A TikTok tour of Adam Neumann’s Flow raises old questions
The former WeWork founder’s new venture blends lifestyle, housing and tech, but the model looks strikingly familiar.
A video on TikTok has revealed new details about Adam Neumann’s latest venture, and once again it appears to be far more about real estate than high-tech.
Neumann, who founded and led the co-working company WeWork until he was forced out, launched Flow in 2022. The company is described as a startup that provides residential real estate combined with lifestyle, financial, and other services. In its first funding round, led by Andreessen Horowitz, one of the most prominent venture capital firms in the world, Flow raised $350 million at a valuation of more than $1 billion. The investment came before the company had even begun operating, and about a year ago it raised another $100 million at a $2.5 billion valuation.
Now, a video by TikTok influencer Caleb Simpson, known for approaching random people around the world and asking how much rent they pay and what they get in return, shows him “accidentally” encountering Neumann in Miami. In the video, Neumann gives Simpson a tour of a Flow residential complex in the city, showcasing the community life in the residential towers the company has purchased, renovated, and now rents out through the new startup.
The concept and atmosphere are reminiscent of WeWork’s glory days before the company’s IPO prospectus was published on Wall Street in 2019, revealing its massive losses. Neumann himself ultimately walked away with more than $1 billion, spent some time in Israel, and later returned to the United States.
Flow’s model once again strongly resembles Neumann’s previous venture. Like WeWork, it looks appealing on paper, but it also blurs the line between technology and real estate. According to the video, tenants pay around $2,000 per apartment, though the size and number of rooms are not specified. In return, they receive not only housing but also access to amenities such as a swimming pool, a 24-hour gym, and even a café that distributes unsold pastries and sandwiches to residents for free at the end of the day.
Neumann emphasizes the importance of community life and a sense of belonging, especially for younger residents. According to him, about 70% of Americans under the age of 40 are renters who spend a significant portion of their income on housing.
The idea, of course, sounds appealing. Yet Neumann still has not clearly explained whether, and how, Flow’s business model will differ from WeWork’s. That company ultimately collapsed after its failed attempt to go public on Wall Street, when investors concluded it was not a technology company but rather a struggling real estate business that was burning far more cash than it generated in revenue. This was despite the popularity of its co-working spaces, many of which continue to operate around the world today.
