WeWork has experienced a series of unfortunate events over the course of a few months, and some competitors can’t help but be excited.
After WeWork’s failed IPO, competitors such as IWG, Convene, Industrious and Knotel are shaping themselves up as the more stable, reliable flexible workspace option for landlords across major markets.
For example, three landlords have reached out to Novel Coworking in the past week to weigh the firm’s interest in either buying buildings leased to WeWork, or managing their space. Novel has taken over coworking spaces from other operators in the past.
“WeWork was a competitor vying for space in Nashville, San Francisco, London and Boston but since filing their S-1, they’re no longer in the mix,” said Ryan Simonetti, CEO of New York-based Convene. “This has created a tremendous opportunity for us to tell our story and show not just existing landlord partners, but potential ones, how different our model is.”
This sentiment has been echoed by numerous other operators, such as Industrious, who has recently started shifting to mostly dealing with landlord management agreements that allows them to share the profits.
WeWork is also starting to pivot to more management agreements in an effort to continue its competitive streak. Additionally, Eduard Schaepman, CEO of Oaktree Capital-backed Tribes, said that some of Tribe’s potential tenants are being offered discounts by WeWork.
