The success of coworking startup giant, WeWork

WeWork's greatest asset, according to its CEO, is using the distinguishing features of another unicorn era to their advantage.

The recent IPO filing has been good for WeWork, as it was for President Donald Trump, that the public had a chance over years to process in small doses the wild events described in those very different tomes.

Without the history of WeWork reporting from Bloomberg’s Ellen Huet and many others, it would have been stunning to see for the first time the massive growth and losses of an office-leasing company on steroids, its Russian-nesting-doll corporate structure, the string of WeWork’s eyebrow-raising financial arrangements with its CEO, the company’s outlandish mission statements and its history of questionable spending and investments.

Let’s be clear, though: This company is profoundly shocking, and odd. It is at once perhaps the most controversial member of the last decade’s “unicorn” era of richly valued startups, and the one that perfectly encapsulates this moment in financial history. WeWork is so unicorn, it hurts.

Historically, brand new tech companies tended to follow an established pattern. They created something or found ways to make a niche product accessible to the masses. The pioneers of Silicon Valley created computer chips first for government or military purposes and then for more widely useful equipment such as radios and smartphones. Bill Gates and others made computers useful and cheap enough for everyone. Google made software that organized the sprawling digital world. For the most part, these companies were treading on terra incognita. 

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