Taking WeWork technology beyond WeWork buildings.
Transforming the future of work
The Market Challenge
The pandemic fundamentally changed how companies viewed and utilized office space, presenting both a challenge and opportunity for WeWork. With office attendance down and companies reconsidering their real estate needs, it became clear that the future of work would require more than just physical spaces.
While companies were reducing their real estate footprint, they simultaneously needed smarter ways to manage their remaining spaces. This market shift catalyzed WeWork's transformation from a real estate company into a technology solutions provider, with a clear mission: help companies optimize their office spaces for the hybrid work era, even if it meant helping them use less of it.
The Solution
WeWork Workplace emerged as our space management platform designed to help companies navigate the new world of hybrid work. As WeWork's first true SaaS offering, it allowed companies to manage both their existing office spaces and WeWork locations through a single platform.
Core Features:
For employees: Desk and conference room booking, team coordination for office days, interactive floor maps
For office managers: Floor plan configuration, space management, capacity control
For real estate leaders: Utilization analytics, portfolio optimization insights, data-driven decision making tools
The platform solved three critical challenges:
Space Optimization: Companies needed to right-size their real estate as employees adopted hybrid schedules
Employee Experience: Teams needed tools to coordinate in-office days and ensure productive collaboration
Data-Driven Decisions: Leaders needed insights to make informed real estate decisions based on actual usage patterns
The Partnership Challenge
To build this vision, we needed both workplace innovation expertise and enterprise-grade infrastructure. Enter Yardi, a company with decades of experience in real estate software. The partnership made perfect sense - WeWork's workplace expertise combined with Yardi's robust backend infrastructure.
But the technical landscape required bridging two very different worlds:
Yardi: Robust backend infrastructure but engineering-driven development with limited UX focus
WeWork: Modern API ecosystem spread across multiple systems, with a design-centric culture
As lead Product Manager, much of my responsibility laid in managing this partnership, which required strategic stakeholder management across multiple dimensions:
Technical Integration Strategy
Led discovery with engineering leads to map integration architecture
Identified and resolved critical dependencies across fragmented systems
Developed systematic approach to bridge WeWork's modern API ecosystem with Yardi's legacy infrastructure
Stakeholder Alignment
Balanced Yardi's engineering-first culture with WeWork's design-centric approach
Influenced multiple WeWork teams' backlogs to prioritize integration needs
Established clear communication channels between WeWork and Yardi leadership
Product Evolution & Impact
With the foundation in place, our focus shifted to rapid product evolution based on market needs. I developed a systematic approach to feature prioritization that balanced user needs with business growth:
Created a standardized intake form for sales and client management teams
Weighted feedback based on business impact and revenue potential
Balanced technical complexity with user needs
Advocated for proper design processes, even when it meant longer development cycles
This structured approach enabled us to:
Rapidly identify and deliver high-impact features
Maintain strong engineering standards while meeting market demands
Create a product that opened new revenue streams independent of physical real estate
Position WeWork as a workplace technology leader in the hybrid work era
The result? A platform that helped companies embrace the future of work while creating a new chapter in WeWork's own transformation story.