Founder Story: WeWork’s Miguel McKelvey

Miguel McKelvey is fascinated by design. Earning his degree in architecture and graduating Magna Cum Laude from The University of Oregon, McKelvey has had a successful track record as both a designer and entrepreneur. His passion for designing spaces that inspire led to his latest entrepreneurial endeavor, a chain of co-working communities known as WeWork. Spanning nine locations across the country, with seven in the New York City area alone, WeWork is a unique co-working experience. Their one of a kind offices boast creatively designed layouts that foster a sense of openness and collaboration. Perhaps this is the reason they attract such a diverse roster of clients. In any WeWork community you can find designers, PR professionals, filmmakers, and programmers all coming together bound by their entrepreneurial drive and determination.

After building Green Desk, a popular eco-friendly co-working space in New York City, McKelvey and his co-founder Adam Neumann sold that company after just one year. Using the profits from Green Desk, the two entrepreneurs decided to build WeWork. WeWork is not just about providing work space for budding entrepreneurs, it is about facilitating a community of like-minded individuals in spaces that foster change-making. In just under three years, WeWork has expanded to nine locations and over 3000 members and they are showing no sign of slowing down. WeWork opened it’s Hollywood location earlier this year and it has become a hub of activity for the much neglected startup warriors who live far from the single digit streets of Santa Monica which serve as the mecca for us Silicon Beachers. Its friendly staff, led by Eyad Zahra, ensure that all WeWork members and visitors are taken care of. Whether it be a normal day at the office, a communal hike in the Hollywood Hills, or at the recent Silicon Beach Fest conference they recently hosted, it’s clear that WeWork is quickly becoming a prominent fixture in the LA startup scene. We caught up with Miguel to learn more about WeWork’s story and how his own personal motto of “always be interested” has led him to entrepreneurial success.

Name: Miguel McKelvey

Company/Title: Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer at WeWork

Entrepreneurial Icon: My mom and her 4 best friends. They founded an alternative weekly newspaper in Eugene, Oregon that supported all of our families for my entire childhood.

Words To Live By: Always be interested.

What is WeWork and what is your philosophy?

WeWork makes small businesses more successful by empowering them to connect with each other. We offer a variety of services, including work space, that are designed to eliminate that hassles small companies typically deal with, in order to help our members focus on what they do best,

What’s your position and what brought you to WeWork?

I’m the Co-Founder of WeWork - and I’ve done pretty much every job in the company, from architect to accountant to web designer. I’m a generalist - I can do a bunch of things pretty well, but my deepest interest is in the design and use of spaces.

What makes WeWork unique in the co-working space?

We are dedicated to the success of our members in a way that most others aren’t or can’t be. Rather than just offering work space and occasional events, our approach is holistic. We’re trying to find new ways of empowering our members every day - and with things like health care and our annual Summer Camp, we’re leveraging our scale to provide a wide variety of things that can really make a difference to someone who is focusing all of his/her energy on building his/her business.

What are some of the companies that work out of your space?

We have thousands of members in our buildings in LA, SF and NYC. Companies range from tech startups like Fitocracy and Delve, to media companies like Love PR and Black Sheep Media, and larger companies like TEDx and AKQA.

What excites you about Silicon Beach?

We’re based in Hollywood, which we like for a number of reasons. We look forward to being a part of the continued growth of the area.

What is your favorite WeWork memory?

Seeing our members connect with each other at our Summer Camp event - eating, drinking, dancing, playing, learning - was absolutely amazing, but what I return to the most when reflecting on the past 3 years is a mental slide show in which our team grows from 2 to 4 to 8 to 20 to 50 people… It still surprises me whenever we bring all of our employees together, because it’s an incredible team and the effort and dedication they bring every day is extraordinary.

Having been around a lot of startup entrepreneurs, what advice would you give to individuals starting their own company?

Don’t ever accept what one person tells you. You get so many opinions, and you should be open to listening. You should absorb them all, but then find your own path. No expert has the answers - you have to find them within yourself.

To learn more about WeWork you should visit their site. Or you can follow their important updates on Twitter.