Maureen Farrell: "The Cult of We", WeWork, and Startup Governance Shortcomings.

Intro.(1:25) - Start of interview.(2:14) - Maureen's "origin story".(3:00) - Why she focused on WeWork as the subject of her book "The Cult of We" with her WSJ colleague Eliot Brown. She took over the IPO beat at the WSJ in 2016, "when there were almost no IPOs." Tech companies were staying private for longer with a ton of capital flowing into the private markets. That's when she started following high flying unicorns such as Uber, Airbnb, Lyft and WeWork. "But I always heard things that were a little crazier about WeWork, a little more confusing, a lot of crazy stories about Adam Neumann, so it was always high in my radar, and then in 2019 came the IPO that wasn't."(4:39) - Discussion around the concept of "growth at all costs." "It's the driver of this story."(7:23) - Discussion around the concept of "the cult of the founder." How Adam Neumann was able to cash out around ~$500 million throughout the financing rounds (pre-exit), in addition to getting another ~$500 million in loans from banks. Her original article from July of 2019 uncovering "how Adam Neumann cashed out at least ~$700 million in sales and loans (from JPM, Credit Suisse and UBS)."(13:21) - The unusual co-founder arrangement between Adam Neumann (getting 83%) and Miguel McKelvey via WeHoldings LLC.(14:59) - Discussion around the ethos of Silicon Valley, culture mantra, corporate purpose, mission statements such as WeWork's "to elevate the world's consciousness", sustainability and ESG, and how WeWork co-opted many of these concepts.(19:33) - Discussion around the failure of gatekeepers and how mutual funds (such as T Rowe Price and Fidelity) and other sophisticated investors had FOMO and "aped" into WeWork at record high valuations.(23:52) - Discussion around Masoyoshi Son, Softbank's Vision Fund and how Masa invested and influenced the outcome of Adam Neumann and WeWork.(23:33) - How she and her co-author came up with a shorthand to think about Adam Neumann: a magician.(26:28) - Discussion around the board of directors of WeWork.(30:28) - Discussion around dual-class share structures and founder control. How WeWork's IPO decision was a way to clean up the company's corporate governance.(36:49) - WeWork's failed IPO, the fall of Adam Neumann (walking away with ~$2 billion...). Litigation outcome and Adam's current status.(43:31) - The books that have greatly influenced her life:The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927), by Thornton Wilder.Say Nothing (2018), by Patrick Radden Keefe.Bad Blood (2018), by John Carreyrou.(47:46) - Her mentors: "In terms of journalism, it's important to have mentors but you also need to forge bonds with peers who can also become lifelong mentors."(49:15) - An unusual or absurd habit that she loves: watching bad TV with her daughters! (Hey Dude, Nickelodeon).(49:57) - The living person she most admires: (politics aside) Jimmy Carter.(52:14) - The WeWork movie (Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway will play Adam Neumann and Rebecca Neumann)Maureen Farrell is one of the co-authors of the bestselling book "The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann and the Great Startup Delusion", the definitive inside story of WeWork and Adam Neumann. Maureen is a reporter that covers capital markets and IPOs at The Wall Street Journal, where she has worked since 2013. She previously worked at CNN, Forbes, Debtwire, and Mergermarket.She can be reached via email at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Maureenmfarrell.If you like this show, please consider subscribing, leaving a review or sharing this podcast on social media. __ You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter @evanepsteinLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack https://evanepstein.substack.com/Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License You can follow Evan on social media at:X: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License