Adam Neumann Now: crashed WeWork and got $350 million from Silicon Valley

Whether it’s good for the economy or an embarrassment for Silicon Valley, the bottom line is, Adam Neumann now has $350 million in his hands. The current state of the world has divided us into two beliefs: that we’re headed for a recession or that it’s just a rough patch we’re experiencing. 

Recently, Marc Andreessen, cofounder of the venture capitalist Andreessen Horowitz, announced its massive investment in Flow. It is the newest real estate company from Adam Neumann who dragged WeWork from a $47 billion valuation into bankruptcy in just six weeks.

On the Optimistic Side

Economists who lean towards the optimistic side point us to a “not a recession” direction. Proof of this is that no company will give away $350 million if they are experiencing a decline in business. Silicon Valley has just handed ousted WeWork founder Adam Neumann, the guy who crashed WeWork, just that amount. 

This may be a good sign that the economy is indeed not going down the dumps as some would want to believe. However, it is an embarrassment for Silicon Valley in particular, and the tech industry in general. A founder of Y Combinator said redemption is easy for a white guy who f*ked up in the biggest ways and is incredibly wealthy. It’s saddening that not everyone has that qualifications.

Adam Neumann Now

During his WeWork days, Adam Neumann came up with the concept of WeLive. Now, his new idea is a rebrand of WeLive and is called Flow. It aims to own and manage apartments with the special Adam Neumann touch that’s bordering on being obsessive and faddish.

In his statement, Andreessen seems to believe that the housing problem in the US stems from lack of branding. That apartments are not stylish or sexy enough which is an about face from what the real issues are: there aren’t enough supply plus the high-costs of renting. 

This is in contrast to what Andreessen said two years ago that we should be building things. Neumann, on the other hand, plans to acquire already existing buildings to turn them into giant playhouses for adults. That with a bit of glamming and styling, the housing problem would be easily solved.

In a letter to the mayor of Atherton, California, Andreeseen and his wife said that multifamily housing zones would “massively” decrease the values of their homes. This is in reply to the city’s attempt at finding solutions to the housing shortage. The couple also said that these houses would reduce the quality of their lives as well as their neighbors’ and will increase noise pollution and traffic immensely.

Flow

According to Andreessen, Flow will offer renters the opportunity to build equity in their apartments. He didn’t offer details and how it would work, though. Vicki Bryan, a credit analyst and the CEO of Bond Angle, says that in that case, the renters would only get a microscopic share which amounts to almost nothing. 

The Flow deal is met with negativity as it is seen as a quick way that Silicon Valley threw out money. The concept does not seem to fix a real problem and worst, it’s going to be run by Neumann. Many likened his business skills to that of a child let loose on a park with a sugar high.

This will be an embarrassment to Silicon Valley which has, in the past decades, delivered little to know innovations amid being awashed with money. As for Adam Neumann now, he should have learned something from the WeWork fiasco, but seems to have not.