Why do people keep giving Adam Neumann money? He says: Ask them.
At Bloomberg’s tech conference today, Businessweek editor Brad Stone asked Adam Neumann why, after the very public blowup with WeWork, Andreessen Horowitz invested $350 million in Neumann’s new venture, Flow.
“That’s a question for Andreessen Horowitz,” Neumann replied.
Bloomberg asking Adam Neumann on why Andreessen Horowitz invested $350M in his new startup after everything at WeWork: “That’s a question for Andreessen Horowitz”
— Rani Molla (@ranimolla) May 9, 2024
Neumann, for his part, said he’s made a lot of progress as a leader since WeWork, which he failed to take public in 2019. This time around he’s surrounding himself with people willing to push back against his worst impulses.
“We have investors around the table that are not just comfortable pushing back, I think they like it,” Neumann said.
A well-known tech advisor Neumann didn’t name suggested he should be the last to talk in meetings, lest his opinion influence others on his team, “if you can help yourself.”
When Neumann was asked if he would be more careful about pitching his apartment rental company as a tech company — something he was roundly skewered for doing with his office rental company — he was seemingly unfazed.
“Our tech is what's going to help us deliver this.” So, no.
Neumann also had some parting wisdom for those of us who maybe don’t want to dwell on our mistakes.
“Try to live the present like you're seeing it for the first time, because you are, and then you’ll really be living life to its fullest.”
That’s a convenient outlook for a man trying to buy back his now bankrupt company.
