Marc Andreessen sounds like he missed the memo in the few quotes we've got here about why he funded Adam Neumann's new venture. Adam Neumann and his mismanagement of WeWork was so inspired there are movies on most major streaming outlets about the achievement.
"It's often underappreciated that only one person has fundamentally redesigned the office experience and led a paradigm-changing global company in the process: Adam Neumann," Andreessen wrote in a note posted on his firm's website Monday, explaining his rationale for investing in the company.
At its height, WeWork was valued at some $47 billion. After a botched public offering and tales of mismanagement, it imploded spectacularly. Neumann was ousted from WeWork in 2019, but he walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars. Today, WeWork has a market value of about $4 billion.
Andreessen wrote that "we love seeing repeat-founders build on past successes by growing from lessons learned." For Neumann, he added, "the successes and lessons are plenty."
I am always shocked when VCs go back to executives who destroyed earlier businesses and let them have another go. I am absolutely sure that several of the CEOs I have worked for in tech did not deserve a second, third, or fourth chance — but they keep getting them! They almost always prove they did not learn those lessons Andreessen says they grow from.
Good luck to Adam and Marc at making apartments even more expensive!
