Will WeWork forever, or will WeWork no more?

As a Computer Science major living in Silicon valley, I can't help but notice all the WeWork spaces popping up this decade. This company manages "shared workspaces", where the employees of multiple startups all work in the same large room. It's a shift away from cubicle office work and towards more communal living, which supposedly helps team-building, idea-sharing, and mental health. If it's really so great, then why have we seen WeWork's value drop from $47 billion to $10 billion?

I don't know, but I do feel that the "open workspace" hype has died down a bit lately. I hear more and more friends report that the privacy of one's own office outweighs seeing coworker's faces all the time. Maybe the recent devaluation is just a correction to overexcitement. However, a lot of the factors of SoftBank's purchase of 80% of WeWork have set off small red flags for me. (As a precaution, a lot of my observations are anecdotal and not backed up by evidence/data.)

First off, SoftBank is a Japanese company, while WeWork's business is mostly in the United States. From what I've seen, the two countries have drastically different work ethics. I think WeWork's homegrown, rule-breaking attitude matches Silicon Valley's style of T-shirts and jeans well. But it doesn't match Japan's style of business suits. I'm concerned that Masayoshi Son and others might not know how to navigate Silicon Valley's trendsetter attitude, even though they are very successful in Japanese spheres. (Although, the article states SoftBank doesn't get any voting power... so we shall see.)

Also, founder Adam Neumann's stepping down from his CEO position hints that he's not personally invested in the company anymore. With these "unicorn" startups, the founder's unique passion/spark is what the whole company relies on. (Unicorn = startup worth over $1 billion) Although it's possible to maintain success under a transfer of power, it's not easy. As we've seen with Apple when Steve Jobs left in the 1980s, a CEO leaving can be a sign of future hardship.

Next, we should take a close look at the statement that Son "doesn't sell value -- he sells vision and dreams." In my experience, Silicon Valley is filled with too many starry-eyed creative types with sky-high ambitions: these are called "dreamers". Now, there is nothing wrong with ambition. However, many of these dreamers lack the skills or substance to back up their ambitions. What concerns me is that terms like "visionary" or "selling dreams" are usually a way to hide this deficit. Perhaps Son indeed has the know-how to bring forth what he promises. But I would still take these promises with a grain of salt.

Maybe I've just grown jaded of tech startup culture. It is very possible for WeWork, with SoftBank's help, to reverse the decline they've seen this year. But based on what I've seen, I would call the situation ambitious at best--it's a bit too tumultuous for my tastes.

How this will affect Japan? Well, I think WeWork's open workspace culture has not invaded Japan yet. I haven't entered any professional settings in Japan, but they seem more traditional than America. Were WeWork to see continued growth, Japan might start adopting Silicon Valley's workspace habits! However, seeing WeWork struggle like this gives Japan all the reason to stay how it is now.