The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 26 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 1 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
McKelvey: WeWork failed on capital assumptions, not operational execution
“It wasn't like we were overextended in our ability to execute on the business model. I think what we were overextended in was the Ability that we could get the continuous capital we would need to continue that expansion, you know, and those are two completely …”
McKelvey: Adam Neumann was trying to save WeWork during 2019 crisis
“What I saw him trying to do through that process was save the company, you know, in every step of the way, his goal was to preserve WeWork and to preserve what we had built.”
McKelvey: Vilifying and punishing Adam Neumann for mistakes does not serve society
“You can look at Adam as an example of a person who did a bunch of things and was attacked and vilified and sort of canceled. There was some shadow in him, and there's some shadow in me, there's some shadow in all of us, and what's the best thing is for us to b…”
McKelvey: SoftBank pushed WeWork to prioritize market share over profitability
“When SoftBank made that investment, it opened us up to a new way of thinking about how do you build a company and the way that, you know, I would say they prescribed and we agreed to was that capturing as much market share as possible was the way to go.”
McKelvey: WeWork's massive pre-IPO losses were deliberate investments in growth
“The challenge that we are facing is that it's not that those losses were a surprise. They were by design. You know, again, we were a fast growing company and we were investing in our growth. And so we were making the decision to lose money.”
McKelvey: WeLive and WeGrow were good experiments with real potential
“In the case of the things you talked about in terms of we live and we grow, I actually think both of those were really good experiments, you know, for us to be looking at other ways to build our company, you know, with a more diversified offering. I think thos…”
McKelvey: WeWork is a hundred-year challenge, not built to be sold
“And Adam and I, like, we, when we talked about this, we're like, this is a hundred year challenge. It's not like, hey, we're building a company so we can sell it and move on. We're doing this because we think this is the most interesting and biggest challenge …”
McKelvey: WeWork Secured a $45M Valuation Commitment Before Signing Its First Lease
“And we had no building, we had no signed lease even, and we proposed a forty-five million dollar valuation. And that's pretty high for a business that is unproven, and so he said yes. You know, he said, okay, I want to be a third partner, and so I'll commit to…”
Krim: Casper faced post-WeWork public market backlash against unprofitable startups
“We were the first, I think, visible high profile company to go public post WeWork, which meant there was a ton of negative sentiment around companies that were investing capital into their business and around, you know, these, the startup And side of things.”
McKelvey claimed WeWork was a 100-year company, not built to sell
“And Adam and I, like, we, when we talked about this, we're like, this is a hundred year challenge. It's not like, hey, we're building a company so we can sell it and move on. We're doing this because we think this is the most interesting and biggest challenge …”
WeWork secured a $45M valuation before signing its first lease
“And we had no building. We had no signed lease, even, and we proposed a forty-five million dollar valuation. And that's pretty high for a business that is unproven. And so he said, yes, you know, he said, okay, I want to be a third partner.”
McKelvey: Founders must stay responsible for business areas they dislike
“Sort of out of sight, out of mind. It's not a great model for entrepreneurship. You know, I think you have to be responsible for everything when you're a founder.”
McKelvey: Public market narrative completely shifted after Uber's IPO
“If you look about what did the market want, it completely changed after Uber's IPO. And all of a sudden there was a shift in terms of the market narrative.”
McKelvey: In 2010, no workspaces used incandescent, hospitality-style lighting
“I mean, back then we did all incandescent lighting. To do that in a workspace at the time, it just didn't exist. You had like a cool Brooklyn restaurant in an old auto garage. You had, you know, other people say doing boutique hotels with that vibe, but in wor…”
McKelvey refused to participate in media dramatizations about WeWork
“No, I haven't. And I think a lot of the reason for that was that I was always trying to make sense of it myself, and I don't really feel like participating in someone else's agenda was helpful to me in, in any way.”
WeWork co-founder Miguel McKelvey is Sadie Lincoln's brother
“He's Miguel McKelvey, founder of the multi-billion dollar company WeWork. Miguel also grew up in that all women's collective, and like his sister Sadie, he also rebelled against it by going into business.”
McKelvey: Green Desk Non-Compete Restricted Early WeWork Search to Manhattan and SF
“We did have a non-compete with our green desk partners. So we had a limited number of areas we could go. So we were looking in San Francisco and also in Manhattan.”
McKelvey: Adam Neumann previously ran Crawlers, a baby clothing startup
“One of them, both of them, I think were baby clothing companies. And he had sort of an idea for innovating in baby clothing by putting knee pads in baby's pants to protect their knees. They were called crawlers.”
McKelvey: WeWork's Soho Location Reached 70-80% Occupancy at Opening
“I think when we first opened the first floor, we were probably in the 70 to 80% range. And then within the first couple months, the first two floors were pretty much full.”
WeWork co-founder Miguel McKelvey and Barre3 founder Sadie Lincoln are siblings
“By the way, if her childhood story sounded somewhat familiar, it's probably because you heard her brother Miguel's version on a previous episode of this show. He's Miguel McKelvey, founder of the multi-billion dollar company WeWork. Miguel also grew up in that…”
Adam Neumann's previous startup made baby pants with built-in knee pads
“So he had a couple of startups One of them, both of them, I think, were baby clothing companies, and he had sort of an idea for innovating in baby clothing by putting knee pads in baby's pants, so to protect their knees. They were called crawlers.”
McKelvey: Green Desk non-compete restricted WeWork's initial expansion locations
“We did have a non-compete with our green desk partners. So we had a limited number of areas we could go. So we were looking in San Francisco and also in Manhattan.”
McKelvey: WeWork opened Soho flagship at 70-80% occupancy
“I think when we first opened the first floor, we were probably in the 70 to 80% range. And then within the first couple months, the first two floors were pretty much full.”
Raz: WeWork still operates around 330 locations worldwide
“WeWork, by the way, still exists today. There are about 330 locations around the world.”
LaFleur: M.M.LaFleur registered in Delaware in June 2011 at WeWork
“I signed for a WeWork office starting May one, back when WeWork was still very small. I think they had, like, two buildings in New York. And then I officially registered as a LLC June one in Delaware.”
Miguel McKelvey: I was raised in an all-women collective without fathers
“There were five women who were all really good friends, you know, best friends for a long time. They had all pretty much decided to have children without the fathers in the picture just because it was a time when they wanted to break free from normal sort of a…”