My perspective on wework is that the network effect is related to the more sites it operates, the more flexibility it provides to its members. They can use it for a temporary meeting, instant office, printing, etc, without needing to go back to their own office.
I've also thought about the network effects on the member sides, questions like, what are the benefits of an additional member on wework network to the rest of member? And this seems very little. Existing members are less likely to benefit from the network effects of any additional member coming into the network.
However, wework additional members will provide a great network effect to other business, like tax consultants, lawyers, brands and any business that are intended to do business with members in wework network.
It also posts value/network effects to the landlord's side. Meaning, the more member it is working in wework locations, the more valuable it is for the landlord to choose wework brands. And vice versa, the more landlord works with wework, the more locations options it can offer to its members.
I've probably spent hundreds of hours reading about network effects, platforms, marketplaces, ecosystems, long tail distributions, and other related subjects -- in my quest to reconcile conflicting writings and fully understand the nuances of the relationships between them.
This article and several others by Andrei and Julian (e.g., the later ones, since I seem to be working backwards from 2021) are like a breath of fresh air. I can't wait to read the rest of them, because they all seem to apply directly to my rather complex problem space. I'm anxiously awaiting the rest of the multi-part series that launched this month (https://platformchronicles.substack.com/p/product-to-platforms-part-i).
People use GoPro because of the videos that it produces. Other snowboarders enjoy watching the videos. The more snowboarders share their exploits on the GoPro channel, upload using Quicklink, the more valuable the “product” is. Aren’t these network effects?
My perspective on wework is that the network effect is related to the more sites it operates, the more flexibility it provides to its members. They can use it for a temporary meeting, instant office, printing, etc, without needing to go back to their own office.
I've also thought about the network effects on the member sides, questions like, what are the benefits of an additional member on wework network to the rest of member? And this seems very little. Existing members are less likely to benefit from the network effects of any additional member coming into the network.
However, wework additional members will provide a great network effect to other business, like tax consultants, lawyers, brands and any business that are intended to do business with members in wework network.
It also posts value/network effects to the landlord's side. Meaning, the more member it is working in wework locations, the more valuable it is for the landlord to choose wework brands. And vice versa, the more landlord works with wework, the more locations options it can offer to its members.
I hope to receive your comment on the above.
Than you.
Yichao
I've probably spent hundreds of hours reading about network effects, platforms, marketplaces, ecosystems, long tail distributions, and other related subjects -- in my quest to reconcile conflicting writings and fully understand the nuances of the relationships between them.
This article and several others by Andrei and Julian (e.g., the later ones, since I seem to be working backwards from 2021) are like a breath of fresh air. I can't wait to read the rest of them, because they all seem to apply directly to my rather complex problem space. I'm anxiously awaiting the rest of the multi-part series that launched this month (https://platformchronicles.substack.com/p/product-to-platforms-part-i).
Dave Duchesneau, CTO
Scrutiny, Inc.
People use GoPro because of the videos that it produces. Other snowboarders enjoy watching the videos. The more snowboarders share their exploits on the GoPro channel, upload using Quicklink, the more valuable the “product” is. Aren’t these network effects?