[raverbashing]

Probably.

It would be funny if this blew up in SoftBank's face. I think it will make even Theranos sound more sensible.

Sure, the product exists and it's good but the "business plan" and its assumptions and business structure don't make much sense.

Though I don't know how long they will survive without any more cash injections in the short term due to all their rental liabilities.

[tempsy]

Nah, this isn't like Theranos.

In reality, it is a very good product with slim margins. The reason it is losing so much money is because it is expanding quickly to show that it is a "high growth" Unicorn company.

It isn't that it's a scam, it just puts it is a non-tech/non-SaaS category. Every founder/CEO wants to tell a huge growth story. If private investors are buying that then it's just that they miscalculated, but not defrauded.

[tyingq]

It's also losing money because the CEO is converting it to personal wealth.

[bhouston]

Slim margins means it isn't a great product, at least by standard business definitions.

A product with slim margins is one that you divest from so you can focus on the products with good margins.

[the_watcher]

There are lots of good businesses that operate on thin margins. They're good businesses, which is why you can divest them to investors who want to run a good business. What they're not are businesses that should trade at anything close to software revenue multiples.

[tempsy]

I was referring to the quality of the product from the customer POV.

[smacktoward]

From the customer's POV, selling dollar bills for fifty cents each is also a high-quality product.

[tempsy]

No not really. Again, they lose billions right now because it costs a lot to build out new buildings. Then as a building matures they recoup these costs through the memberships. The more mature offices are profitable. It just isn’t necessarily tech/VC level profits.

[throwaway2048]

They aren't building out anything, they lease existing office space.

[AlexandrB]

MoviePass was an amazing product from the customer POV. Not a viable business though.

[purple_ducks]

They rent office space.

[michaelt]

If you think office space doesn't vary in quality, you haven't worked in a very wide range of companies :)

[icelancer]

Or rented from Regus, which is a company that people are just now finding out about. Their offices are absolutely embarrassing.