Adam Neumann Dives Back Into Coworking With WeWork Competitor

WeWork founder Adam Neumann is giving coworking another go.

Five years after losing control of WeWork, Neumann is launching Workflow, a more elevated coworking concept with a new business model, Bloomberg reported. 

The concept will be a service offered by Flow, a residential startup Neumann founded in 2022 that owns 4,000 condo and rental units across four cities in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.  

Unlike WeWork, which was geared toward millennials straight out of school and tech startups, Workflow outposts will be designed as a “calm atmosphere with fancy artwork and plush furniture,” according to Bloomberg. 

Neumann is also making modifications to the leasing model under which he operated WeWork. While WeWork operated under long-term lease agreements that it then parceled out for subleases, Workflow’s spaces will be placed in residential buildings that Flow owns, or it will partner with landlords to manage spaces in buildings that it doesn't.

On Wednesday, Flow announced it had begun selling units at its new 40-story, 466-unit Flow House in Miami, which is set to open next year. The press release says the property will have Workflow coworking spaces.

Neumann, who exited WeWork in 2019 after its failed initial public offering, launched a bid earlier this year to take back control of the company as it was emerging from bankruptcy. He lost that bid to Yardi, which took over the company when it emerged from bankruptcy in June. 

Coworking is a growing market in the U.S., fueled by pandemic-led changes to in-office culture. CoworkingCafe recorded a 7% increase in coworking spaces between the first and second quarters, after supply grew 6% the quarter prior.

“The lack of community and the disconnection that people feel is even more relevant today” than when WeWork started, Neumann told Bloomberg.