In Focus ADAM NEUMANN

Four years ago, the WeWork CEO left the shared-office firm he cofounded in chaos and acrimony. Now, Andreessen Horowitz's $350 million investment in his new startup, Flow, is giving Neumann a second shot at disrupting real estate. He says this time will be different.

- MICHAL LEV-RAM

ADAM NEUMANN CAME DRESSED for the occasion. He wore dark slacks and jacket and a white button-down shirt. His hair was long but kempt. This was a more serious incarnation of the charming but arguably reckless entrepreneur who once made headlines for partying on private jets and profiting off personal lease agreements with WeWork, the company he co-founded in 2008. This newly evolved version of Neumann was at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in mid-July to convince the crowd that he had moved on from his former startup, and they should too. "I wore T-shirts for a long time," the founder joked, moments before stepping onstage for an interview.

The last time Neumann, 44, was on the speaking circuit, WeWork was soaring high. But in 2019, after questions arose about the viability of its $47 billion valuation, the company's IPO was put on hold, and Neumann stepped down. WeWork eventually did go public and is now hovering around a $600 million market cap. The scrutiny didn't die down with Neumann's departure, though. Instead, the spectacular rise and fall of one of the most highly valued startups in history and the high highs and low lows of Neumann himself became the stuff of TV series, podcasts, and books.

Neumann, for his part, has turned the page. He now has a new company, Flow, which seeks to disrupt the housing market by creating a consumer brand for residential rentals. Last August, the startup, which already owns 3,000 apartments, raised an impressive $350 million from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (commonly referred to as a16z). As with WeWork, Neumann says that creating a sense of community will be a big part of Flow's promise, particularly as more office workers log on from home.