Then why bother getting a coworking space at all? Yet many do... The experience is night-and-day different... sure WeWork is more expensive than Starbucks (it costs about 5 Starbucks drinks a day), but the productivity difference is worth it.
I could see some defenses of WeWork, but surely not productivity!
Having worked in a company fully based in a WeWork location in Boston, I can tell you WeWork basically is a complete stereotype of precisely all of the miserable, distraction-focused problems with open plan offices in general.
For fun meetups and goofing around, they are nice spaces.
For getting work done, it’s horrible, universally. People on my team would actively leave the WeWork office and walk to Starbucks to get work done, or more often just constantly work from home.
Whatever VC <-> founder winking social signaling and sort of cookie cutter “look at how start-uppy and innovative we are” status signaling must be the driver of locating in WeWork and coworking spaces generally.
It is clearly not related to productivity, quiet or private conditions conducive to engineering work, or basic workplace ergonomy or cognitive health.
