Billion Dollar Loser tells the story of the meteoric rise and fall of Adam Neumann, co-founder of WeWork. This fast-taking and quick-moving Israeli entrepreneur, with no education and no background in real estate, became head of a multi-billion dollar company that seemed at one stage to dominate the New York real estate market. Neumann tapped into the global demand for co-working space - making it cool and hip in a way that others just could not emulate or conceptualise while at the same time accessing reservoirs of cheap capital that was desperately seeking a high-growth home. These, combined with Neumanns charismatic brand of entrepreneurship and a scaling strategy that seemed to have no regard for resources, meant he built an empire, albeit somewhat wobbly, by the time the dust had settled and the market had given the true feelings on this over-valued business. The book is well worth a read, and this cautionary tale will be one for our time as we look back on the excesses of the early 2000s.
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