Name: Fred Rivett's review of The Cult of We by Eliot Brown
Item: The Cult of We
Rating: 4
Author: Fred Rivett

Eliot Brown

Maureen Farrell

The riveting inside story of WeWork and the brash founder who briefly turned it into the country's most valuable startup before his own epic unraveling, from the Wall Street Journal reporters whose scoops hastened the company's downfall. In 2001, Adam Neumann arrived in New York after five years as a conscript in the Israeli navy. Just over fifteen years later, he had transformed himself into the charismatic CEO of a company worth $47 billion--at least on paper. With his long hair and feel-good mantras, the 6-foot-five Neumann, who grew up in part on a kibbutz, looked the part of a messianic Silicon Valley entrepreneur. The vision he offered was mesmerizing: a radical reimagining of work space for a new generation, with its fluid jobs and lax office culture. He called it WeWork. Though the company was merely subleasing "amenity"-filled office space to freelancers and small startups, Neumann marketed it like a revolutionary product--and investors swooned. As billions of funding dollars poured in, Neumann's ambitions grew limitless. WeWork wasn't just an office space provider, he boasted. It would build schools, create WeWork cities, even colonize Mars. Could he, Neumann wondered from the ice bath he'd installed in his office, become the first trillionaire or a world leader? In pursuit of its founder's grandiose vision, the company spent money faster than it could bring it in. From his private jet, sometimes clouded with marijuana smoke, the CEO scoured the globe for more capital. In late 2019, just weeks before WeWork's highly publicized IPO, a Hail Mary effort to raise cash, everything fell apart. Neumann was ousted from his company--but still was poised to walk away a billionaire. Calling to mind the recent demise of Theranos and the hubris of the dotcom era bust, WeWork's extraordinary rise and staggering implosion were fueled by disparate characters in a financial system blind to its risks, from a Japanese billionaire with designs on becoming the Warren Buffet of tech, to leaders at JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs who seemed intoxicated by a Silicon Valley culture where sensible business models lost out to youthful CEOs who promised "disruption." Why did some of the biggest names in banking and venture capital buy the hype? And what does the future hold for Silicon Valley "unicorns"? Wall Street Journal reporters Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell explore these questions in this definitive account of WeWork's unraveling.

WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion

The Cult of We

“A juicy investigation into one of Silicon Valley’s most-hyped fallen unicorns.”—Time (Best Books of Summer 2021) The definitive inside story of WeWork, its audacious founder, and what its epic unraveling says about a financial system drunk on the elixir of Silicon Valley innovation—from the Wall Street Journal correspondents (recently featured in the WeWork Hulu documentary) whose scoop-filled reporting hastened the company’s downfall. WeWork would be worth $10 trillion, more than any other company in the world. It wasn’t just an office space provider. It was a tech company—an AI startup, even. Its WeGrow schools and WeLive residences would revolutionize education and housing. One day, mused founder Adam Neumann, a Middle East peace accord would be signed in a WeWork. The company might help colonize Mars. And Neumann would become the world’s first trillionaire. This was the vision of Neumann and his primary cheerleader, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son. In hindsight, their ambition for the company, whose primary business was subletting desks in slickly designed offices, seems like madness. Why did so many intelligent people—from venture capitalists to Wall Street elite—fall for the hype? And how did WeWork go so wrong? In little more than a decade, Neumann transformed himself from a struggling baby clothes salesman into the charismatic, hard-partying CEO of a company worth $47 billion—on paper. With his long hair and feel-good mantras, the six-foot-five Israeli transplant looked the part of a messianic truth teller. Investors swooned, and billions poured in. Neumann dined with the CEOs of JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, entertaining a parade of power brokers desperate to get a slice of what he was selling: the country’s most valuable startup, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a generation-defining moment. Soon, however, WeWork was burning through cash faster than Neumann could bring it in. From his private jet, sometimes clouded with marijuana smoke, he scoured the globe for more capital. Then, as WeWork readied a Hail Mary IPO, it all fell apart. Nearly $40 billion of value vaporized in one of corporate America’s most spectacular meltdowns. Peppered with eye-popping, never-before-reported details, The Cult of We is the gripping story of careless and often absurd people—and the financial system they have made.

Daniel Bower

Fred Rivett

A remarkable look inside one of the crazier recent stories from the world of Venture Capital.

Not quite at Bad Blood levels but not too far off.

A remarkable look inside one of the crazier recent stories from the world of Venture Capital.

Not quite at Bad Blood levels but not too far off.

Garrett Jansen

The story of WeWork is something that seems almost parody of itself, a story unbelievable in fiction. That being said, it’s a story worth reading to see some of the insanity of American economics, spotlighting the lack of due diligence and moneyed interests. The book does a great job highlighting the whole ride in a nice, digestible manner. 

Related media:
Generation Hustle S01E02 - “Cult of WeWork” (HBO Max)

Lauren Attaway

The Cult of We is a fascinating look at the implosion of WeWork, thoughtfully researched, endlessly interesting.

If you’ve read Bad Blood and Uber Pumped then The Cult of We completes an unplanned trilogy of the venture-fuelled, founder obsessed 2010s nicely. In fact, each book highlights a different facet of fast-growth tech’s dark side: fraud, aggression, and as the title to The Cult of We suggests, delusion.

Like many business biographies luck plays a huge role. Nuemann was evidently an incredible salesperson, but most of all he benefited from the alignment of stars that enabled an office sub-leasing business to be valued like a tech platform and raise billions in venture capital on that basis.

It’s a wild ride and a thoroughly enjoyable read. But I’d be surprised if you’re left with much other than a bad taste in your mouth at the end.



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The Cult of We by Eliot Brown

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