In the 14th floor of a huge San Francisco building with glass walls, neon lights, a Ping-Pong table, and comfortable couches –our host immediately invites us for a refreshing drink. You might think that this is a description of a fancy bar, but in reality the name of this company only describes what it is supposed to be: a community of like minded people working together. This was our first sight of our visit to WeWork.
WeWork is a company that provides working spaces to its members. They have 8 buildings in the San Francisco area and over a 100 buildings worldwide. Their first office opened in New York City in 2010. Our host showed us some of the available spaces on the floor: from private offices, dedicated/hot desks, to conference rooms, and there is even a meditation room! If you have a pet you can bring it to work. Your furry friend has everything it needs there.
When talking about the concept behind WeWork the question that naturally comes up is why would you want to pay for an individual working space if you can work from home. WeWork is simply more than rooms with a fast Wi-Fi connection, fresh fruit water and a modern kitchen. It invites people to work at their full potential in a casual atmosphere. WeWork is a global community full of people who come together under the same goal: to connect with other professionals, and to expand their network in a growing, and learning environment.
Networking events –both social and professional– such as lunch and learns, and weekly happy hours are often organized, not only to have fun but also to bring all the different we-workers together. It is a coincidence that we arrived when the weekly happy hour event was about to start. This gave us a greater insight into the Bay area’s very typical way of living: working and having fun at the in the same exact place.
After a bit of socializing, playing table tennis, and getting some refreshing drinks, we were headed to one of the WeWork conference rooms. We were part of a very interesting lecture on Marketing Strategies. Oury Thomas from the French Marketing Agency ChoYou (also based in San Francisco) was the facilitator of this workshop. Thomas is very passionate about his work, and inspired us to work harder, and dream bigger.
Stay tuned, and come back soon to read the next article about our lecture experience at WeWork!