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WeWork: coworking space that always offers more!

06
jun
2019
Bertrand Leseigneur
4 minutes
The WeWork company (recently renamed The WeCompany) is the largest tenant of private offices in Manhattan. These spaces are mainly reserved for WeWork community members, who pay on average $750 per month for a permanent office in one of the 59WeWorks centers in the city. Globally, the company operates in 97 cities in 32 countries and has approximately 270,000 members in 550 locations. (Figures via DMR )

The company has raised a lot of money to finance the internationalization and can not yet make a profit from these investments because of the very important price to pay for the acquisition of premises. In January 2019, We Work therefore opened a new type of space in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, fully open to the public.

The concept of WeWork

It is a wind space at retail / cafe / coworking where you can buy products made by WeWork member companies, have a quick lunch or a coffee and book an office or conference room in real time from a mobile application.

The space, called Made by We, looks aesthetically like a cross between a trendy university library, a café and a gift shop.

4 good reasons to visit a Wework space!

Take a coffee in a space dedicated to work and spirit startup

Because this is the purpose of this place: have a space where you can have coffee while talking business.

Discover the merchandising of WeWork and products made by its customers

An entire wall is dedicated to the presentation of member companies’ products such as laptop cases, reusable water bottles or handmade cards.

Book an office to work for a short time

The 96 slots available in this Made by We are commendable for at least 30 minutes, starting at $6 . The reservation can be made online. Once the 30 minutes have elapsed, there is an additional cost of $0.20 per minute. You can also book a full day, from 8am to 6pm, for $65. It’s much more expensive than going to a Starbucks and buying a coffee to use Wi-Fi, but at least you do not need to find a chair near a power outlet to plug in your computer or your phone.

Test WeWork before becoming a coworking client spaces

The space is a test site for the main product of We Company – its coworking subscriptions – and reinforces the image of the company as a hub of creative entrepreneurship. Being a member of WeWork is part of a community and thanks to this new entity that acts as a café and stores selling brand merchandising, We Work will reinforce the feeling of belonging to a community.

Discover all offers from WeWork

WeWork really wants to develop new offers in order to reach the status of global platform around the work. Made By We is indeed the latest in an ambitious offer: WeWork, WeGrow, WeLive.

In addition to booking offices for entrepreneurs or companies with dozens of people, The WeCompany offers other tools. Indeed there is for example a school in NY (WeGrow) for children from 2 to 6 years. The idea is of course to allow entrepreneurs to have space to leave their children, in the WeWork atmosphere. But there is no need to be a member of WeWork to access this school.

The Welive offer allows the rental of short term apartments for nomadic entrepreneurs who need to move in different cities. At the moment the apartment rental offer is only available to WeWork members in NY and Washington.

The next step will be to develop a travel offer to allow members to move more easily from one city to another to carry out their business.

How to use space ?

To book an office or simply come to live when you have an idea to develop, simply create an account on the site https://we.madebywe.com/, register a credit card and then use the mobile application proposed to signal its arrival by scanning a Qr Code located at the entrance of the workspace.

WeWork of employees are on to ensure that any person entering the workspace has done his check-in.

When your work is done, simply scan the Qr code indicating your exit from the premises and you will be charged for the time spent on site.

 

Wework and the New York bet!

Given the prevalence of  WeWork in New York, one can easily imagine the opening of other Made by We coffees on the ground floor of its premises to promote WeWork’s services to new members.

The question is whether New Yorkers who undertake will be willing to pay to sit in what is essentially a brand coffee, with products for sale, different or innovative? In New York, where there is a café on every corner, maybe not. But this new space represents a tangible revenue opportunity for the company, and perhaps help it reach the valuation level estimated at $ 47 billion.

Bertrand Leseigneur
Based in New York, Bertrand is the Innovation Retail correspondent of the Echangeur in the USA, he decodes the latest American concept stores !!
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