Adam Neumann is an entrepreneur, investor, and the co-founder of WeWork. Launching the shared office-space company in 2010, he grew WeWork into a global coworking brand that, at its peak, was valued at roughly $47 billion. Under his leadership, the company rapidly expanded its network of shared workspaces across major cities worldwide. In 2022, he founded Flow, a residential real estate company focused on branded, tech-enabled apartment communities that offer a service-oriented, community-driven approach to long-term housing.
0:00 Adam Neumann
0:21 Morning Routine and Meditation Practice
1:55 Prayer vs. Meditation
2:10 The WeWork Story Begins
2:51 What a Kibbutz Is
3:33 Childhood, Divorce, and Moving to America
5:25 Chaos at Home and Finding Safety in Community
6:25 Recreating Community in New York After 9/11
7:16 Failed Businesses and Meeting Rebecca
9:09 Rebecca Pushes Him Toward Purpose
9:58 The Real Estate Insight
10:58 GreenDesk Is Born
12:17 Coworking Before Coworking
13:43 Craigslist Traction and Instant Success
14:58 Success, Optimism, and Spiritual Hunger
16:04 AG1
18:16 Returning to the Kibbutz
20:46 How Andrew Introduced Adam and Rebecca
22:26 Rebecca as Mirror and Truth-Teller
23:17 Falling Fast and Meeting Her Family
24:22 Rebecca’s Spiritual Ultimatum
25:30 Discovering Kabbalah
26:10 Israel, Service, and Responsibility
27:32 Letting Go of Control
28:28 Turning Work Into Spiritual Practice
29:10 Before and After the Army
30:09 Talent Without Purpose
31:17 The First Kabbalah Class
32:06 The Power of Pause
33:03 Trying the Practice in Real Life
34:05 Beginner’s Luck and Spiritual Momentum
35:43 Flow State, Family, and WeWork Taking Off
36:20 Selling GreenDesk and Preparing to Scale
38:03 Creating the WeWork Vision
39:10 Andrew’s Warning About Rebecca
39:52 Rebecca’s Celibacy and Soulmate Intuition
40:17 Calling Andrew to Name the Company
41:21 “WeWork” Is Born
41:43 Breakthrough at the Point of Surrender
42:17 The Joseph Story
44:13 Choosing Belief at the Lowest Moment
45:13 Space, Silence, and Letting Ideas Come Through
46:26 Patience and Lasting Greatness
47:18 Athletic Nicotine
48:49 Launching the First WeWork Location
50:10 Constraints as the Mother of Innovation
50:54 Early Expansion Strategy
53:08 San Francisco and National Scaling
55:39 Hypergrowth and the Team Behind WeWork
56:56 What Really Drove WeWork’s Success
58:23 LMNT
59:46 SoftBank and Masa Enter the Story
1:23:32 The $20 Billion Deal That Didn’t Happen
1:24:56 Growing Exactly the Way Masa Wanted
1:51:53 Stepping Down and Handing Over the Keys
2:11:57 Litigation and Total Powerlessness
2:13:09 Meditation, Vision, and the SPAC Idea
2:23:08 Settlement, Birth, and Closing the WeWork Chapter
2:48:21 “What If It All Goes Right”
2:48:58 Flow Traction and What Comes Next
