Jesse Lawson

Adam Neumann on first principles for founders: ask why until nobody can answer, then ask again. "It's our second WeWork building. We need to do the floor. We only had ninety thousand dollars." "I said, 'How much is the floor?' Everybody's like, 'The floor is between thirty to forty-five thousand.' I said, 'Why?' They said, 'What do you mean why? These are the quotes.'" "I said, 'Can you break down the quotes for me? How many pieces of floor? How many nails? How much glue? How many hours of work per person? How much does each person cost?' No one could answer." "I called the top three guys and said, 'I would like you to earn fifteen percent above the cost. I think that's a fair margin. Do you agree?' All three of them said yes." "Very quickly, that first floor, instead of thirty to forty-five thousand, was twelve thousand." "You can call it first principles. You can call it asking every question. But if you're the entrepreneur, or if you're an employee or a partner, ask why." @AdamNeumann w/ @StevenBartlett