Book · 2021 · Business & Economics
The Cult of We
WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion
- mentions
- 14
- people
- 2
- podcast
- 1
- episodes
- 3
- critical mentions
- 0
It was one of the best reads on tech and investing.
What they say about it
- Discusses reporting and stories“you have some great reporting in your book”3
- Praises the book“one of the best reads on tech and investing”3
The best things said about it
We're speaking with Elliot Brown and Maureen Farrell, two great Wall Street Journal reporters who have written the definitive book on WeWork. It is a great book. I'm not just saying this because I'm friends with Elliot.
That is such an amazing story and it almost perfectly captures Adam and Elon. So good so good the book.
You actually do have an example in your book that talks about basically grilled cheese companies becoming tech company evaluations.
They were big funders in, um, and we work, uh, you have some great reporting in your book, cult of we about their, their synergy with Adam Newman.
That was one of my favorite lines in the whole book.
There was a part of the book where he said Mohammed bin Salman just needs a good advisor.
Where and when it comes up
Mentions per year
11
3
How it comes up
Why people recommend it
The Cult of We by Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell is an investigative business book that details the meteoric rise and dramatic fall of WeWork and its charismatic co-founder, Adam Neumann. On the Big Technology Podcast, host Alex Kantrowitz frequently championed the work, naming it his top tech and investing book for 2021 and praising it as a definitive and highly entertaining read. Kantrowitz and his guests highlighted numerous wild anecdotes from the book, including Neumann's eccentric pitch to Elon Musk about building community on Mars, and its illustrative examples of traditional businesses receiving absurd tech-company valuations. Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell appeared on the podcast to discuss their extensive Wall Street Journal reporting, noting how companies like Casper were frequently used as archetypes throughout the text to illustrate broader trends in the startup ecosystem. The discussions emphasized how the book expertly captured the delusions of a frothy venture capital era, providing a cautionary tale about unchecked corporate ambition, inflated valuations, and the dangerous intersection of personality-driven leadership and institutional funding.
Every mention
Alex Kantrowitz He's a reporter for the wall street journal, coauthor of the cult of, we, uh, big technology is actually nu… 10
Discussed
“You actually do have an example in your book that talks about basically grilled cheese companies becoming tech company evaluations.”
Discussed
“they were big funders in, um, and we work, uh, you have some great reporting in your book, cult of we about their, their synergy with Adam Newman”
Recommended
“He's a reporter for the wall street journal, coauthor of the cult of, we, uh, big technology is actually number one book for 2021. It was, uh, one of the best reads on tech and investing”
Recommended
“They are the authors of Cult of We, WeWork and the Great Startup Delusion. It just came out yesterday. I finished the book. Well, I'm actually about 10 pages from the end.”
Discussed
“So what are grilled cheese valuations? Maybe you can unpack that a little bit. That was one of my favorite lines in the whole book.”
Recommended
“We're speaking with Elliot Brown and Maureen Farrell, two great Wall Street Journal reporters who have written the definitive book on WeWork. It is a great book. I'm not just saying this because I'm friends with Elliot.”
Discussed
“So, the final step of this is they call the IPO off, and then Adam Newman, who really was WeWork, I think there's a line in the book, I am WeWork, and WeWork is me. He said that.”
Recommended
“I'm not just saying that. Okay, let's get to like what I guess like a little lightning round because there were so many fun nuggets in the book. I just want to give you guys a moment to talk about a few of them.”
Discussed
“There was a part of the book where he said Mohammed bin Salman just needs a good advisor. Someone said who is that? He said me. The person he said it to wasn't nobody. It was the national security advisor.”
Recommended
“That is such an amazing story and it almost perfectly captures Adam and Elon. So good so good the book. WeWork and the great startup delusion.”
Eliot Brown Spoiler alert, you may see a few references to Casper, Elliot's favorite example of this in our book. It po… 4
Discussed
“Spoiler alert, you may see a few references to Casper, Elliot's favorite example of this in our book. It pops up a lot. There may have been a lot more references, but that's another story.”
Discussed
“It's a great question, but I mean, the valuation he was talking about, and we get into this in the book at times, was like a $3 trillion valuation he was talking to Masa about.”
Discussed
“Do you want to behind the scenes here with the cover? Sure. Okay. So on the cover of the book, which everyone should have in their hand in order to see it best. Definitely better than online.”
Discussed
“They construct this deal and we had reported on some of it at the journal. But as we got deeper into the book, I mean, this deal was as close to a done deal as you could ever imagine.”
Other mentions (8: passing, ad reads, own books)
Passing
“He is a reporter at the Wall Street Journal and the co-author of The Cult of We, WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion.”
Passing
“Elliot Brown is here with us. He's a reporter at the wall street journal and the co-author of the cult of we, we work Adam Newman and the great startup delusion.”
Passing
“He's also the co-author of a great book about WeWork's downfall called The Cult of We.”
Passing
“He is the coauthor of cult of weed. Great book about we work also a reporter at the wall street journal.”
Passing
“Yeah, we just had Elliot Brown and Maureen Farrell who wrote The Cult of We, and so this will be the last question I ask about it, but I'm fascinated by the story.”
Passing
“Well, look, having had a few experiences with Elliot as a co-pilot, I give you tremendous praise for putting up with this guy as you drove this book together. And it came out so good.”
Passing
“It's interesting that the numbers were public and Elliot, I remember we were all telling you write the WeWork book, write the WeWork book because you would be like this doesn't make sense and you said I'll do it when it all falls apart.”
Passing
“An hour plus into a conversation I told these guys it was going to be a long one because I kept reading stuff in the book I wanted to talk about and we covered it all.”