without Adam Neumann, right? No one was investing in WeWork. They were investing in Adam Neumann. But I think we fall in love with these personalities and the emperor wears no clothes.

Joe Weisenthal (1:46)

And in the span of just a few weeks, everything changed. Office-based startup WeWork has officially postponed a plan to go public.

SPEAKER_6 (1:54)

WeWork is having trouble finding investor demand at one-third of the $47 billion price tag.

SPEAKER_4 (2:01)

The real concern is Adam Neumann, the CEO. Everything is on him. His performance will determine this.

Joe Weisenthal (2:07)

What went wrong? We'll take you inside the company with interviews from people who helped build WeWork and exclusive tapes of internal meetings, where Adam talks to his employees in ways he'd never speak in public.

SPEAKER_4 (2:21)

None of us want to look back and say, I could have done more.

SPEAKER_1 (2:25)

This could have been bigger. This could have been better.

SPEAKER_4 (2:27)

That's not acceptable. You do not get a chance like this again. None of us do.

Joe Weisenthal (2:32)

This is a new podcast from Bloomberg Technology called Foundering. This season, we'll tell you the story of WeWork, a company that captured the startup boom of the 2010s and also may be remembered as a spectacular bust that marked the end of an era.

We'll take you into headquarters and inside the mind of the man at the center of it all, Adam Neumann. Why he built WeWork the way he did, what happened to the company, and what might happen next.

SPEAKER_6 (3:02)

Think about the long-term consequences of what this coronavirus has done. Curious what this means for WeWork now. WeWork is known for crowding people together in one shared workspace.

Joe Weisenthal (3:12)

Check us out, Foundering, a new show from Bloomberg Technology. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.