Everyone was too bright eyed and too eager, and they we chanted, we work, we chanted, we work, we work, and then we hit a gong. Not that long ago, Adam Newman was one of the most successful startup founders in the world. He was a visionary leader who said he was going to overturn a trillion dollar industry and we Work. We really strive to help you as much as we can. Focus on doing what you love, create your life's work, and let us figure of the rest.
Venture capitalists were falling all over themselves to invest in his company. We Work has revolutionized the leasing of office space. Ten billion dollars invest in this company. It's the second largest venture capital investment of all time. He ran the most valuable startup in America, and he pitched that he was going to revolutionize your work life. It sells fun. I mean, it's cells excitement. You don't even have to
go out to a bar club. We will bring that all to your office space where you sit and do work. The bar is now at your desk. So when you first walked in, you're like, dude, this place is awesome, Like what is going on? But as Adam raised more and more money, things started to get strange. You know, if Adam was coming down the hall, it's like every executive's butthole titans, Like everybody just got really like, oh my god. He started saying things like he wanted to
live forever be the president of the world. We work with nothing without Adam Newman. Right, No one wasn't investing in we Work. They're investing in Adam Newman. But I think we fall in love with these personalities. And the Emperor wears no clothes, and in the span of just a few weeks everything changed. Office space startup we Work has officially postponed a plan to go public if we Work as having trouble finding investor demand at one third of the forty seven billion dollar price tag. That the
real concern is Adam Newman, the CEO. Everything is on him. His performance will determine this What went wrong? Will take you inside the company with interviews from people who helped build we Work and exclusive tapes of internal meetings where Adam talks to his employees in ways he'd never speak in public. None of us want to look back and say I could have done more, This could have been bigger,
This couldn't been better. That's not acceptable. You do not get a chance like this again, None of us do. This is a new podcast from Bloomberg Technology called Foundering. This season will tell you the story of We Work, a company that captured the startup boom of and also may be remembered as a spectacular bust that marked the end of an era. We'll take you into headquarters and inside the mind of the man at the center of
it all, Adam Newman. Why he built We Worked, the way he did, what happened to the company, and what might happen next. Think about the long term consequences of what this coronavirus has done. Curious what this means for we Work now. We Work is known for crowding people together in one shared workspace. Check us out Foundering, a new show from Bloomberg Technology. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.