[imagesource: Variety]

The business world is full of stories of huge falls from grace.

In South Africa, Steinhoff is a recent example, but even Markus Jooste and his cronies can’t rival what happened over at WeWork.

We’ve listened to podcasts detailing the once-heralded start-up’s unravelling, and there is no shortage of bite-sized investigations into WeWork on YouTube.

Finally, we now have a feature-length documentary, titled WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn, that promises to lift the lid on a company that is often likened to a cult.

In fact, Hulu, which produced the doccie, describes it as such:

Exploring the rise and fall of one of the biggest corporate flameouts and venture capitalist bubbles in recent years – this is the story of WeWork and its hippie-messianic leader Adam Neumann who makes you beg the question, was he trying to create a cult?

We’ll get a little more background before we dive into the trailer, via Engadget:

The film tells the story of WeWork, a New York coworking company co-founded by Miguel McKelvey and Adam Neumann. They both grew up in communal living spaces — a commune in Oregon for McKelvey and an Israeli kibbutz for Neumann.

Their dream was outlined as a form of “capitalistic kibbutz,” which took the form of building a series of expensive and beautiful office spaces in New York City. These facilities were little more than shared, open-plan offices with free food and drink, but Neumann sold it as a new way of living.

He wasn’t renting desks for freelancers, entrepreneurs, dreamers and startups — he was building “The We Community.” This wasn’t just Regus with better furniture. No, this would change the world.

As you may have figured out by now, the wheels came off in truly spectacular fashion.

Here’s the trailer:

I’m definitely getting some cult vibes.

WeWork: Or, The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn premieres April 2, on Hulu.

[source:engadget]